This book provides an overview of systems engineering, its important elements, and aspects of management that will lead in the direction of building systems with a greater likelihood of success. Emphasis is placed upon the following elements: How the systems approach is defined, and how it guides the systems engineering processes; How systems thinking helps in combination with the systems approach and systems engineering; Time lines that define the life cycle dimensions of a system; System properties, attributes, features, measures and parameters; Approaches to architecting systems; Dealing with requirements, synthesis, analysis and cost effectiveness considerations; Life cycle costing of systems; Modeling, simulation and other analysis methods; Technology and its interplay with risk and its management; Systems acquisition and integration; Systems of systems; Thinking outside the box; Success and failure factors; Software engineering; Standards; Systems engineering management.

Together, these top-level aspects of systems engineering need to be understood and mastered in order to improve the way we build systems, as they typically become larger and more complex.