The systems engineering tool “Analysis of Alternatives,” or AoAs, impacts a broad range of concepts in systems engineering. In my experience, the inception of a project revolves around smart people—often program managers, technical directors, or business developers—discussing what they’ve heard or read or seen as an opportunity to do something …

Earlier this year, I did a webinar entitled “Getting Started on Enterprise Architectures.” In that webinar, I introduced the concept of operational architectures. The topic of operational architectures has come up in conversation lately and I thought this article would be a good time to explore the concept of operational …

According to Psychology Today, “Addiction is a condition in which a person engages in use of a substance or in a behavior for which the rewarding effects provide a compelling incentive to repeatedly pursue the behavior despite detrimental consequences.” Addictions operate to block our view of reality as we focus …

Several years ago, there was an intriguing debate in the systems community. On one side was the majority of the community, emphasizing “systems engineering.” On the other side – almost in isolation – was MIT countering that it’s about the “engineering of systems.” At the time, I thought it was purely …