ABSTRACT
However, unlike the classical engineering disciplines, systems engineering is primarily comprised of best practices rather than mathematical models and theory. As presented in this booklet, systems engineering requires the eliciting of stakeholder requirements and understanding how those stakeholders want to incorporate a new system into their existing environment. For example, how would a person change the way he or she listened to music when the MP3 player was introduced? If the new system is part of a broader enterprise, politics can be involved. For instance, there may be politics involved with what contractor is selected to design the new system. No amount of mathematics or theory can begin to deterministically describe that issue. But, there are aspects that do behave in a deterministic manner, such as characteristics of a network system or the behaviors of a system of systems. While network theory is pretty well established, system of systems theory is still in its infancy as far as mathematical modeling. Wherever possible, systems scientists need to strive toward modeling and developing solid theory.
