Case study in establishing systems engineering principles: One organization's experience
17th Annual International Symposium of the International Council on Systems Engineering, INCOSE 2007 - Systems Engineering: Key to Intelligent Enterprises
Even within a well-established systems engineering organization, formalizing the practice of systems engineering can be an arduous task. This paper describes one organization's effort to start this formalization by defining and documenting the very foundation of its practice: its systems engineering principles. Topics include the process for developing principles (augmenting organizational guidance with industry best practices), the final form of the principles (justifying terminology), and the connection to broader formalization efforts (associating the principles diagram to the systems engineering logo). The principles are divided into four categories that tie mainstream systems engineering definitions together: Stakeholder, Systems Engineer, Problem, and Solution. © 2007 by Sandia National Laboratories.