Paul Jones points out a paper from Richard Cook, How Complex Systems Fail [pdf], and mentions how a lot of the points can directly correlate with programming in general.

The paper How Complex Systems Fail by Richard Cook should be required reading for anyone in programming or operations. Hell, it should be required reading for most everyone. You should read the whole paper (it’s very short at under five pages).

He lists out some of the key points made in the paper including that complex systems can both be helped and harmed by the inclusion of humans in the mix and that, when things change, it opens the door for a whole new kind of failure.