System Architecture: Strategy and Product Development for Complex Systems, First Edition

Chapter 7 Solution-Neutral Function and Concepts

7.1 Introduction

Forward Engineering and More Complex Systems

Up to this point, we have pursued an approach of reverse engineering; we have assumed that we have the system in front of us and we are trying to understand what the system is (form) and how it works (function). In Chapters 4 through 6 we did this with simple systems (pump, bubblesort, bread slicing, and so on) to work through the approaches of system architecture before complicating the picture with systems of realistic complexity. But frankly, using these techniques of system architecture on systems as simple as bubblesort and a pump is like taking a sledge hammer to a thumb tack.

It is not possible to understand all of system architecture ...