The allegory of the humidifier: ROI for systems engineering

Convincing management of the importance of systems engineering-making time available in the project schedule for systems analysis, generating specifications that define customer needs, and other arguments-always made sense to systems engineers from a risk reduction and cost-avoidance perspective. But as schedule crunches, today´s fire drill, and project cost reductions take hold, systems engineering often takes a back seat to getting the hardware out the door. This company could not afford the time and money up front to systems engineer a valid approach. It thus made an initial decision not to invest in a solution that, in the long run, would have avoided an additional 10X to 50X in costs. Repetitive and ineffective bandage solutions, slipped program schedules, and unknown amounts in lost productivity cost real money, too