So, what do Systems Engineers do? I thought it would be fun to illustrate what I do by using a very small example with very significant consequences -- picking an engagement ring for my bride. Let's step through the process to see how this works:
System Big Idea:
Surprise the woman I love with an engagement ring when I ask her to marry me
General Notes: You may not think that an engagement ring on a woman's finger is a system. A purist might argue that it isn't, really. But, it has many of the same characteristics of a systems problem. There is an interaction between the human and the materials since the ring must work well on the person's hand, and work well with other jewelry. There are multiple stakeholders. There are stakeholder needs. There is an interaction with the "system" and the environment. There is a selection process. There is an implementation. There is a maintenance lifecycle. So, it may not be a perfect example, but it's good enough to illustrate some of the key points.
Stakeholder Needs Solicitation:
How am I supposed to know what Jessica would want? After all, this is supposed to be a surprise? I recruited her sister, Sarah, to pump her for information. Sarah, in turn, had a mutual friend help draw out Jessica about engagement rings in a general conversation with some other girls. Brilliant!
General Notes: This is actually a pretty common problem. When doing design, you may need information from people, but have no access to the people you need to interview. Learning how to get the information you need from the people who have the information is an important skill.
Stakeholders and Stakeholder Needs:
Stakeholder: Jessica
Needs / Wants:
(from Sarah) three-stone ring, princess-cut diamonds, "silver" in color, not too big;
(from environment) Jessica was studying nursing and had to wear latex gloves quite often. It would not be good to get her a ring that "stood up" very high, or would catch in her hair or gloves. If it did, it would be unwearable. The ring should not be too delicate, since Jessica would be fairly active with her hands.
Stakeholder: Mike
Needs / Wants:
(from self) attractive, organic design for the ring, wants to spend up to a certain fixed amount, wants to meet Jessica's needs, wants a high-quality ring that will stand the test of time.
(from advertising) wants a jeweler with a good reputation for quality
(from asking other shoppers) wants a good buying experience
(from research) the diamond must meet certain standards of carat, color, cut, clarity.
(from timing) the ring should be available within 2 - 4 weeks to be able to propose when I wanted to propose.
Stakeholder: Family & Friends
Needs / Wants:
(from culture) the guy should pick a ring that will delight his girl. He should spend time on the problem and pick the ring carefully.
General Notes: You must understand "who cares". As Systems Engineers, it's important to be aware of who the stakeholders are for a system. Even if they don't fully drive the solution, it will be important to help them to feel that they are involved in the process and that they have a voice.
Summary of System Needs:
1. Physical: 3-stone ring, princess cut diamonds (conforming to carat, color, cut, and clarity requirements), in "silver" tone metal, organic design, Jessica's ring size (a guess, since she didn't wear rings), not too delicate
2. Environmental: "rides low" on the hand, minimal protrusions
3. Financial: affordable within pre-determined budget
4. Vendor: excellent buying experience, knowledgable staff, good name recognition
5. Schedule: able to be delivered within 2 - 4 weeks
6. Effect: Jessica should be delighted
Selection Process:
Vendor Selection: Throughout our whole relationship, I had been gathering information on where to buy an engagement ring. From talking to friends who had gone through this, from listening to advertising, and through online research, I had discovered that Mervis Diamond had a good reputation, and a selection that met the basic needs.
Design Selection: Mervis has a very fun "create your ring" web page that allows potential buyers to browse through the ring designs and to see what each ring would look like with a different style of diamond (try it here). After browsing, I found this option that seemed pretty close to what I wanted.
Using the Systems Engineering principle of peer review, I asked my mother and Jessica's mother to come with me to Mervis to look things over. Once there, we sat down with the salesperson and looked over the inventory, considering availability, timing, and pricing.
In the end, I selected the ring for my girl.
Implementation:
Since the physical component was completely provided by the jeweler, I only had to wait until it was ready, and then pick it up. It looked beautiful! I couldn't wait to give it to my girl!
Unit Testing:
Jessica's sister, Sarah, came by. Since they have similar hands, she tried the ring on to see how it worked. It worked really well. The waiting became almost impossible!
System Integration:
Finally, the big day arrived. I won't go into the details of the day or the proposal. It is enough to say that when I pulled out the ring and showed it to Jessica, she loved it! However, the ring did not fit perfectly on her finger, and we had to send it back to be resized soon after we got it.
General Notes: It is not unusual for there to be some slight tweaks needed when integrating the system with the physical environment. In most cases, the trick is to plan for these, and to have them affect parts of the system that can be adjusted with minimal cost and difficulty. In this example, I could not have gotten Jessica's ring size perfectly without taking her with me, which would have ruined the surprise.
System Big Idea:
Surprise the woman I love with an engagement ring when I ask her to marry me
General Notes: You may not think that an engagement ring on a woman's finger is a system. A purist might argue that it isn't, really. But, it has many of the same characteristics of a systems problem. There is an interaction between the human and the materials since the ring must work well on the person's hand, and work well with other jewelry. There are multiple stakeholders. There are stakeholder needs. There is an interaction with the "system" and the environment. There is a selection process. There is an implementation. There is a maintenance lifecycle. So, it may not be a perfect example, but it's good enough to illustrate some of the key points.
Stakeholder Needs Solicitation:
How am I supposed to know what Jessica would want? After all, this is supposed to be a surprise? I recruited her sister, Sarah, to pump her for information. Sarah, in turn, had a mutual friend help draw out Jessica about engagement rings in a general conversation with some other girls. Brilliant!
General Notes: This is actually a pretty common problem. When doing design, you may need information from people, but have no access to the people you need to interview. Learning how to get the information you need from the people who have the information is an important skill.
Stakeholders and Stakeholder Needs:
Stakeholder: Jessica
Needs / Wants:
(from Sarah) three-stone ring, princess-cut diamonds, "silver" in color, not too big;
(from environment) Jessica was studying nursing and had to wear latex gloves quite often. It would not be good to get her a ring that "stood up" very high, or would catch in her hair or gloves. If it did, it would be unwearable. The ring should not be too delicate, since Jessica would be fairly active with her hands.
Stakeholder: Mike
Needs / Wants:
(from self) attractive, organic design for the ring, wants to spend up to a certain fixed amount, wants to meet Jessica's needs, wants a high-quality ring that will stand the test of time.
(from advertising) wants a jeweler with a good reputation for quality
(from asking other shoppers) wants a good buying experience
(from research) the diamond must meet certain standards of carat, color, cut, clarity.
(from timing) the ring should be available within 2 - 4 weeks to be able to propose when I wanted to propose.
Stakeholder: Family & Friends
Needs / Wants:
(from culture) the guy should pick a ring that will delight his girl. He should spend time on the problem and pick the ring carefully.
General Notes: You must understand "who cares". As Systems Engineers, it's important to be aware of who the stakeholders are for a system. Even if they don't fully drive the solution, it will be important to help them to feel that they are involved in the process and that they have a voice.
Summary of System Needs:
1. Physical: 3-stone ring, princess cut diamonds (conforming to carat, color, cut, and clarity requirements), in "silver" tone metal, organic design, Jessica's ring size (a guess, since she didn't wear rings), not too delicate
2. Environmental: "rides low" on the hand, minimal protrusions
3. Financial: affordable within pre-determined budget
4. Vendor: excellent buying experience, knowledgable staff, good name recognition
5. Schedule: able to be delivered within 2 - 4 weeks
6. Effect: Jessica should be delighted
Selection Process:
Vendor Selection: Throughout our whole relationship, I had been gathering information on where to buy an engagement ring. From talking to friends who had gone through this, from listening to advertising, and through online research, I had discovered that Mervis Diamond had a good reputation, and a selection that met the basic needs.
Design Selection: Mervis has a very fun "create your ring" web page that allows potential buyers to browse through the ring designs and to see what each ring would look like with a different style of diamond (try it here). After browsing, I found this option that seemed pretty close to what I wanted.
Using the Systems Engineering principle of peer review, I asked my mother and Jessica's mother to come with me to Mervis to look things over. Once there, we sat down with the salesperson and looked over the inventory, considering availability, timing, and pricing.
In the end, I selected the ring for my girl.
Implementation:
Since the physical component was completely provided by the jeweler, I only had to wait until it was ready, and then pick it up. It looked beautiful! I couldn't wait to give it to my girl!
Unit Testing:
Jessica's sister, Sarah, came by. Since they have similar hands, she tried the ring on to see how it worked. It worked really well. The waiting became almost impossible!
System Integration:
Finally, the big day arrived. I won't go into the details of the day or the proposal. It is enough to say that when I pulled out the ring and showed it to Jessica, she loved it! However, the ring did not fit perfectly on her finger, and we had to send it back to be resized soon after we got it.
General Notes: It is not unusual for there to be some slight tweaks needed when integrating the system with the physical environment. In most cases, the trick is to plan for these, and to have them affect parts of the system that can be adjusted with minimal cost and difficulty. In this example, I could not have gotten Jessica's ring size perfectly without taking her with me, which would have ruined the surprise.
System Acceptance:
Jessica loved it. I loved it. Our family and friends said it was beautiful and that I did a good job. HUGE success!
General Notes: Every system will go through a period of acceptance testing. While you will always learn things at this point in time, there should be very few negative surprises during Acceptance Testing.
System Maintenance:
Jessica continues to wear her ring, and continues to love it. It requires occasional cleaning. When we got married, we selected a wedding ring that complemented it. ... but that is another design example.
General Notes: Every system will require maintenance, and it is best to plan for this from the start.
I hope to use this blog to call attention to examples of beautiful, elegant design. There may also be times when I must point out examples of flawed design. Unfortunately, this is a reality with which every Systems Engineer lives on a daily basis. It is all too easy to drift into bad design, and it requires rigorous discipline and a "feel" for good design to prevent this drift. 