Difference between revisions of "Editor's Corner"

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|<center>''The “Editor’s Corner” provides perspective from the Editor in Chief on critical topics for systems engineering, either through their own words or by inviting a guest writer.''</center>
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|<center>''The ''Editor’s Corner'' provides perspective from the Editor in Chief on critical topics for systems engineering, either through their own words or by inviting a guest writer.''</center>
 
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<div style="text-align:right">'''20 November 2023'''</div>
  
<div style="text-align:right">'''31 May 2023'''</div>
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The formal discipline of systems engineering emerged in the first half of the 20th century. Over the last 80+ years, it has evolved from first principles to a process-focused field that generally operates in the defense and aerospace domains to a transdisciplinary one focusing on the integration and interaction between technology and people across a variety of domains. In its ''Vision 2035'', the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), states that “the practice of systems engineering will further evolve to support the demands of ever-increasing system complexity and enterprise competitiveness. By 2035, systems engineering will leverage the digital transformation in its tools and methods and will be largely model-based using integrated descriptive and analytical digital representations of the systems. Systems design, analysis, and simulation models, immersive technologies, and an analytic framework will enable broad trade-space exploration, rapid design evolution, and provide a shared understanding of the system throughout its life cycle.”
  
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The Systems Engineering Research Center [http://www.sercuarc.org (SERC)] led the initial creation of the ''Guide to the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge'' (SEBoK, pronounced “see-bach”). In 2009, the SERC began the three-year process of developing the SEBoK with a team of over 70 authors from around the world. Version 1.0 was published in 2012 and inpast 11 years the SEBoK has evolved in many ways: new topics, the inclusion of videos, a major rearrangement of the discussion, and perhaps most importantly, the addition of an area dedicated to the emerging topics of systems engineering.
  
<div style="text-align:justify">'''Change is hard, change is good…''' This is the last update to the SEBoK in which I will be the Editor in Chief. I became the third SEBoK Editor in chief in July 2018, replacing Richard Adcock, who replaced Art Pyster. Version 1.9.1 was released that October. Since then, there have been 9 major releases of the SEBoK counting this one, version 2.8. I have thoroughly enjoyed my 5-year tenure in this role. Thank you to all of the SEBoK participants and consumers for your continued support.
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Over the years, the SEBoK has been led by several Editors in Chief:
 +
*Art Pyster and Dave Olwell led the development of SEBoK through version 1.0, including the decision to implement the SEBoK as a wiki.
 +
*Rick Adcock, appointed the first Editor in Chief after the transition of SEBoK from a research task to a community-led effort, helped identify new members of the editorial board and oversaw the addition of the first domain-focused knowledge area, [[Healthcare Systems Engineering]].  
 +
*Rob Cloutier added the first new part to the SEBoK since its initial release: [[Emerging Knowledge]], which captures topics that are critical for systems engineers but for which the knowledge is not yet settled (e.g. artificial intelligence applications to systems engineering). Rob also fostered the addition of multi-media to the SEBoK and created and built upon articles about the discipline, including [[A Brief History of Systems Engineering]].
  
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I am honored to have been asked to be the newest Editor in Chief of the SEBoK. And like every Editor in Chief before me, I am extremely lucky to work with a group of editors and authors from around the world that have consistently supported the SEBoK. These people are critical representatives of the global systems engineering community, and the SEBoK would not be possible without their tireless efforts.
  
'''Changes to the SEBoK in the past 5 years:'''
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Looking forward as the discipline of systems engineering evolves, the SEBoK will need to evolve with it. At my first INCOSE International Symposium in 2008, I heard about something called "model-based systems engineering". The last 5 years have seen a tremendous push toward "digital engineering". Both of these are currently reflected in the SEBoK, but we need to do more. Digital transformation is a critical topic for systems engineers and will continue to be for at least the next decade. But the true end state is not that we as a discipline create new pockets of practice but that instead we move as a community toward a data- and model-enabled way of working. My sincere hope is that in 2033, we will talk not about MBSE or DE but about systems engineering with models and data a standard part of practice. To that end, I'm pleased to share that we have assembled a team whose mission is to integrate the discussion of using models and data throughout the SEBoK and that Rob Cloutier has agreed to spearhead this effort.
  
* The position of Managing Editor was created, replacing the role of Assistant Editor. Nicole Hutchison transitioned to become the first SEBoK Managing Editor.
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Finally, I encourage anyone with an interest to reach out to the SEBoK team [mailto:sebok@incose.net sebok@incose.net]. We welcome your feedback and insights and look forward to partnering with you as we move toward the SEBoK of the future.  
* The SEBoK began giving recognition to our article authors of SEBoK by creating a by-line for primary and supporting authors. We also did our best to look at the past articles and give those authors the same recognition.
 
* The SEBoK celebrated its 10<sup>th</sup> anniversary in 2022
 
* We lost a beloved colleague, Dr. Barry Boehm that same year.
 
* We now have 6 corporate and academic sponsors: Project Performance International, George Mason University, University of South Alabama, Caltech, Missouri S&T, and Weber State University.
 
* IEEE Systems Council is now part of the Governing Board, replacing the IEEE Computing Society.
 
* During this time, the SEBoK has been visited by 1.9M customers, with a total of 4.3M pageviews.
 
* We added a new section to the SEBoK – Part 8 to address emerging technologies.
 
* There is a new Part editor for virtually every section of the SEBoK.
 
  
 
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Sincerely,
'''Changes to the practice of Systems Engineering in the past 5 years:'''
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[[File:Hutchison_Signature.png|200px|left]]
 
 
I wrote my first article on MBSE in 2003, titled “Modeling a System of Systems Using UML”, Conference on Systems Engineering Research (CSER), Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ with my coauthors Andrew Winkler, Clay Fickle, and John Watson. Only we did not call it "MBSE" then. Now, 20 years later, MBSE is the way we do systems engineering. I do not know if the fact that it took 20 years to get here is a good thing or a bad thing, but, we continue to update the SEBoK to reflect this approach.
 
 
 
 
 
'''New challenges…'''
 
 
 
And, we have new challenges in front of us. I have been writing about the challenge of systems engineering the concept of metaverse as it relates to digital twins and blockchains. However, since the last SEBoK version update, artificial intelligence tools and usage has exploded. The Systems Engineering Research Center ([www.sercuarc.org SERC]) is leading the pack on thinking about this, but I believe the community as a whole is in catchup mode.
 
 
 
 
 
'''Finally, looking forward…'''
 
 
 
Beginning July 1<sup>st</sup>, my friend and colleague, Dr. Nicole Hutchison will become the next SEBoK Editor in Chief. My tenure as Editor in Chief would not have been as successful without her strong support. I want to wish her best of luck, fair winds, and following seas…
 
 
 
</div>
 
 
 
[[File:RobSignature2.jpeg|200px|left]]
 

Latest revision as of 20:12, 19 November 2023

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The Editor’s Corner provides perspective from the Editor in Chief on critical topics for systems engineering, either through their own words or by inviting a guest writer.
20 November 2023

The formal discipline of systems engineering emerged in the first half of the 20th century. Over the last 80+ years, it has evolved from first principles to a process-focused field that generally operates in the defense and aerospace domains to a transdisciplinary one focusing on the integration and interaction between technology and people across a variety of domains. In its Vision 2035, the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), states that “the practice of systems engineering will further evolve to support the demands of ever-increasing system complexity and enterprise competitiveness. By 2035, systems engineering will leverage the digital transformation in its tools and methods and will be largely model-based using integrated descriptive and analytical digital representations of the systems. Systems design, analysis, and simulation models, immersive technologies, and an analytic framework will enable broad trade-space exploration, rapid design evolution, and provide a shared understanding of the system throughout its life cycle.”

The Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) led the initial creation of the Guide to the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK, pronounced “see-bach”). In 2009, the SERC began the three-year process of developing the SEBoK with a team of over 70 authors from around the world. Version 1.0 was published in 2012 and inpast 11 years the SEBoK has evolved in many ways: new topics, the inclusion of videos, a major rearrangement of the discussion, and perhaps most importantly, the addition of an area dedicated to the emerging topics of systems engineering.

Over the years, the SEBoK has been led by several Editors in Chief:

  • Art Pyster and Dave Olwell led the development of SEBoK through version 1.0, including the decision to implement the SEBoK as a wiki.
  • Rick Adcock, appointed the first Editor in Chief after the transition of SEBoK from a research task to a community-led effort, helped identify new members of the editorial board and oversaw the addition of the first domain-focused knowledge area, Healthcare Systems Engineering.
  • Rob Cloutier added the first new part to the SEBoK since its initial release: Emerging Knowledge, which captures topics that are critical for systems engineers but for which the knowledge is not yet settled (e.g. artificial intelligence applications to systems engineering). Rob also fostered the addition of multi-media to the SEBoK and created and built upon articles about the discipline, including A Brief History of Systems Engineering.

I am honored to have been asked to be the newest Editor in Chief of the SEBoK. And like every Editor in Chief before me, I am extremely lucky to work with a group of editors and authors from around the world that have consistently supported the SEBoK. These people are critical representatives of the global systems engineering community, and the SEBoK would not be possible without their tireless efforts.

Looking forward as the discipline of systems engineering evolves, the SEBoK will need to evolve with it. At my first INCOSE International Symposium in 2008, I heard about something called "model-based systems engineering". The last 5 years have seen a tremendous push toward "digital engineering". Both of these are currently reflected in the SEBoK, but we need to do more. Digital transformation is a critical topic for systems engineers and will continue to be for at least the next decade. But the true end state is not that we as a discipline create new pockets of practice but that instead we move as a community toward a data- and model-enabled way of working. My sincere hope is that in 2033, we will talk not about MBSE or DE but about systems engineering with models and data a standard part of practice. To that end, I'm pleased to share that we have assembled a team whose mission is to integrate the discussion of using models and data throughout the SEBoK and that Rob Cloutier has agreed to spearhead this effort.

Finally, I encourage anyone with an interest to reach out to the SEBoK team sebok@incose.net. We welcome your feedback and insights and look forward to partnering with you as we move toward the SEBoK of the future.

Sincerely,

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