Decision Making in Systems Engineering and Management, 3rd Edition

Chapter 7Solution Design

It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem.

—Malcolm Forbes, Publisher Forbes Magazine

7.1 INTRODUCTION

The solution to any well‐formed problem exists, needing only to be found. Once decision makers' needs, wants, and desires have been identified and translated into requirements, and their values identified and modeled, the solution design process commences to develop a pool of feasible alternative system solutions within which a “best” solution will be selected. This candidate pool of alternatives is refined as the process proceeds, checking them against the problem definition and measured against stakeholder criteria until a much smaller choice set is identified from which the best solution will be selected by a decision maker. This process is fluid and may iterate often across the spectrum of define, design, and decide loops, as shown in Figure 7.1. Each alternative carries with it some degree of uncertainty and risk that needs to be identified and understood, with appropriate plans put into place that will eliminate or mitigate risks, and so the solution must include techniques to reduce these to make the decision maker's job easier.

Definition: Solution design is a deliberate process for composing a set of feasible alternatives for consideration by a decision maker.

Figure 7.1 Define, design, decide ...