At its recent International Symposium the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) released its Systems Engineering Vision 2025 report titled aptly “A World In Motion.” This document is a bold and forward-thinking vision of an exciting future. On the surface it appears innocuous enough. However, it is only on close …

In thinking about systems engineering we often set up a framework in which engineering receives a much stronger emphasis than the system aspects of the discipline. The INCOSE definition of systems engineering sets it apart from other engineering disciplines. In part it calls systems engineering, “. . . an engineering …

Why use a “model-based” approach? What advantage is there to be gained from this approach? Let’s begin by noting that all systems engineering is model-based. It isn’t possible to think of, discuss, or design systems without using a model. The concept of the system, its functions and parts must be …

By David Long and Zane Scott The late Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill, famously said “all politics is local.” In that phrase he called to the surface a characteristic of politics that was often overlooked but always true. In the same way, we …