Written by Luke Humphrey
This is part one of a four part series.
Once upon a time, the 2020 graduates were happily relaxing in their hobbit-holes, when all of a sudden, their contentment was disturbed by the sound of an Outlook notification. The Systems Wizard, Jessica Korzeniowska, had arrived in their inboxes to whisk them away on a journey to the far-away land of Zoom! She had a plot to rescue a group of trapped elves and teach the new grads a little something about the magic of systems engineering along the way.
The Adventure Begins...
Now graduates are famously a stubborn lot, and quite used to being in lockdown - so they were immediately stamping their feet at the idea of a journey farther then the backup biscuit drawers hidden under their desks.
"You don't understand, oh Wizardly One! We're not systems engineers, we're simple graduates all. We've no need of systems magic, no need to travel to the land of Zoom! We're quite happy here in our homes at Grad End."
Observing this, Jess offered to play a game with the grads to see if they needed her help. To this, the grads were well pleased and rubbed their hands together.
"I do love a game." They thought. "What is it? Not another Zoom quiz, I hope? How about a quick round of Among Us?" They taunted, predictably.
With a wry smile and a dramatic flourish, the Wizard produced a set of (imaginary) Lego bricks.
"Use these bricks to build me a house for an elvish family! If the elves are satisfied, I will leave at once. If not..." Jessica paused "If your designs are found wanting in any way, you will accompany me to the land of Zoom and utter no more of your grievances!"
The graduates couldn't help but laugh.
"We've got degrees!" they thought, "some of us are mechanical engineers, and she challenges us with toy blocks! This will be over before second breakfast!"
The graduates snatched up the blocks and began crafting their designs. There was a colourful palace fit for elf royalty, quaint red-brick cottages in a field of plastic flowers, and sturdy modern kneescrapers as tall as tall grass! There was no way any elf could be dissatisfied with any one of these impressive designs.
Soon enough, it was time for the Systems Wizard to inspect the designs. She looked up and down the Lego brick creations before her and frowned.
"Well, Wizard, you've seen what we can do. We have no need for systems engineering! Be true to your word and let us go home!"
To this, the sky darkened as Jessica boomed "Do not take me for a conjurer of cheap bricks!" One by one she dismissed the designs "Will this palace fit on the elvish streets? How do you intent to maintain this tower? Can you unglue these flowers when it comes time to decommission this cottage? Have any of you spared a single thought for what the elves might have wanted?"
When the darkness subsided, a pile of (imaginary) bricks lay in rubble at the Wizard's feet. "Go home? I think not. You've all got much to learn. Come, we're setting off immediately to the land of Zoom! We'll teach you something of systems engineering yet."
But what is systems engineering?
Systems engineering is an approach to complex problem solving that largely originated from the space and software sectors, but is now used extensively in many industries, including here in nuclear fusion research.
Officially, a 'system' is defined as: 'a combination of interacting elements organised to achieve one or more stated purposes' (ISO 9000:2000). And 'systems engineering' is defined as: 'an interdisciplinary approach and means to enable the realisation of successful systems' (Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge / SEBoK).
That sounds pretty broad, because it is pretty broad. Systems engineering is a holistic approach combining many tools and it's not just used by people with "systems engineer" in their job role, but rather anyone tackling a complex problem in a multidisciplinary team. (In other words, pretty much everyone here UKAEA!)
The bottom line is that any system is designed to serve a purpose; systems engineering is the term we use to describe a whole bunch of things we do during a project to make sure the system we end up designing serves the intended purpose.
Credit: Jessica Korzeniowska
As a quick aside, we were wondering what makes our Systems Wizard such an expert on systems engineering in the first place? (I mean, besides being a professional Systems Engineer on the ITER and DEMO European Tokamak projects.)
Well, in a Breaking Tokamak Tales exclusive interview, we learned that Jess (despite rarely talking about it) actually used to work as a Systems Engineer on CubeSat and Rocketry Education Programmes at the European Space Agency. Wow! Who knew?
To be continued...
This is part one of a four part series. Click here to read from the next part.
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