The whole may be greater than the sum of it's parts, but for this to be so, it only happens as a result of sufficient attention to desig of the solutions. Often developmental approaches or environmental factors can cause the whole to be considerably less than the sum of its parts. One cannot expect to throw a random bag of stuff together and have something useful emerge.

This is especially true when innovations or unprecedented applications of technology are at play. Yet often, for a system, the emergent properties of a system - such as reliability, fitness, usability, scalability, durability, and throughput - are what determines whether the system will be successful or not in operation. Such properties will only hit these targets through disciplined attention to details, effective solution design, and iterative refinement.

— John Sterman
Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World