In our last post we looked at making a high-level system design for a paper about a project, arguing that a proposed design change would make it impossible to complete a hypothetical project by its original due date. The design called for a four-paragraph structure that flowed as follows: P1 …

All writing, especially expository writing, is about using a system design. In a pattern familiar to any systems engineer, the writing project begins with high level requirements that will decompose to lower level requirements, a functional map for meeting those requirements and a particular physical implementation. The effective author begins …

“ is valuable to the organization and its projects because it is the engine that drives positive change.”  The leaders of systems engineering projects must understand and manage conflict to the benefit of their projects and organizations. Our initial instinct, conditioned by cultural norms, is that conflict should be minimized …

Having considered the role of the systems engineer as a leader, we will turn our attention in this post to one of the critical skills area for any leader: communications. The idea of the design process is to capture the content of the contributions offered by each member of the …