Complexity is nothing new to systems engineers and managers. The discipline of systems engineering evolved to improve our ability to deal with scale, interdependency, and complexity in systems development. Few systems engineers would doubt that complexity is increasing every year. The rate of change, the increasing interdependence and adaptability of …

In the photo, Jeff Sili (left) answers a student’s question during a training session. A little over a year ago when I took my new position with Vitech, my wife and I talked about how to optimize space in our home for what she predicted would be two busy offices. …

Recently, I was involved in a discussion about when it is that a project transitions from systems engineering to detailed engineering. My answer was, “It depends.” One of my mentors suggested that a specific design level encompasses between three and five levels of decomposition. From experience, I tend to agree, …

If you have been reading about systems engineering and the latest trends in the industry, you have no doubt come across the terms “PLM” and “digital thread.” These two phrases are overloaded terms and have slightly different meanings depending on your experience and your personal perspective in system development, production …