System Engineering Overview Flashcards
What are the systems considered in ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 and SE Handbook?
Systems are man-made, created and utilized to provide products or services in defined environments for the benefit of users and other stakeholders.
Page 12
Is system boundary a subset of elements that interact with the environment?
No.
The system boundary is a line of demarcation between the system itself and its greater context, it defines what belongs to the system and what does not.
Page 14
Where does the functionality of a system derive from? From the interactions of individual elements with the environmental elements and?
It also derives from how those interactions are influenced by the organization (interrelations) of the system elements.
Page 14
What is the difference of black box and white box system representation?
The black box representation is based on an external view of the system (attributes), the white box representation is based on an internal view of the system (attributes and structure of the elements).
Page 16
Is it true that emergent behavior of a system is the time evolution of the system state?
No.
The time evolution of the system state is the dynamic behavior of a system. Emergent behavior is a behavior of the system that cannot be understood exclusively in terms of the behavior of the individual system elements.
Page 16
What is the span of control suggested by Urwick for each level in the hierarchy?
No more than 7±2 elements.
Page 20
What are the five characteristics that help to decide if a particular SOI can better be understood as an SoS?
- Operational independence of constituent systems;
- Managerial independence of constituent systems;
- Geographical distribution;
- Emergent behavior;
- Evolutionary development processes.
Page 22
Can we understand a complex system by breaking it down into parts recursively?
No, it only works for complicated system but not complex system because the emergent properties that we really care about disappear when we examine the parts in isolation.
Page 24
What are the challenges influence the engineering of an SoS?
- Sos authorities;
- Leadership;
- Constituent systems’ perspectives;
- Capabilities and requirements;
- Autonomy, interdependencies, and emergence;
- Testing, validation, and learning;
- SoS principles;
- Security perspective
Page 24-28
Do we need to consider enabling systems during the life cycle states for an SOI?
Yes.
During the life cycle stages for an SOI, it is necessary to concurrently consider the relevant enabling systems and the SOI. All too often, it is assumed that the enabling systems will be available when needed and are not considered in the SOI development, this can lead to significant issues for the progress of the SOI through its life cycle.
Page 28
What is the optimum level of SE efforts for a normalized program?
14%.
Page 44
Is “seeks to understand the big picture” an essential property of a systems thinker?
Yes.
There are 13 essential properties listed on the SE Handbook.
Page 56-58
What are the key differences between leaders and managers?
- Coping with change versus coping with complexity
- Setting a direction versus planning and budgeting
- Aligning people versus organizing and staffing
- Motivating people versus controlling and problem solving
Page 64
What are the four skill levels defined by SE Competency Framework?
Awareness, supervised practitioner, practitioner, and expert.
Page 66
