Final answer:
Maintainability refers to the speed at which a system can update or repair itself to support environmental changes, and it is a key attribute engineers focus on to assess the quality of a design.
Step-by-step explanation:
The speed at which a system can transform to support environmental changes is referred to as its maintainability. This is another way to evaluate the quality of a design. Maintaining a product implies that it can be updated or repaired quickly in response to changing needs or conditions, which can include environmental changes. Other attributes of a product that engineers focus on include its reliability, portability, and usability. However, maintainability is specifically concerned with the ease and speed of making changes or updates.
Prototypes should be tested adequately to ensure that the design is not only functional but also maintainable. When engineers design any system, whether it's a form of technology, a biologically inspired system, or anything else, one of their goals is to balance the triangle of persistence: economy, flexibility, and robustness. This allows systems to respond to environmental perturbations effectively.