One of the most important—and often overlooked—aspects of good systems engineering is first principles thinking. In an excellent article on first principles thinking in his Farnam Street blog, Shane Parrish discusses first principles thinking in the context of Julia Child’s French cooking. Arguing that what made her extraordinary television show …

There have been a number of attempts at generating a mathematical definition of a system, dating back to at least Ludwig von Bertalanffy’s now classic book, General System Theory, published in 1968. The systems engineering community would benefit greatly from such a definition, which would define a system precisely in …

Systems are truly a family affair. As the concept of systems becomes more significant in the way we think and solve problems, it is increasingly apparent that there are several disciplines, which “specialize” in the study and design of systems. Each discipline views systems from its own perspective, which is …

Note: We are republishing this blog post from our archives. We believe it is appropriate for today, as companies and organizations look for systems engineers to help them achieve digital transformation. Becoming a systems engineer is a journey. There may be no straightforward path, but there are things we can …