The Systems Architects' newsletter. Nov 2019

Here is a set of articles, presentations, videos that we found interesting to share with the systems architects community. Topics cover system architecture, enterprise architecture, systems engineering, agile at scale, frameworks, complexity...

1. A pressing need for a true systemic technical leadership in high-tech companies in a fast-changing world

Such an interesting presentation made by Bernardo A. Delicado (INCOSE) last month: the complexity of globalisation and technology is putting demands on leaders of the 21st century. Organisations around the globe trying to address today’s complex challenges or responding to radical change need technical leaders with a totally different way of thinking. INCOSE’s Vision 2025 identifies the development of Systems Thinking and Technical Leadership as one of seven key areas of Systems Engineering Competency. 

2. Military frameworks, systems engineering and enterprise architecture

In the world of architecture modeling, the military organizations like the US Department of Defense (DoD), the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) or the NATO organization created enterprise architecture frameworks adapted to their needs. Here is a detailed article describing the 3 main frameworks that are existing and used in military projects today.

Link to the article

3. Technology, Systems Thinking, Ethics, and the Dharma

The similarity between the field of systemics and Buddhism is noteworthy. This article discusses the field of systemics—often referred to as systems thinking (the theoretical side) and systems engineering (the practical development aspects)—and some related concepts in the Buddhadharma, emphasizing the relevance of this convergence to contemporary thinking, especially in relation to technology ethics.

Link to the article

4. A System of Systems Approach for Sustainable Innovations: Application to City Smart Traffic Management Challenges

System of Systems (SoS) has been successfully engineered in large Defense Industry Programs for decades. The new Unified Architecture Framework (UAF) standard is now available and applicable to both defense and commercial domains. The main challenge today is that a given system is not isolated any more: it is connected with many other systems and organizations, and its behavior is strongly dependent on the states of other systems and interactions. Mastering the services provided by a SoS to the stakeholders is the main priority. This paper presents the UAF framework. It then explains how to engineer a SoS utilizing proper systems engineering methodology, followed by an illustration of the approach – a smart city traffic management system in which autonomous vehicles, traditional vehicles and emergency vehicles interact. An interesting article published in the newsletter of Project Performance International (PPI).

Link to the article

5. Lean and agile software because or despite rising complexity

At the Lean Digital Summit, Yves Caseau, Group CIO of Michelin talked about software factories and how to leverage lean and agile practices to cope with uncertainty and complexity. It turns out that rising complexity is also making the mindset change to « agile laissez-faire » more difficult. He explained how Lean roots help to anchor the continuous learning and software craftsmanship ambition into corporate governance for large organizations.

French articles:

6. Agilité à l'échelle et Architecture Agile

Une vision intéressante du couplage architectural entre projets et organisation dans l’entreprise dans un cadre d'agilité à l'échelle dans cette présentation de Daniel Krob lors de la dernière édition d'Agile en Seine (Paris). Où il est question de dualité entre les systèmes projet (la transformation › cadre d’agilité à l’échelle) et produit (l’entreprise en transformation › cadre d’architecture d’entreprise) ; mais aussi de « Minimum Viable Architecture » représentant un incrément « projet » de transformation intentionnelle de l’architecture d’entreprise. Enfin, évocation est faite des nombreuses dérives dues à un manque de compréhension profonde du cadre agile à l’échelle.

7. Le tourisme peut-il rendre la ville intelligente ?

Très intéressante présentation de Claude Rochet qui aborde les questions essentielles quant à l'approche systémique de la ville. Alors, une ville intelligente comment ça marche ? Quels sont les principes de modélisation ? Et la modélisation systémique: une nouvelle science de la ville ? Eléments de réponses dans cette présentation.

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