Customer Rating: 
Summary: It is good for your SE soul
Comment: Dont expect it to read like a novel ....will require many readings and thinking before the light bulb goes off ... but beware .. a lot of the concepts cannot be easily applied in an organization that is not open to structured thinking that takes time and effort ..
Customer Rating:
Summary: Provides a good basis for reviewing design methods
Comment: This text provides an excellent reference text in the hands of a seasoned systems engineer. The generation of system functional flow diagrams and cost performance trade analysis is covered in detail. However, I found no correlation with set theory in chapter 4 with systems engineering design process. In my review of the text, I have found most components of the engineering process identified and covered in various amounts of detail. This text does not stand on it's own with respect to covering all aspects of the engineering design process. But then, neither do other texts I have reviewed.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Valuable systems engineering text
Comment: This book addresses systems engineering tools and methods needed for building complex systems. Our systems have gotten much more complex, more inter-coupled than they were decades ago --think of the recent (Summer '03) East Coast power failure. Systems Engineering tools, techniques, and education must progress to address the new complexity. This is why Buede's book is invaluable. He has digested much of the current state of thinking regarding systems engineering practices and concepts, and made them available. This book reflects where systems engineering is going. It is written for practicing systems engineers who deal with complex systems, and for students who have someone leading them through the subject. Persons who engineer complex systems will find this book valuable.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best book on the subject
Comment: The subject of system engineering has many facets and paths to reach an implemented 'system'. This book covers the subject thoroughly and is supplemented with student problems. This book will give anyone a firm grounding in the formal approaches to the subject and a basis for moving into system engineering practice. Highly recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Stay away from this so called book
Comment: The worst text book for system engineering you could ever buy.
Concepts are vague, the text could have been much simpler, and the concept much clearer. I bet that you can read the book many times over and still not know the basics of system engineering.
The only good chapters of this book are chapters 4, 5. You know why? Because they have nothing to do with systems engineering.
