Systems Analysis in the New Millennium

An interactive session to explore the past, present and future of systems. This lecture is tool-agnostic to encourage the engineer or analyst to avoid being overly reliant on a tool such as SysML or system dynamics (aka: systems thinking). Any and all tools should be incorporated in a balanced cognitive paradigm along with all the other useful approaches. This lecture provides a foundation in systems analysis, traces the history of systems analysis to the iChing, and considers how a tool-agnostic approach can improve results for the client. The talk covers several foundational systems concepts and involves case studies to demonstrate the critical thinking involved.

Lecture objectives are: Provide a brief history of systemic thinking and explain some of the modern systems concepts such as information economics, behavioral economics and supply chain management. Introduce an objectives-driven cognitive approach to analyzing any system. Explain the advantages of a systemic approach versus the checklist, systematic approaches so popular in systems engineering education and training as promoted by INCOSE and others. Encourage the students to look at systems with new eyes, in ways that foster innovation. Inspire attendees to learn more about the concepts.