The Eagle and the Other Side of the Mountain
This is an excerpt from a book called 'Engineering the System Solution, A Practical Guide to Developing Systems" by Jack W/ Hunger. The book was published in 1995 by Prentice Hall PTR Prentice-Hall, Inc.
There is a mountain called "Ignorance". Around this mountain are isolated valleys where small villages are established. Each village has its own language and culture and has developed many myths about the people in the other villages. The villages have never climbed over, flew over, or tunneled through the mountain called Ignorance.
One day an eagle flew around the mountain. Seeing the different valleys he said to himself, "If these people would climb over the mountain, they could get to know each other's languages and cultures. with this knowledge they could help each other because they have developed different foods, clothes, houses, furniture, governments, educational methods, religions, laws, medicines, entertainment, songs, stories, and many skills." The eagle then said. "I will show them how they can climb the mountain called Ignorance because from my perspective I can see ways for them to travel from village to village."
The people listened to the bird and followed the eagle over the mountain to other villages, where they learned each other's languages and cultures. They worked together and combined their skills so that they kept improving. Because of this, the mountain was renamed "Knowledge."
Your villages may be called by many different names: all the various branches of engineering, government, law, medicine, and business and all the supporting organizations thereof. You speak different languages and you are part of different cultures. In addition, you are different in many other ways. Your experiences differ; your perceived missions, ages, and ethnic and educational backgrounds differ, which make it difficult for you to work together. You need to follow the eagle to learn about and from each other so you can evolve a big picture perspective. The eagle is called "System Engineering."