Systems Engineering

Systems Engineering

by Howard Eisner
Released July 2020
Publisher(s): CRC Press
ISBN: 9781000165852

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Book description

The author has spent approximately 50 years in the field of systems engineering. This Focus book provides a "looking back" at his 50-year run and the lessons he learned and would like to share with other engineers, so they can use these lessons in their day-to-day work in systems engineering and related fields.

The book is written from a systems engineering perspective. It offers 50 lessons learned working for a variety of different companies, which can be used across many other engineering fields.

The book will be of interested to students and engineers across many fields, as well as students and engineers working in business and management fields.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half-Title
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Contents
  7. Preface
  8. About the Author
  9. Other Books by the Author
  10. 1 Technical
    1. 1. When and Where Possible, Go Back to Fundamentals (*)
      1. Case One
      2. Case Two
      3. Case Three
    2. 2. Seriously Explore Alternatives, Even If Time Is Short
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    3. 3. Embrace Prototyping as Well as Modeling and Simulation (M & S)
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    4. 4. Cost-Effectiveness Is Still the Preferred Approach
      1. Typical MOEs for Communication Systems
      2. Selected MOEs for Transportation Systems
      3. Limited MOEs for Air Defense Systems
      4. Weighting Factors
      5. References and Recommended Reading
    5. 5. Do Not Attempt to Integrate All Stovepipes
      1. Reference and Recommended Reading
    6. 6. A Bit at a Time or All at Once
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    7. 7. Growth by Acquisition
    8. 8. The Contract
    9. 9. Less Paper Please
      1. References and Recommended Reading
  11. 2 Management
    1. 10. Definitely Measure, but Do Not Over-Measure
      1. Software Measurement
      2. Overall Project Measurement
      3. Significant Parameters
      4. COCOMO I and COCOMO II
      5. References and Recommended Reading
    2. 11. Under Promise and Over Deliver
      1. Reference and Recommended Reading
    3. 12. Try to Improve Overall Systems Engineering Practices
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    4. 13. Negotiate
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    5. 14. Understanding the Enterprise
      1. Monthly Measurements
      2. The Balanced Scorecard
      3. References and Recommended Reading
    6. 15. The Systems Approach
      1. Systems Thinking
      2. References and Recommended Reading
    7. 16. Industry/Government Interaction
      1. Universities
      2. INCOSE Certification
    8. 17. Tradeoffs
      1. Risk
      2. Detection and False Alarm Probabilities
    9. 18. Resilience
      1. References and Recommended Reading
  12. 3 Idea Based
    1. 19. They Were Right: KISS, Simplify, and Reduce Complexity
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    2. 20. Seek a Balanced System Solution; Do Not Try to Optimize or Achieve Perfection (*)
      1. Other References to Balance
      2. Stakeholders
      3. References and Recommended Reading
    3. 21. Understand the Power, Importance, and Challenge of Functional Decomposition
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    4. 22. Break the Problem into Pieces Using the Reductionist Approach Whenever Possible, and Then Apply Lateral Thinking
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    5. 23. Develop and Try a New Way of Architecting
      1. The DoD Procedure for Developing Architecture
      2. Products for Views
      3. An Alternative Approach
      4. References and Recommended Reading
    6. 24. Plato and Proust
      1. Reference and Recommended Reading
    7. 25. Try to Master New Tools and Use Them as Needed
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    8. 26. Real EAM
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    9. 27. Ways of Thinking
      1. Visualization
      2. Lateral Thinking
      3. Hybrid Thinking
      4. Six Thinking Hats
      5. Special Point-of-View Thinking
      6. References and Recommended Reading
    10. 28. New Ideas to Be Explored
      1. General Systems Theory
      2. Rapid Computer-Aided Systems of Systems
      3. New Method of Systems Architecting
      4. National Aviation System (NAS) Model
      5. Systems Engineering and Software Engineering
      6. Emergent Properties of Systems
        1. Affordability
      7. Design to Cost
      8. References and Recommended Reading
  13. 4 People Oriented
    1. 29. Building a Highly Productive Systems Engineering Team
      1. The Team Leader
      2. Project Management and Leadership
      3. References and Recommended Reading
    2. 30. Listen to Your Elders
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    3. 31. Leadership
      1. Practical Visionary
      2. Inclusive Communicator
      3. Positive Doer
      4. Renewing Facilitator
      5. Principled Integrator
      6. References and Recommended Reading
    4. 32. New Boss
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    5. 33. Team Busters
    6. 34. Meetings
      1. A Systems Engineering Meeting
      2. References and Recommended Reading
    7. 35. Myers–Briggs
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    8. 36. Becoming a Hi-Tech Manager
      1. Skills Required
      2. Specific Steps
      3. References and Recommended Reading
    9. 37. Dealing with Your Customer
      1. Going to Lunch with Your Customer
      2. Issuance of a New Task Order
      3. Quick Response Capability
      4. A Truthful Interchange
      5. The Re-Competition
    10. 38. Integration
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    11. 39. Hall, Goode, and Machol
      1. A. D. Hall
      2. Goode and Machol
      3. Machol’ s View
      4. References and Recommended Reading
    12. 40. Man vs. Machine
  14. 5 Miscellany
    1. 41. Redundancy is Important and May Be Critical in Certain Systems
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    2. 42. Rechtin’s Heuristics Are Brilliant and Need to Be Studied and Followed
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    3. 43. Mistakes
      1. A Footnote to the IBM – Microsoft Story
      2. References and Recommended Reading
    4. 44. Cost Estimating
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    5. 45. Generalize
    6. 46. Risk Analysis and Mitigation
      1. Take Your Pick of Serial and Parallel Configurations
      2. References and Recommended Reading
    7. 47. Change, Options Open, and Iteration
      1. Rechtin’s Options Open
      2. Configuration Control and Management
      3. Iteration
      4. TBDs
      5. References and Recommended Reading
    8. 48. DOTSS
      1. References and Recommended Reading
    9. 49. Obversity
    10. 50. Vaillant, Turned into Lessons Considered
      1. Grit
      2. Intelligence
      3. Listening
      4. Focus
      5. Integrity
      6. Community Involvement
      7. Problem Solver
      8. Respect
      9. Curiosity
      10. Sense of Humor
      11. Resilient
      12. Growth-Oriented
      13. References and Recommended Reading
  15. 6 Top Ten Lessons
    1. 1. Stovepipes
    2. 2. Modeling and Simulation
    3. 3. Architecting
    4. 4. Amid a Wash of Paper …
    5. 5. Industry Initiatives and Government Support
    6. 6. The Elders in Systems Engineering
    7. 7. Functional Decomposition
    8. 8. Team Building
    9. 9. Risk Analysis and Mitigation
    10. 10. The Systems Approach and Systems Thinking
      1. References and Recommended Reading
  16. Index

Product information

  • Title: Systems Engineering
  • Author(s): Howard Eisner
  • Release date: July 2020
  • Publisher(s): CRC Press
  • ISBN: 9781000165852