Book : Managing Complex Technical Projects - A Systems Engineering Approach (2002)

Summary

From the publisher:

This unique resource delivers complete, easy-to-understand coverage of the management of complex technical projects through systems engineering. Written for a wide spectrum of readers, from novices to experienced practitioners, the book holds the solution to delivering projects on time and within budget, avoiding the failures and inefficiencies of past efforts.

It provides you with a framework that encapsulates all areas of systems engineering, clearly showing you where the multitude of systems engineering activities fit within the overall effort. You get a top-down approach that introduces you to the philosophical aspects of this discipline, and offers you a cohesive understanding of a plethora of important terms, standards and practices that have been developed independently. Moreover, the authors present key systems engineering issues in a manner that promotes individual thinking and unique approaches to the varied projects you encounter in the field.

About the Author

R. Ian Faulconbridge is a senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales, where he received his M.Eng.Sc. in electrical engineering. He received his M.B.A. in project management from the University of Southern Queensland.

Michael J. Ryan serves as senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales. He earned his M.Eng.Sc. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering at this university.

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Book : The Art of Systems Architecting, Third Edition (2009)

Summary

From the publisher:

Features

• Discusses a heuristics-based approach that provides an organized attack on very ill-structured engineering problems
• Includes heuristics and case studies that address critical market segments, such as builder-architected systems, software-systems, and systems-of-systems
• Examines architecture as more than a set of diagrams and documents, but as a set of decisions that either drive a system to success or doom it to failure
• Provides methods for integrating business strategy with technical architectural decision making
• Covers the foundations of systems architecting, the general roots of the practices, and practitioner guidance

Summary

If engineering is the art and science of technical problem solving, systems architecting happens when you don’t yet know what the problem is. The third edition of a highly respected bestseller, The Art of Systems Architecting provides in-depth coverage of the least understood part of systems design: moving from a vague concept and limited resources to a satisfactory and feasible system concept and an executable program. The book provides a practical, heuristic approach to the “art” of systems architecting. It provides methods for embracing, and then taming, the growing complexity of modern systems.

New in the Third Edition:

• Five major case studies illustrating successful and unsuccessful practices
• Information on architecture frameworks as standards for architecture descriptions
• New methods for integrating business strategy and architecture and the role of architecture as the technical embodiment of strategy
• Integration of process guidance for organizing and managing architecture projects
• Updates to the rapidly changing fields of software and systems-of-systems architecture
• Organization of heuristics around a simple and practical process model

A Practical Heuristic Approach to the Art of Systems Architecting

Extensively rewritten to reflect the latest developments, the text explains how to create a system from scratch, presenting invention/design rules together with clear explanations of how to use them. The author supplies practical guidelines for avoiding common systematic failures while implementing new mandates. He uses a heuristics-based approach that provides an organized attack on very ill-structured engineering problems. Examining architecture as more than a set of diagrams and documents, but as a set of decisions that either drive a system to success or doom it to failure, the book provide methods for integrating business strategy with technical architectural decision making.

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