Systems Engineering: Coping with Complexity

I've spent a number of years working as Software engineer for a large engineering business which employs Systems Engineering processes and practices. During this time I was often confused about the methodology and processes being applied in Systems Engineering . This book (Systems Engineering: Coping with Complexity) is a superb overview of this engineering discipline and provides a great introduction for anyone new to Systems Engineering coming from an Information Systems background, as I have.

As a concise summary, I would describe Systems Eng. as an approach for developing Systems with a combination of engineering practices (Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Mechanical, Environmental, etc,...) for the development of anything and everything (from cars production systems to a space station).

This makes this fundamentally a practice that is requirements driven and interdisciplinary, to ensure that requirements flow down to teams following differing engineering practices and the products from different teams combine together to satisfy the original requirements whilst minimising any emergent properties.

The following is my summary from this text.

What is Systems Engineering?

An interdisciplinary approach encompassing the entire technical effort to evolve and verify an integrated and life-cycle balanced set of system people, product, and process solutions that satisfy customer needs. Following a defined set of standards IEEE 1220, EIA632.

Systems engineering encompasses

• Technical efforts related to the development, manufacturing, verification, deployment, operations, support, disposal of, and user training for, system products and processes.
• Definition and management of the system configuration.
• Translation of the system definition into work breakdown structures
• Development of information for management decision making.

Why is it necessary?

• An approach that considers whole life-cycle of systems development taking a system from Concept, Design, Production, Distribution, In Service Support and Disposal.
  
• Complexity of combining different technologies is increasing.
• Risk of failure increases in relation to complexity, budget and time pressures.
• Investment in systems is an arms race both in reducing operating costs for customers and producing new products that satisfy new functional goals.

What differentiate SE from traditional Systems Analysis.

Products v's Systems
Customers v's Users