System Architecture Engineering Challenges 33
Many current system architecture engineering methods rely heavily on a hierarchical functional
decomposition of systems into subsystems. ese methods fail to capture focus areas as well as the
cross-cutting interactions that drive the complexity of interfaces between subsystems and other archi-
tectural components. Only a small portion of the cross-cutting interactions become sufficiently vis-
ible that associated program risks are identified. Unfortunately, these unacknowledged interactions
drive many of the surprises that most projects encounter during system integration and testing.
2.4.8 Current Methods Codify Old Processes
Many current system architecture methods and associated standards co