Some disciplines are “invented” or, more accurately, “evolve” as ways of solving specific, difficult problems. Principles and techniques are developed to cope with the knotty aspects of such problems. This was the path that led to systems engineering. First discussed by Bell Labs, systems engineering arose across several decades primarily …

As is the case with many things in life, there is a fundamental, value-adding perspective that the systems engineer can bring to the discussion of campaign finance. While much of the popular discourse on this subject is not all that illuminating, systems engineers are positioned to add insight to the …

One of the most common and easily made mistakes in the engineering world is that of jumping to solution. It is quite easy to frame any given problem in terms of a solution or class of solutions. But the cost of this mistake is errantly removing from consideration all possible …

The recent INCOSE International Symposium in Edinburgh, Scotland featured a challenging and thought-provoking keynote address by Professor Larry Leifer of Stanford University. Taking an unorthodox approach to engineering design, Professor Leifer challenged symposium delegates to incorporate thinking from the world of art and design into their engineering problem-solving processes. This …