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Systems of Systems Thinking

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Systems Engineering in Context

Abstract

As more of our systems interoperate in one or more independently evolving systems of systems and user needs focus more on “new capabilities” rather than a “new system,” so too do our systems thinking processes need to evolve to SoS thinking. SoS thinking builds upon systems thinking to consider the interactions of the SoS constituent systems with each other, along with the challenges of keeping multiple independently evolving SoSs compatibly evolving with each other and the external environment. This paper presents a framework for defining and guiding SoS thinking.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA

    Jo Ann Lane

  2. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Barry Boehm

Authors
  1. Jo Ann Lane
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  2. Barry Boehm
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jo Ann Lane .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Stephen Adams

  2. Department of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Peter A. Beling

  3. Department of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    James H. Lambert

  4. Department of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    William T. Scherer

  5. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Cody H. Fleming

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Lane, J.A., Boehm, B. (2019). Systems of Systems Thinking. In: Adams, S., Beling, P., Lambert, J., Scherer, W., Fleming, C. (eds) Systems Engineering in Context. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00114-8_44

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