TRAK Community - Systems-Thinkers Forums

Why Are There No Decent Open Source Requirement Management Tools / Projects?

2011-05-02T11:53:53+00:00

I’m not aware of any open source requirement management tools (suggestions welcome). Why is this? Are systems people not fussed or are they too hard to co-erce into a pragmatic group?

It can’t be that hard to come up with a MySQL scheme and wrap a front end that can capture links and attributes. The hardest bit is probably providing interoperability with a DOORS file/module. Still not rocket science though.

BBC Radio 4 17th February 2011 - 21:00 Scientists of the Subprime

2011-02-16T17:02:30+00:00

Listened to a trailer for a radio programme this week. Very much about applying systems-thinking to the world of banking and money markets but using skills from the science and in particular, biological field:

Scientists of the Subprime
Could an understanding of biology have prevented the credit crunch? The complex world of banking evolved - and profited - thanks to the work of analytically gifted maths and science graduates. But when the crash came, something new was needed. Now banking regulators are turning to a different kind of science, asking if an understanding of ecosystems or the spread of infectious disease could help reform world finance. Ehsan Masood examines the role of science in the City.

Producer Monise Durrani.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00yjs4m

Wolf Culls - Wolf Prey Kills Not Simple Function of Total Population Size (Wolf Family Values)

2010-10-05T11:27:13+00:00

Interesting read of an article “Wolf Family Values” by Sharon Levy in the New Scientist.

Culling of wolves happens in many countries but I hadn’t expected the extent - in Alaska apparently up to 50% of the wolves are shot or trapped every year. Clearly wolves are predators and kill other animals - after all that’s what they’re ‘designed’ to do in playing their part in the chain.

The consequences of a high proportion of wolves being culled is that wolves in the areas tend not to survive to old age and the pack sizes shrink. A comparison between Yellowstone (where wolves aren’t culled) and other areas shows that more (not fewer) prey animals are killed per wolf in areas where culling takes place - not what you might think. What seems to happen is that wolves form a social unit and younger wolves learn hunting skills from older wolves. Clearly with larger pack sizes and more skilled wolves they are also able to hunt larger prey and therefore I suppose have larger but more infrequent kills. Since wolves only feed at the one feeding this is important as there is likely to be less waste (any fraction left over still represents a dead prey animal whether partially or fully eaten).

This just goes to show that you can’t predict the outcome based on a simple population head count - you have to look at the groups and the dynamics with and between them.

References
New Scientist. 30th June 2010. Issue 2764 p 40-43
Online Excerpt

Requirement Management Tools - Is There Life Outside of DOORS?

2010-09-20T14:53:54+00:00

The QSS Ltd/Telelogic/now IBM DOORS requirement management tool is pretty common at least in the UK (not sure sure about other countries as they might have their own defacto standards) thanks to some sharp marketing and deals done with the then UK MoD Procurement Agency.

Are there other decent requirement management tools around? How do they compare/what sets them apart?

A monopoly or monoculture is never good for anyone and I think the difference between commonality (sometimes bad) and compatibility (always good) is sometimes forgotten, confused or overlooked. So where are the competitor products, is there anything making use of modern technology or thinking and what areas/domains are they used in?

INCOSE UK Chapter - ASEC 2010 (Annual Systems Engineering Conference)

2010-09-14T16:41:37+00:00

Annual Systems Engineering Conference
Date: 8th to 10th November 2010
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, Heythrop Park Resort, Enstone, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire

“Systems Engineering: Adding Value in Challenging Times”

We live in challenging times - budgets are shrinking, and customers are increasingly looking for value-for-money solutions, with the added complication of a perceived shortage of systems engineers across many industry sectors.

These are the challenges that Systems Engineering needs to address:
* driving down costs by effectively managing uncertainty on projects
* developing novel solutions that address the actual stakeholder problems
* promoting a systems approach as the cornerstone of good engineering practice

INCOSE UK invites you to attend ASEC 2010 and share your views on how the Systems Engineering community can move things forward.

ASEC 2010’s new format offers a mixture of keynote speakers representing the challenges of our increasingly “Systems World”, paper presentations giving an insight into some of the real world situations where INCOSE UK members are adding value, invited speaker sessions highlighting the best of the technical activities of INCOSE UK, workshops to allow smaller groups to look at a topic in detail and finally tutorials providing opportunities to learn more about Systems Engineering techniques and approaches.

This year’s theme considers the value of Systems Engineering in ‘Challenging Times’. The ‘Value’ of Systems Engineering in this context includes:
* Applying a Systems Approach to complex real world ‘System of Systems’ problems. Our first keynote speaker, Professor Brian Collins - Chief Scientific Adviser,
Department for Transport, will talk about the challenges of an integrated approach to ground transport, rail and infrastructure. We will also consider the challenges of dealing with System of Systems properties such as Safety and Resilience.

* How to get the most value out of Systems Engineering in engineering or service delivery organisations. Our second keynote speaker, Peter Price - Director of Engineering and Technology (Civil Aerospace) at Rolls-Royce, will talk about the role of Systems Engineering within his organisation. We will also have sessions on Systems Engineering skills, competencies and case studies from across the INCOSE community.

* Getting the most value from specific Systems Engineering activities. This will include the work of some of the INCOSE UK technical working groups, together with detailed workshops and tutorials. These will be complemented by an exhibition of Systems Engineering suppliers, tool vendors and specialist consultancies.

Further information can be found at on the INCOSE UK Chapter’s website and a detail of the presentations and workshops is in the accompanying brochure.

Include the Human in the System - Lip Service?

2010-09-14T15:57:53+00:00

I’m guessing that most systems folks think it’s good practice to include the Mk1 Human Being in the System when designing it. After all we go to a lot of trouble in allocating functions to man/machine and working out the interactions, designing the user interface and eventually test or trial with users. All this is good.

Why then when it comes to the SBS (System Breakdown Structure) do we more often than not exclude the human from the structure? Even if provided from elsewhere whether customer of government-furnished they should still be shown.

When was the last time you saw one in a SBS? Seriously I’d be interested to see if anyone has experience where the human is formally in the SBS.

It just strikes me that if we’re really serious the first act ought to explicitly declare the human in the system structure.