Unifying systems engineering: Seven principles for systems engineered solution systems

Abstract

Systems engineering is presently demonstrating the characteristics of being in the emerging stages of a discipline. A discipline generally matures when an overriding axiom is presented and accepted by the majority of practitioners. This paper presents one such high level underpinning axiom for systems engineering that has the potential to unite the disparate camps within systems engineering and enable the practice of systems engineering in all application domains to achieve successes similar to those it achieved in the National Aeronautical and Aerospace (NASA) environment in the 1960's and 1970's. The axiom does this by focusing on the solution system rather than on systems engineering. © 2011 by the Authors.