Twelve roles are described which are occasionally or frequently assumed to constitute the practice of systems engineering. Some roles fit naturally as life-cycle roles, others fit the Program Management set of roles, while still others are not normally thought of in either group. Interactions between the roles are discussed, and the systems engineering roles assumed by the papers in the inaugural issue of Systems Engineering, the Journal of INCOSE, are compared to these categories.
Abstract. This paper shows how three systems of types well-known to systems engineers can be understood as complex systems. This is important because research in complex systems sciences is vibrant and provides critical insight, but if systems engineers do not understand the complex aspects of the systems they work with daily, they may not be able to use these research results. To date, systems engineering has been looking only at exploiting the "order" side of the order-to-chaos spectrum, and it is time now to understand and begin to utilize principles from the middle and from the chaos side of the spectrum.The three examples are INCOSE, the systems engineering process (such as a company's standard process), and air traffic control. INCOSE represents most volunteer organizations and social groups. Most systems engineers do not realize that the systems engineering process for a company is a network that can be studied by complex systems methods. Air traffic control may come closest to many systems engineers' definition of a system. This paper provides principles of complex systems based on a variety of sources, and shows the application of complex systems to one of the examples.
This paper shows how the literature on complexity is related to complex systems and to systems engineering. A framework for types of complexity is proposed that includes three types of structural complexity (size, connectivity, and architecture), two types of dynamic complexity (short-term and long-term), and one additional type, socio-political complexity. These types cover most of the characteristics of complexity mentioned in the reviewed literature; omissions are noted.It would be advantageous to identify specific measures of complexity so that the complexity of systems or development programs could be compared and tracked, and risks could be identified and mitigated. To this end an overview of systems engineering measurement is provided, followed by a discussion of how complexity types might be able to be measured. At this point, however, a composite measurement of the six types of complexity is not recommended.
Abstract. Currently there are five systems engineering standards in various stages of release and three systems engineering capability models. This makes it difficult to know what to use as a basis for process improvement. This paper discusses the similarities and differences among the standards and models. The standards have been evolving from the U.S. Military to international and commercial, with recent standards taking a broader scope. Two capability maturity models have been merged into a third, which is tied to the standards.
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