Category: Systems Engineering

Human Understanding of Complexity

In the medieval Western world, the universe was widely believed to operate on the basis of the design and subsequent will of its Creator. Its operation was observed and recorded, but the cause and effect of those observations was thought to be the work of a Divine Mover, God. According …

Limiting Our Thinking: The Challenge of Defining the Opportunity Horizon for Systems Engineering

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 …

Where to Leverage Simplicity (and Where Not To)

Problems cannot be solved with the same mindset that created them. – Albert Einstein In virtually any discipline, pursuit, or profession, there is a consistent desire to learn, advance, and to simplify. For systems engineering, it is no different. The breadth of systems engineering is vast, holistic in perspective and …

Variant Management in CORE and GENESYS (Part I)

When teaching classes on model-based systems engineering, I am frequently asked about methods to manage different system configurations in the model. Most engineers are very comfortable thinking in part structures, and while this is a critical aspect of systems engineering, it’s not the whole story. To answer the question and …