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Integration in Systems Engineering Context
A product’s lifecycle refers to the overlapping, concurrent stages through
which the product passes from its earliest beginnings through design,
development, production, use, its discontinuance, and settlement of the final
legal actions. The concept of lifecycle divided into stages with processes
embedded within each stage is typical of systems engineering. At the end of
each stage, a decision is made whether to go on to the next stage or continue
the processes within the current stage.
Inception includes the earliest conceptualization of the problem that needs
to be solved or awareness of the opportunity that ignites compelling interest
in stakeholders. Disposal is the scrapping of a product as a consequence of it
having unacceptable or no utility for its intended or emergent purposes.
The key drivers of a product’s progression through its lifecycle result from
the trade-offs between economics and fear. In the case of commercial products, the economic success factors are revenue and profitability; the fear is
loss of market share, declining image, and deterioration of brand.
The arrows of lifecycle success converge to deliver the lowest lifecycle cost
alternative for a required system effectiveness by avoiding the congeries
of losses throughout the lifecycle. But lifecycle success does not favor any
one stage under the guise of politics, opportunity, innovation, selfishness, or
profitability. Such preferences for expediency may encourage the development of a product that is a widely accepted; perhaps even considered respectable by seemingly rational benefits (e.g., the internal combustion engine
promotes modern industrialism). But losses accumulate from both manageable and unmanageable factors. And unintended consequences may result
from either category of factors. Success, therefore, should not be predicated
on ignoring or not exploring any particular stage(s) or activity, but rather on
the totality of losses accrued to the set of all stages—the lifecycle.
Lifecycle Success
Our past and our prospective plight are in the hands of dreamers and pragmatists. Dreamers set the boundaries of our future, concerned with a world
that could be. Pragmatists build our next reality, driven by the success or
failure of their work. Neither is a credit to humankind if they solve the wrong
problem, or if they try to solve the right problem in the wrong way. Their
solutions may be clever, apt, and ingenious—boffo exemplars of accomplishment—but they may have failed a crucial test: lifecycle success. Success over
a lifecycle is indicated by (1) an aggregation of activities, processes, or results
that accomplish their purpose, (2) the synergism of events that produce an
effect greater than the sum of their individual efforts, (3) the state of prosperity or good fortune that is consequentially related to one’s intentions over an
extended time to attain eudaimonia, or (4) the semipermanent winning
record that is envied. By the first definition, success is found through the
processes of achievement, those acts that, when mixed or summed, combine
Integration in Systems Engineering Context
A product’s lifecycle refers to the overlapping, concurrent stages through
which the product passes from its earliest beginnings through design,
development, production, use, its discontinuance, and settlement of the final
legal actions. The concept of lifecycle divided into stages with processes
embedded within each stage is typical of systems engineering. At the end of
each stage, a decision is made whether to go on to the next stage or continue
the processes within the current stage.
Inception includes the earliest conceptualization of the problem that needs
to be solved or awareness of the opportunity that ignites compelling interest
in stakeholders. Disposal is the scrapping of a product as a consequence of it
having unacceptable or no utility for its intended or emergent purposes.
The key drivers of a product’s progression through its lifecycle result from
the trade-offs between economics and fear. In the case of commercial products, the economic success factors are revenue and profitability; the fear is
loss of market share, declining image, and deterioration of brand.
The arrows of lifecycle success converge to deliver the lowest lifecycle cost
alternative for a required system effectiveness by avoiding the congeries
of losses throughout the lifecycle. But lifecycle success does not favor any
one stage under the guise of politics, opportunity, innovation, selfishness, or
profitability. Such preferences for expediency may encourage the development of a product that is a widely accepted; perhaps even considered respectable by seemingly rational benefits (e.g., the internal combustion engine
promotes modern industrialism). But losses accumulate from both manageable and unmanageable factors. And unintended consequences may result
from either category of factors. Success, therefore, should not be predicated
on ignoring or not exploring any particular stage(s) or activity, but rather on
the totality of losses accrued to the set of all stages—the lifecycle.
Lifecycle Success
Our past and our prospective plight are in the hands of dreamers and pragmatists. Dreamers set the boundaries of our future, concerned with a world
that could be. Pragmatists build our next reality, driven by the success or
failure of their work. Neither is a credit to humankind if they solve the wrong
problem, or if they try to solve the right problem in the wrong way. Their
solutions may be clever, apt, and ingenious—boffo exemplars of accomplishment—but they may have failed a crucial test: lifecycle success. Success over
a lifecycle is indicated by (1) an aggregation of activities, processes, or results
that accomplish their purpose, (2) the synergism of events that produce an
effect greater than the sum of their individual efforts, (3) the state of prosperity or good fortune that is consequentially related to one’s intentions over an
extended time to attain eudaimonia, or (4) the semipermanent winning
record that is envied. By the first definition, success is found through the
processes of achievement, those acts that, when mixed or summed, combine