Engineering agile systems through architectural modularity

This paper identifies the common misconceptions about agile engineering practice and proposes a methodology for applying agility concepts to the core systems engineering competency model as a means to counter the latent delay from initial Concept of Operations (CONOPS) development through operational fielding and maintenance. Modern systems engineering problems (specifically within the defense domain) are faced with an evolutionary operational deployment environment in which the problems the initial CONOPS sets out to address often evolve to areas that the system under design falls short of addressing, or misses altogether. As the operational mission for modern day systems is non-static, the engineering solutions must be sufficiently adaptive and evolutionary to meet these emerging challenges. The purpose of this paper is to stimulate debate and inspire future work to expand the agility body of knowledge within the systems engineering community in order to devise a framework for instilling agile practice throughout the systems engineering lifecycle.