Beyond Technology

Curiously, systems thinking does not seem to be applied to systems engineering, at least not on a regular basis. Systems thinking certainly addresses the product of systems engineering, the system that is to be delivered to some customer, but rarely is it directed toward the creating system itself.

To be sure, there are different paradigms for systems engineering, as we have seen in the foregoing chapter, but these seem to be the subject of assertion rather than exploration. For example, consider the statement: "Our organization employs concurrent engineering; it saves time and money." This might be described as the "machismo" approach to systems engineering and to project management since, in the wrong circumstances, concurrent engineering (or any other arbitrary prescription) may cost more time and money; not less.

To presume that one systems engineering paradigm is always better than another regardless of circumstance is unwise. To presume that any of the classic paradigms is the ideal solution in a particular circumstance may be unwise, too. Paradigms are archetypal, that is, they serve as an ideal world model. In practice, variations from the ideal may be advantageous, the more so as conditions and situations may be changing continually throughout the creation process.

The five-layer structure showed...