The Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge* defines a model as “a simplified representation of a system at some particular point in time or space intended to promote understanding of the real system.” There is broad acceptance that models are limited or simplified representations of a reality of interest. There is …

Complexity poses a greater and greater challenge for the system designer/problem solver. The classic approach to problem analysis and solution calls for the problem and its solutions to be broken apart into their constituent parts until those parts are simple enough to be clearly understood. From there, the parts—whether of …

Photo above: Ron Kratzke (right) displays the “MetaSys Cube” with Vitech colleagues Donna Long and Mark Malinoski in front of the Vitech company booth at the INCOSE International Symposium in Washington, D.C. The International Council of Systems Engineering (INCOSE) held their International Symposium (IS) in Washington, D.C. from July 9-12, 2018. …

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 …