INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook, 5th Edition

5 SYSTEMS ENGINEERING IN PRACTICE

5.1 SYSTEMS ENGINEERING COMPETENCIES

The terms “competence” and “competency” are two distinct terms used to define the personal attributes of individual Systems Engineering (SE) practitioners. Competence is the ability to perform an activity or task. Competency is the set of skills required in the performance of a job. The competence reflects the total capacity of the individual, whereas a competency is a set of skills that the individual will be required to perform for a job. The sum of an individual’s competencies will make up their competence. Those competencies are measured and assessed to provide an estimate or a picture of the overall competence of a SE practitioner.

The INCOSE Systems Engineering Competency Framework (SECF) (2018) provides a set of competencies that identify knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors important to effective SE that can be applied in any domain context. The INCOSE SECF spans a wide range of competencies organized into five themes: core, professional, technical, management, and integrating.

• The core competencies underpin engineering, as well as SE.
• The professional competencies are primarily based in behavior as a SE practitioner (see Section 5.1.2).
• The management competencies relate to performing tasks associated with controlling and managing SE activities.
• The technical competencies are associated with technical processes to accomplish SE.
• The integrating competencies recognize SE as an integrating ...