I share with you today three process tools (amongst many others that exist) that I’ve developed and used extensively over the years, and that can really make a difference […]

Making sense of the OCD, CONUSE, OpsCon, CONOPS alphabet soup Understandably, a great deal of uncertainty and confusion is evident regarding these OCD, CONUSE, OpsCon, CONOPS similar-looking terms associated with system development. Let’s try to clarify. We […]

A client this week asked me a question along the following lines (I’ve edited the question a little to protect the innocent): Imagine my top level system is an existing civil aircraft Now the engine manufacturer introduces a new build standard (design) of the engine. Note that the engine interacts with a number of primary […]

I am often asked, “what is systems engineering?”. My detailed reply if called for is along the lines: Systems engineering is a set of principles and supporting methods, based on systems thinking, for the successful engineering of solutions to problems. The approach is based on related process elements that are selected and integrated for use […]

Systems engineering is a process. Functional design is a physical design. WBS is a breakdown of work. Systems Engineering is for systems engineers […]

In engineering and in life, level of risk often differs between solution alternatives, so we need to factor risk into evaluation of, and decision between, alternatives. So far, so good. Defining evaluation criteria, weighting the criteria (actually, weighting improvements in the criteria, each over a defined range) and producing a total score for each […]

PPI has produced a number of definitions of systems engineering at different levels of abstraction and for use in different contexts. One PPI answer to the question ‘what is systems engineering?’ follows. Systems engineering is a set of principles and supporting methods, based on systems thinking, for the successful engineering of solutions to problems. The […]

In this live-recorded webinar and Q&A session, PPI Managing Director Robert Halligan demonstrates how to apply the Wedge Model™ to your engineering projects to reduce risk and increase success. The Wedge Model™, a substantial elaboration of NASA’s Vee Model of the 1960s, is a framework for the application of verification and validation within large projects to […]

The term “systems engineer” is widely used within a context of “systems engineering”. This usage contrasts with usage of the terms “systems engineer” and “system engineer” in the IT sector, often referring to somebody who implements or maintains IT systems. This article will examine definitions of systems engineering, then expose sets of principles […]

For a PDF version of this article, please click here. Abstract The Vee Model, possibly first defined by NASA in the 1960s, repeated by Barry Boehm in 1979 and Rook in 1986, has served well as a depiction of design of non-trivial systems through physical levels of solution description on the left- hand side of the […]

  Introduction: Innumerable studies have concluded that requirements problems are the single biggest contributor to cost overruns, schedule slippages and loss of capability in systems and software projects. Cost impacts alone of 10%, 20%, 50%, 80% and more are regularly reported by practitioners and researchers. And yet, the cost of making substantial improvements in requirements […]

1.           INTRODUCTION TO WBS/PBS 1.1         What a WBS Is and Isn’t        Let’s get one thing straight. A “Work” Breakdown Structure (WBS) isn’t a breakdown of work. WBS is a really, really bad name. A “Work” Breakdown Structure is actually a product-oriented breakdown of a project into products and services organized […]