Congress told NASA to build a new rocket out of old Shuttle parts. The INCOSE Handbook calls that a brownfield design problem. The cost difference between that approach and SpaceX's clean-sheet alternative is a systems engineering lesson worth $60 billion.

Electric vehicles—and their often-overlooked supply chain—may be the focus, but the real story is the stakeholders we forget. This article explores the risks of incomplete stakeholder identification and provides a structured worksheet aligned with the INCOSE Handbook.

Systems engineering assumes that we can eventually open the box and understand how a system works. But modern AI may challenge that assumption, producing behaviors that emerge from complexity faster than engineers can fully explain.

When SpaceX’s Starship explodes mid-flight, the public sees failure. Systems Engineers see Verification in action. This article examines how structured test failures, disciplined Root Cause Analysis, and Reliability Growth turn visible setbacks into measurable design maturation.

As artificial intelligence systems move toward greater autonomy, the critical question is not only what they can do, but how they will be supported, governed, and ultimately retired. Drawing on the INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook v5, this article examines the often-overlooked Support and Retirement stages and provides a practical checklist to help systems engineers assess life-cycle readiness before complexity outpaces sustainment.
Readers can also download a free Support and Disposal Readiness Checklist to assess whether support and disposal considerations were intentionally incorporated into system design.