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MIT has identified the field of Engineering Systems as a missing-link discipline which precedes and facilitates traditional engineering, particularly when dealing with complex implementations and infrastructures.
Given the intricacies of pharmaceutical technology and the emergence of PAT etc., their monograph on The Influence of Architecting in Engineering Systems is a very valuable benchmark - in my opinion. Amongst other things, it introduces the concept of the “ilities”: ‘systems are intended to have certain primary functions, plus other properties that we call ilities: durability, maintainability, adaptability, scalability, extensibility, flexibility and so on. The primary functions have immediate value while the “ilities” tend to have lifecycle value’.
There’s that lifecycle word again, and I’d welcome your feedback as to how the ilities can be best incorporated into our specification, verification and improvement programs.
You’ll find the monograph itself at www.esd.mit.edu/symposium/pdfs/monograph/architecture-b.pdf
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