Difference between revisions of "Scope of the SEBoK"

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The SEBoK is a large compendium of information about [[Systems Engineering (glossary)|systems engineering]]. It:
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The SEBoK is a large, curated compendium of information about {{Term|Systems Engineering (glossary)|systems engineering}}. It:
*is a guide to the body of systems engineering knowledge which provides references to detailed sources for additional information; it is not a self-contained knowledge resource
+
*is a guide to the body of SE knowledge which provides references to detailed sources for additional information; it is not a self-contained knowledge resource
*is domain-independent, with implementation examples to provide domain-specific context
+
*focuses on {{Term|Engineered System (glossary)|Engineered Systems}} contexts, that is socio-technical systems with a recognized SE {{Term|Life Cycle (glossary)|life cycle}},
*focuses on engineered systems (ES), that is, products, services, enterprises, and systems of systems (SoS), while treating social and natural systems as relevant and important environmental considerations for ESs (see the discussion below for more on this as well as look at [[What is a System?]] in [[Systems|Part 2]])  
+
*while treating social and natural systems as relevant and important environmental considerations (see [[Foundations of Systems Engineering|Part 2]])
*recognizes that SE principles can be applied differently to different types of systems (see [[Applications of Systems Engineering|Part 4]])
+
*describes generic SE life cycle and p{{Term|Process (glossary)|rocess}} knowledge (see [[Systems Engineering and Management|Part 3]])  
 +
*recognizes that SE principles can be applied differently to different types of {{Term|Product (glossary)|products}}, {{Term|Service (glossary)|services}}, {{Term|Enterprise (glossary)|enterprises}}, and {{Term|System of Systems (SoS) (glossary)|systems of systems}} (SoS) context (see [[Applications of Systems Engineering|Part 4]])
 +
*provides resources for organization support of SE activities (see [[Enabling Systems Engineering|Part 5]])
 
*explores the interaction between SE and other disciplines, highlighting what systems engineers need to know about these disciplines (see [[Systems Engineering and Other Disciplines|Part 6]])
 
*explores the interaction between SE and other disciplines, highlighting what systems engineers need to know about these disciplines (see [[Systems Engineering and Other Disciplines|Part 6]])
 +
*is domain-independent, with implementation examples to provide domain-specific context (see [[Systems Engineering Implementation Examples|Part 7]])
  
 
Each of these considerations depends upon the definition and scope of SE itself, which is the subject of the next section.
 
Each of these considerations depends upon the definition and scope of SE itself, which is the subject of the next section.
  
==SE and Engineered Systems Project Life Cycle Context==
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==SEBoK Purposes==
  
Figure 1 summarizes the main agents, activities, and artifacts involved in the life cycle of SE, in the context of a project to create and evolve an ES.  
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Ongoing studies of system cost and schedule failures (Gruhl & Stutzke 2005; Johnson 2006, GAO 2016) and safety failures (Leveson 2012) have shown that the failures have mostly come not from their domain disciplines, but from lack of adequate Systems Engineering (NDIA 2003, 2006, 2016).  To provide a foundation for the mutual understanding of SE needed to reduce these failure, the SEBoK describes the boundaries, terminology, content, and structure of SE. In so doing, the SEBoK systematically and consistently supports six broad purposes, described in Table 1.  
  
For each primary project life cycle phase, we see activities being performed by primary agents, changing the state of the ES.  
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{|
 +
|+ '''Table 1. SEBoK Purposes.''' (SEBoK Original)
 +
|-
 +
!#
 +
!Purpose
 +
!Description
 +
|-
 +
|1
 +
|Inform Practice
 +
|Inform systems engineers about the boundaries, terminology, and structure of their discipline and point them to useful information needed to practice SE in any application domain.
 +
|-
 +
|2
 +
|Inform Research
 +
|Inform researchers about the limitations and gaps in current SE knowledge that should help guide their research agenda. 
 +
|-
 +
|3
 +
|Inform Interactors
 +
|Inform performers in interacting disciplines (system implementation, project and enterprise management, other disciplines) and other stakeholders of the nature and value of SE.
 +
|-
 +
|4
 +
|Inform Curriculum Developers
 +
|Inform organizations defining the content that should be common in undergraduate and graduate programs in SE. 
 +
|-
 +
|5
 +
|Inform Certifiers
 +
|Inform organizations certifying individuals as qualified to practice systems engineering. 
 +
|-
 +
|6
 +
|Inform SE Staffing
 +
|Inform organizations and managers deciding which competencies that practicing systems engineers should possess in various roles ranging from apprentice to expert.  
 +
|}
  
*Primary project life cycle phases appear in the leftmost column. They are system definition, system initial operational capability (IOC) development, and system evolution and retirement.  
+
The SEBoK is a guide to the body of SE knowledge, not an attempt to capture that knowledge directly. It provides references to more detailed sources of knowledge, all of which are generally available to any interested reader. No proprietary information is referenced, but not all referenced material is free—for example, some books or standards must be purchased from their publishers. The criterion for including a source is simply that the [[Acknowledgements and Release History|authors & editors]] believed it offered the best generally available information on a particular subject.
*Primary agents appear in the three inner columns of the top row. They are systems engineers, systems developers, and primary project-external bodies (users, owners, external systems) which constitute the project environment.  
 
*The ES, which appears in the rightmost column, may be a product, a service, and/or an enterprise.  
 
  
In each row:
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The SEBoK is global in applicability. Although SE is practiced differently from industry to industry and country to country, the SEBoK is written to be useful to systems engineers anywhere. The authors & editors were chosen from diverse locales and industries, and have refined the SEBoK to broaden applicability based on extensive global reviews of several drafts.
*boxes in each inner column show activities being performed by the agent listed in the top row of that column
 
*the resulting artifacts appears in the rightmost box
 
  
Arrows indicate dependencies: an arrow from box A to box B means that the successful outcome of box B depends on the successful outcome of box A.
+
The SEBoK aims to inform a wide variety of user communities about essential SE concepts and practices, in ways that can be tailored to different enterprises and activities while retaining greater commonality and consistency than would be possible without the SEBoK. Because the world in which SE is being applied continues to evolve and is dynamic, the SEBoK is designed for easy, continuous updating as new sources of knowledge emerge.
  
Two-headed arrows indicate a two-way dependencies: an arrow that points both from box A to box B and from box B to box A means that the successful outcome of each box depends on the successful outcome of the other.
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==SEBoK Uses==
 +
The communities involved with SE include its various specialists, engineers from disciplines other than systems engineering, managers, researchers, and educators. This diversity means that there is no single best way to use the SEBoK. The SEBoK includes use cases that highlight potential ways that particular communities can draw upon the content of the SEBoK, identify articles of interest to those communities, and discuss primary users (those who use the SEBoK directly), and secondary users (those who use the SEBoK with assistance from a systems engineer). For more on this, see the article [[SEBoK Users and Uses]].
  
For example, consider how the inevitable changes that arise during system development and evolution are handled:
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==SEBoK Domain Independent Context==
 +
The SEBoK uses language and concepts that are generally accepted for domain-independent SE. For example, the domain-independent conceptual foundations of SE are elaborated in [[Foundations of Systems Engineering|Part 2: Foundations of Systems Engineering]]. However, each of the numerous domains in which SE is practiced — including telecommunications, finance, medicine, and aerospace — has its own specialized vocabulary and key concepts. Accordingly, the SEBoK is designed to show how its domain-independent material relates to individual domains in two ways. 
  
*One box shows that the system’s users and owners may propose changes.
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Firstly, by means of examples that tell stories of how SE is applied in particular domains. [[Systems Engineering Implementation Examples|Part 7: Systems Engineering Implementation Examples]] ) consists of examples (case studies and vignettes), each set in a particular domain such as aerospace, medicine, or software, and featuring vocabulary and concepts special to that domain. There are similar vignettes in some of the [[SEBoK Users and Uses|Use Cases]] in Part 1. These examples demonstrate the effect of domain on the application of SE and complement the domain-independent information elsewhere in the SEBoK. They show how a concept works in a given domain and provide a fair opportunity for reviewers to reflect on whether there are better ways to capture application-dependent aspects of SE knowledge.  
*The changes must be negotiated with the systems developers, who are shown in a second box.  
 
*The negotiations are mediated by systems engineers, who are shown in a third box in between the first two.
 
*Since the proposed changes run from left to right and the counter-proposals run from right to left, all three boxes are connected by two-headed arrows. This reflects the two-way dependencies of the negotiation.
 
  
[[File:P1_Scope_and_Con_SE_and_Eng_Sys_Proj_LF_BB.jpg|600px|thumb|center|'''Figure 1. SE and Engineered System Project Life Cycle Context: Related Agents, Activities, and Artifacts.''' (SEBoK Original)]]
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In addition, the SEBoK will contain knowledge areas in [[Applications of Systems Engineering|Part 4: Applications of Systems Engineering]] which explicitly describe the domain specific language, approaches, specialized processes and tools, etc. of particular application domains. In this version of the SEBoK there are a limited set of domain knowledge areas. 
  
An agent-activity-artifact diagram like Figure 1 can be used to capture complex interactions. Taking a more detailed view of the present example demonstrates this:
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The SEBoK authors & editors recognize the value of both case studies and domain extensions, both will be expanded in later versions.
  
*The system’s users and owners (stakeholders) propose changes to respond to competitive threats or opportunities, or to adapt to changes imposed by independently evolving external systems, such as Commercial-off-the-Shelf COTS products, cloud services, or supply chain enablers.
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==References==
*Negotiation among these stakeholders and the system developers follows, mediated by the SEs.
 
*The role of the SEs is to analyze the relative costs and benefits of alternative change proposals, and synthesize mutually satisfactory solutions.
 
  
==SEBoK Domain Independence Context==
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===Works Cited===
 
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GAO, 2016. ''Weapon System Requirements. Detailed Systems Engineering Prior to Product Development Positions Programs for Success''. Government Accounting Office Report to Congressional Committees.
The SEBoK uses language and concepts that are generally accepted for domain-independent SE. For example, the domain-independent conceptual foundations of SE are elaborated in [[Systems|Part 2, Systems]]. However, each of the numerous domains in which SE is practiced — including telecommunications, finance, medicine, and aerospace — has its own specialized vocabulary and key concepts. Accordingly, the SEBoK is designed to show how its domain-independent material relates to individual domains, by means of examples that tell stories of how SE is applied in particular domains.
 
  
While the main body of the SEBoK (Parts 1 through 6) is domain-independent, all of ([[Systems Engineering Implementation Examples|Part 7]] ) consists of examples (case studies and vignettes), each set in a particular domain such as aerospace, medicine, or software, and featuring vocabulary and concepts special to that domain. There are similar vignettes in some of the [[SEBoK Users and Uses|Use Cases]] in Part 1.
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Gruhl, W. and Stutzke, R. 2005. "Werner Gruhl Analysis of SE Investments and NASA Overruns," in R. Stutzke, ''Estimating Software-Intensive Systems''. Boston, MA, USA: Addison Wesley, page 290.  
  
These examples demonstrate the effect of domain on the application of SE and complement the domain-independent information elsewhere in the SEBoK. They show how a concept works in a given domain and provide a fair opportunity for reviewers to reflect on whether there are better ways to capture application-dependent aspects of SE knowledge.  
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Johnson, J. 2006. ''My Life Is Failure: 100 Things You Should Know to Be a Better Project Leader''. Boston, MA, USA: Standish Group International.
  
The authors recognize that case studies and vignettes add significant value to the SEBoK, and expect many more to be added as the SEBoK evolves.
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Leveson, N. 2012. ''Engineering a Safer World: Systems Thinking Applied to Safety''. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.
  
==SEBoK Life Cycle Context==
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NDIA (National Defense Industrial Association). 2003. ''Top 5 Systems Engineering Issues Top 5 Systems Engineering Issues within DOD and Defense Industry Task Report''. Version 9, dated 1/23/03July. Last accessed 10/25/2019 from [https://ndiastorage.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/ndia/2006/systems/Wednesday/rassa5.pdf https://www.aticourses.com/sampler/TopFiveSystemsEngineeringIssues_In_DefenseIndustry.pdf].
Figure 2 summarizes the main agents, activities, and artifacts in the SEBoK life cycle.  
 
  
The SEBoK is one of two complementary products. The other, which uses the content of the SEBoK to define a core Body of Knowledge to be included in graduate SE curricula, is called the Graduate Reference Curriculum in Systems Engineering (GRCSE) (Pyster et al 2012). GRCSE is not a standard, but a reference curriculum to be tailored and extended to meet the objectives of each university’s graduate program. These products are being developed by the Body of Knowledge and Curriculum to Advance Systems Engineering (BKCASE) project (see http://www.bkcase.org).
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NDIA (National Defense Industrial Association). 2006. ''Top 5 Systems Engineering Issues Top 5 Systems Engineering Issues within DOD and Defense Industry DOD and Defense Industry: Task Report''. Dated July 26-27, 2006. Last accessed 10/25/2019 from https://ndiastorage.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/ndia/2006/systems/Wednesday/rassa5.pdf.  
  
[[File:P1_Scope_and_Con_SEbok_LC_and_Cont_Related_Agents_BB.jpg|400px|thumb|center|'''Figure 2. SEBoK Life Cycle and Context: Related Agents, Activities, and Artifacts.''' (SEBoK Original)]]
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NDIA (National Defense Industrial Association). 2016. ''Top Systems Engineering Issues In US Defense Industry 2016''. Version 7c. Last accessed 10/25/2019 from https://www.ndia.org/-/media/sites/ndia/divisions/systems-engineering/studies-and-reports/ndia-top-se-issues-2016-report-v7c.ashx?la=en.
  
The BKCASE project, led by Stevens Institute of Technology and the Naval Postgraduate School, draws upon three primary resources. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has provided the funding and a representative, but does has not constrain or direct the project’s approach and content. The DoD Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC), a DoD university-affiliated research center operated by Stevens Institute of Technology, supports BKCASE management and infrastructure and is the means by which DoD funding is delivered to the BKCASE project. The international author team of more than 70 members has been selected for expertise in SE and diversity of national origin (authors have come from 15 different countries), economic sector (government, industry, academia), and SE specialty area. Except for travel support in a few cases, authors have donated their time to the development of the SEBoK content.
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===Primary References===  
 
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None.
The SEBoK content has been developed incrementally. Each of the prototype versions (0.25, 0.5, and 0.75) has undergone an open review by all interested parties. Over 200 reviewers have submitted thousands of comments, each of which has been adjudicated. Upon completion of the initial SEBoK and GRCSE development in late 2012, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Computer Society (IEEE-CS) and the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), together with the SERC, are anticipated to become the primary stewards for both the SEBoK and the GRCSE. Interested parties will be able develop, operate, and support derivative products and services such as courseware, education, certification, and domain-specific versions of the SEBoK and the GRCSE. [[Bkcase Wiki:Copyright|Copyright Information]] offers complete information about what others may do with the content of the SEBoK.
 
 
 
==References==
 
 
 
===Works Cited===
 
INCOSE. 2012. ''Systems Engineering Handbook'', version 3.2.2. San Diego, CA, USA: International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE). INCOSE-TP-2003-002-03.2.
 
 
 
Pyster, A., D.H. Olwell, T. Ferris, N. Hutchison, S. Enck, J.F. Anthony, D. Henry, and A. Squires (eds). 2012. "Graduate Reference Curriculum for Systems Engineering (GRCSE™)", version 0.5. Hoboken, NJ, USA: The Trustees of the Stevens Institute of Technology ©2012. Available at: http://www.bkcase.org/grcse-05/.
 
 
 
===Primary References===
 
INCOSE. 2012. ''[[INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook|Systems Engineering Handbook]]'', version 3.2.2. San Diego, CA, USA: International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE). INCOSE-TP-2003-002-03.2.
 
 
 
Pyster, A., D.H. Olwell, T.L.J. Ferris, N. Hutchison, S. Enck, J.F. Anthony, D. Henry, and A. Squires (eds). 2012. ''Graduate Reference Curriculum for Systems Engineering (GRCSE™)'', version 0.5. Hoboken, NJ, USA: The Trustees of the Stevens Institute of Technology ©2012. Available at: http://www.bkcase.org/grcse-05/.
 
  
 
===Additional References===
 
===Additional References===
Sage, A. and W. Rouse (eds). 1999. ''Handbook of Systems Engineering and Management''. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.  
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None.
  
 
----
 
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<center>[[Systems Engineering and Other Disciplines|< Previous Article]] | [[SEBoK 1.0 Introduction|Parent Article]] | [[Structure of the SEBoK|Next Article >]]</center>
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<center>[[Introduction to the SEBoK|< Previous Article]] | [[Introduction to the SEBoK|Parent Article]] | [[Structure of the SEBoK|Next Article >]]</center>
  
 
[[Category:Part 1]]
 
[[Category:Part 1]]
 +
[[Category:Introduction to the SEBoK]]
  
 
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<center>'''SEBoK v. 2.1, released 31 October 2019'''</center>
 
 
{{DISQUS}}
 

Revision as of 09:04, 28 October 2019

The SEBoK is a large, curated compendium of information about systems engineeringsystems engineering. It:

  • is a guide to the body of SE knowledge which provides references to detailed sources for additional information; it is not a self-contained knowledge resource
  • focuses on Engineered SystemsEngineered Systems contexts, that is socio-technical systems with a recognized SE life cyclelife cycle,
  • while treating social and natural systems as relevant and important environmental considerations (see Part 2)
  • describes generic SE life cycle and processrocess knowledge (see Part 3)
  • recognizes that SE principles can be applied differently to different types of productsproducts, servicesservices, enterprisesenterprises, and systems of systemssystems of systems (SoS) context (see Part 4)
  • provides resources for organization support of SE activities (see Part 5)
  • explores the interaction between SE and other disciplines, highlighting what systems engineers need to know about these disciplines (see Part 6)
  • is domain-independent, with implementation examples to provide domain-specific context (see Part 7)

Each of these considerations depends upon the definition and scope of SE itself, which is the subject of the next section.

SEBoK Purposes

Ongoing studies of system cost and schedule failures (Gruhl & Stutzke 2005; Johnson 2006, GAO 2016) and safety failures (Leveson 2012) have shown that the failures have mostly come not from their domain disciplines, but from lack of adequate Systems Engineering (NDIA 2003, 2006, 2016). To provide a foundation for the mutual understanding of SE needed to reduce these failure, the SEBoK describes the boundaries, terminology, content, and structure of SE. In so doing, the SEBoK systematically and consistently supports six broad purposes, described in Table 1.

Table 1. SEBoK Purposes. (SEBoK Original)
# Purpose Description
1 Inform Practice Inform systems engineers about the boundaries, terminology, and structure of their discipline and point them to useful information needed to practice SE in any application domain.
2 Inform Research Inform researchers about the limitations and gaps in current SE knowledge that should help guide their research agenda.
3 Inform Interactors Inform performers in interacting disciplines (system implementation, project and enterprise management, other disciplines) and other stakeholders of the nature and value of SE.
4 Inform Curriculum Developers Inform organizations defining the content that should be common in undergraduate and graduate programs in SE.
5 Inform Certifiers Inform organizations certifying individuals as qualified to practice systems engineering.
6 Inform SE Staffing Inform organizations and managers deciding which competencies that practicing systems engineers should possess in various roles ranging from apprentice to expert.

The SEBoK is a guide to the body of SE knowledge, not an attempt to capture that knowledge directly. It provides references to more detailed sources of knowledge, all of which are generally available to any interested reader. No proprietary information is referenced, but not all referenced material is free—for example, some books or standards must be purchased from their publishers. The criterion for including a source is simply that the authors & editors believed it offered the best generally available information on a particular subject.

The SEBoK is global in applicability. Although SE is practiced differently from industry to industry and country to country, the SEBoK is written to be useful to systems engineers anywhere. The authors & editors were chosen from diverse locales and industries, and have refined the SEBoK to broaden applicability based on extensive global reviews of several drafts.

The SEBoK aims to inform a wide variety of user communities about essential SE concepts and practices, in ways that can be tailored to different enterprises and activities while retaining greater commonality and consistency than would be possible without the SEBoK. Because the world in which SE is being applied continues to evolve and is dynamic, the SEBoK is designed for easy, continuous updating as new sources of knowledge emerge.

SEBoK Uses

The communities involved with SE include its various specialists, engineers from disciplines other than systems engineering, managers, researchers, and educators. This diversity means that there is no single best way to use the SEBoK. The SEBoK includes use cases that highlight potential ways that particular communities can draw upon the content of the SEBoK, identify articles of interest to those communities, and discuss primary users (those who use the SEBoK directly), and secondary users (those who use the SEBoK with assistance from a systems engineer). For more on this, see the article SEBoK Users and Uses.

SEBoK Domain Independent Context

The SEBoK uses language and concepts that are generally accepted for domain-independent SE. For example, the domain-independent conceptual foundations of SE are elaborated in Part 2: Foundations of Systems Engineering. However, each of the numerous domains in which SE is practiced — including telecommunications, finance, medicine, and aerospace — has its own specialized vocabulary and key concepts. Accordingly, the SEBoK is designed to show how its domain-independent material relates to individual domains in two ways.

Firstly, by means of examples that tell stories of how SE is applied in particular domains. Part 7: Systems Engineering Implementation Examples ) consists of examples (case studies and vignettes), each set in a particular domain such as aerospace, medicine, or software, and featuring vocabulary and concepts special to that domain. There are similar vignettes in some of the Use Cases in Part 1. These examples demonstrate the effect of domain on the application of SE and complement the domain-independent information elsewhere in the SEBoK. They show how a concept works in a given domain and provide a fair opportunity for reviewers to reflect on whether there are better ways to capture application-dependent aspects of SE knowledge.

In addition, the SEBoK will contain knowledge areas in Part 4: Applications of Systems Engineering which explicitly describe the domain specific language, approaches, specialized processes and tools, etc. of particular application domains. In this version of the SEBoK there are a limited set of domain knowledge areas.

The SEBoK authors & editors recognize the value of both case studies and domain extensions, both will be expanded in later versions.

References

Works Cited

GAO, 2016. Weapon System Requirements. Detailed Systems Engineering Prior to Product Development Positions Programs for Success. Government Accounting Office Report to Congressional Committees.

Gruhl, W. and Stutzke, R. 2005. "Werner Gruhl Analysis of SE Investments and NASA Overruns," in R. Stutzke, Estimating Software-Intensive Systems. Boston, MA, USA: Addison Wesley, page 290.

Johnson, J. 2006. My Life Is Failure: 100 Things You Should Know to Be a Better Project Leader. Boston, MA, USA: Standish Group International.

Leveson, N. 2012. Engineering a Safer World: Systems Thinking Applied to Safety. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.

NDIA (National Defense Industrial Association). 2003. Top 5 Systems Engineering Issues Top 5 Systems Engineering Issues within DOD and Defense Industry Task Report. Version 9, dated 1/23/03July. Last accessed 10/25/2019 from https://www.aticourses.com/sampler/TopFiveSystemsEngineeringIssues_In_DefenseIndustry.pdf.

NDIA (National Defense Industrial Association). 2006. Top 5 Systems Engineering Issues Top 5 Systems Engineering Issues within DOD and Defense Industry DOD and Defense Industry: Task Report. Dated July 26-27, 2006. Last accessed 10/25/2019 from https://ndiastorage.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/ndia/2006/systems/Wednesday/rassa5.pdf.

NDIA (National Defense Industrial Association). 2016. Top Systems Engineering Issues In US Defense Industry 2016. Version 7c. Last accessed 10/25/2019 from https://www.ndia.org/-/media/sites/ndia/divisions/systems-engineering/studies-and-reports/ndia-top-se-issues-2016-report-v7c.ashx?la=en.

Primary References

None.

Additional References

None.


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SEBoK v. 2.1, released 31 October 2019