What are the current trends and emerging technologies for requirements management in systems engineering?

I've no experience with MBSE but recently came across Object-Oriented Systems Engineering (OOSE) and used the principles on a low complexity project. I'm no expert in requirements management but found it worked nicely to communicate them in a straightforward and intuitive way, with each object being a (sub-)system or component with it's own defined functions and properties (including performance criteria). It was a refreshing change from the dreary long lists of text requirements I'm typically accustomed to. Interested to hear about other experiences with OOSE, if any.

I have used MBSE since the 1980s when I started in systems engineering, although they didn't call it that. Early simulation will give you the derived requirements to meet high level requirements. Simulation of design options BEFORE they become design decisions reduces risk.

Are there any examples of this being done that I can study or perhaps adapt to my current projects? If so I'd be really interested in hearing more about it

We have been using LLMs and structured requirements to improve requirements processes and developed a product around this. We've found it's really useful to have the AI act like a 'virtual business analyst assistant' in a very practical way.

Check out Jama Connect Advisor of you are interested in NLP and ML being used for better requirements authoring https://resources.jamasoftware.com/datasheet/jama-connect-advisor

An agile process that engages client SMEs early and continually can eliminate the nightmare of testing a product and finding that a requirement was misinterpreted. If you embed the requirement in the Agile task to document process and decision in a format consistent with your design documentation and formal review process, it makes it very easy to produce deliverable documentation in a very short period of time without rework.

The most impactful systems engineers can engage with stakeholders and subject matter experts on both the micro and macro levels. Systems engineering encourages 10,000 ft. perspectives, but it’s equally valuable when someone can bring that perspective while also digging in on focused technical issues. This is particularly helpful in smaller/leaner organizations, where there can be tension between requirements management and implementation teams; a systems engineer who has strong domain knowledge can be a real boon to engineering teams under pressure.

Systems thinking is critical and necessary when you need to put together a complex set of systems-of-systems to create desired emergent outcomes and capabilities: - The mission use cases are new and different when you need to create capabilities to help users successfully achieve outcomes, doing things that have never been done before. - Also, in complex systems, the dependencies across interfaces are critical. - It's prudent to apply a systematic, disciplined & repeatable approach to manage the complexity.

These statements are definitively critical, systems engineers should also have strong product sense to ensure that they are building the right product for the target audience.

Most of the problems encountered during software integration are typically attributed to issues with requirement definition, interpretation, refinement and verification, all of which comprise requirement management in some sense. Systems thinking encourages validation of requirements around system boundaries, context and objectives much before they are consumed in design and verified later in testing. It also supports verification methods such as requirement based testing for early qualification of product against product requirements. Clubbed with agile and lean methods, systems thinking provides efficient and more productive means for RM.

MIT xPRO provides some good courses on how to apply this thought process. For example: MIT xPRO | Architecture of Complex Systems: https://xpro.mit.edu/courses/course-v1:xPRO+SysEngx1/ Some quick videos that describe the approach: How Systems Thinking is Used to Manage Complexity: https://youtu.be/Eklkuy4RBOo How to do it in a structured way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVfHzLLOcWM&t=2s

Much of today’s thinking on SE and RM has evolved from decades of lessons learned in defense acquisition. SpaceX, along with countless overruns, have proven the incremental progress in SE to be incapable of delivering systems on time and budget. Pay-for-performance, i.e., the achievement of demonstrable milestone is the only way to break the bureaucracy’s grip on the belief that there are such things as perfect requirements.