Ever since I’ve been an engineer, technical designers have been dealing with handoff issues. What do I mean by handoff issues? In track and field, when a relay runner hands the baton to another runner in the exchange zone, it can happen that a runner bobbles the handoff. This can …

The systems engineering tool “Analysis of Alternatives,” or AoAs, impacts a broad range of concepts in systems engineering. In my experience, the inception of a project revolves around smart people—often program managers, technical directors, or business developers—discussing what they’ve heard or read or seen as an opportunity to do something …

Just as medieval knights had need of the right tool at the right time—a longsword? a lance? a dagger?—we systems engineers have a similar challenge. But the unsavory foe that we do battle with is not another knight carrying a mace or throwing flames, but the scourge of disorder, lack …

I speak with people in the systems engineering community all the time. When I hear systems engineers say, “Yeah, I’m doin’ SysML,” it makes me cringe. I’m not bashing SysML views in any way, shape, or form. I think SysML 1.5 diagrams are a great communications tool. But they don’t …