Last month I wrote a blog post about capturing and managing operational architectures. In this article, I will explore how to plan for and manage the transition from the current (or “As-Is Architecture”) to a future (or “To-Be Architecture”) configuration. While this can seem like a daunting proposition, don’t be …

Grappling with complexity is a challenging task. But that is the world of systems engineering. The problems we face are complex, and they demand complex solutions. Managing that complexity in a way that solves the complex problem while keeping all of the aspects of the problem and potential solutions visible …

I have received many questions lately about managing multiple operational architectures in a single project. Frequently, this question is asked in the context of documenting the current as well as the future state of the architecture. In this article, I will discuss the steps in documenting an As-Is (or current) …

How do you do laundry on a nine-month trip to Mars? Answer: You don’t. At least, scientists have not yet figured out the answer to this challenge—one of space travels interesting problems. A water-based solution is out of the question—water is heavy and expensive to ship, and what water one …