Systems Engineering and Analysis

Added to library for work to keep on top of SE work. Getting old and forgetful as I move into management.

I took a course in school that used this book and I really enjoyed the book and what it taught me about systems engineering. The authors do a great job of walking the student through the systems engineering process, and ginving a general overview of the steps. The later chapters expand upon this overview to give the detail needed to actually carry out the process. The last part of the book expands upon the "-ilities" of systems engineering which are the authors partiucalr areas of interest. I think anyone interested in systems engineering should get this book, its a great resource. A few things I didn't like was the constant referencing of graphs and figures from previous chapters, it really inhibits my learing when I have to keep flipping back and forth to follow a train of thought. There are also a few chunks of the book that are very, very hard to follow the logical train of thought and require meticulious attention to the detail, and often require rereading. I'm hoping the authors with put out an updated and expanded edition soon, that compensates for these shortfalls.

I'm currently teaching graduate students and used this as a text book last semester. I suppose students have enjoyed this book very much. I appreciate the author and ...'s excellent work as well.

One of the early original works to attempt to define Systems Engineering, it still represents one of the best overall introductions to the multiple faceted discipline of Systems Engineering and Analysis. It successfully covers the broad range of topics associated with this field. It is also a good introduction as it shows how Systems Engineering evolves over the various phases of system development from concept definition to final testing.

Blanchard and Fabrycky start with an excellent discussion of systems engineering (SE) history and proceed to cover program/project SE in a logical and orderly fashion. The material is well written, lacking the usual jargon and catch-words. The book could benefit from additional technical implementation details of effectiveness analysis, design concept development, and integration technique coverage. Among the alternates available, this is the preferred broad coverage of SE and well worth reading carefully.