Systems Engineering

TWELVE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING ROLES

Sarah A. Sheard Software Productivity Consortium 2214 Rock Hill Rd, Herndon VA 22070 sheard@software.org, (703) 742-7106

Abstract. Twelve roles are described which are occasionally or frequently assumed to constitute the practice of systems engineering. Some roles fit naturally as life-cycle roles, others fit the Program Management set of roles, while still others are not normally thought of in either group. Interactions between the roles are discussed, and the systems engineering roles assumed by the papers in the inaugural issue of Systems Engineering, the Journal of INCOSE, are compared to these categories. INTRODUCTION Since its inception, INCOSE has been attempting to resolve the question of what, exactly, is systems engineering. Several dualities have been explored, including whether systems engineers are specialists or generalists, and whether systems engineering is a set of life-cycle roles, such as the generation of specifications and verification programs, or an overall program management discipline. There has even been a discussion on whether systems engineering is a discipline or an attitude [Mar 92]. Worthy and wise arguments have been put forth on both sides of each issue, leaving some to despair of ever being able to pin down definitions that all can agree on. A local chapter presentation on the value of systems engineering1 provided the impetus for this paper. The presenters seemed to be talking about entirely different definitions of systems engineering and the roles that systems engineers play. A compilation of the roles seemed essential to deciding many important questions in the field of systems engineering. A companion paper in this volume, “The Value of Twelve Systems Engineering Roles” [Sheard 96], addresses the value of systems engineering from the point of view of the roles described in this paper. To derive these twelve systems engineering roles, papers in the inaugural issue of Systems Engineering, the...