PPI SYEN SPOTLIGHT: INCOSE IS-2021 and PPI’s Parsing Analysis template. However, there was no indication in the presentation that the current NLP logic specifically addressed either the Conditions for Action or Exceptions to Action elements that are part of PPI’s template. In contrast, the elaboration of the Resilience Scenario by the MITRE team provides a more rigorous method to express the Conditions for Action associated with such requirements. Future research on the use of NLP algorithms to populate system models or to generate allocated requirements from models should explicitly include handling of Conditions for Actions and Exceptions to Action. Such conditions may include system states, modes of behavior, completion of state or mode transitions or other events or newer constructs such as Resilience Scenarios.
INCOSE members may access the IS2021 presentations (once posted) through the Wiley Online Library link available in the INCOSE Connect portal.
Less clearly stated, but implied, is the principle that the design process (and specifically the decisions, therein) create the next layer of requirements that are allocated to the subsystems that flow from that design. Indeed, the subsystem requirements are created by the system design, but their documentation in specification form (whether as text, structured text, or models) is a critical handoff to reduce the risk of missed or misunderstood requirements on the subsystems.
In 2020, a team of INCOSE Fellows was asked to identify a set of heuristics useful in systems engineering today. The Heuristics project, led by Dorothy McKinney (Advanced Systems Thinking), discussed the subject and reported on their progress in a panel session titled, “Heuristics for Systems Engineering: Useful or Dangerous? Outdated or Enduring?” The Heuristics team has collected more than 500 heuristics and processed some of them so far to produce a set of 165 unique statements that have been published as an Online Heuristics Resource prototype in Stacker. INCOSE members may contact Dorothy McKinney to gain access to the prototype as a reviewer.
Systems-Engineering Heuristics and Principles at INCOSE IS2021 By John Fitch, BS EE and Physics, ESEP, PPI Consultant and Trainer INCOSE has undertaken the development and publication of heuristics for systems engineering as a valuable service to members. This emphasis was highlighted at the INCOSE 2021 International Symposium (IS2021) which included two panel sessions and a third presentation devoted to this topic.
None of the papers addressed side-by-side evaluation of the proposed automated analysis techniques with the quality and efficiency of skilled engineers using proven techniques such as Functional Analysis (control flow and item flow modeling), States & Modes Analysis or Parsing Analysis. Future research should be conducted such that the meaningful comparisons can be made between purely human analysis and differing levels of augmented intelligence by the partial use of AI. It is likely that the use of augmented intelligence will require significant extensions of requirement patterns and associated MBSE language elements to provide anything near complete coverage of the diverse types of requirements that may be faced when engineering solutions to complex problems.
August 2021
The panel discussion was triggered by the finding that the use of heuristics can be dangerous or helpful, depending on the context of their use. Panel members then shared their unique insights on this topic, with examples of both useful and potentially dangerous heuristics. Robert Halligan (Project Performance International) made the case for the power of heuristics to improve engineering outcomes: “I see the greatest opportunity for improvement in engineering outcomes arises not from system science or complexity theory or digital engineering information exchange, important as these are, but from engineers, junior and
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