Creating robust human-intensive systems: A systems engineering approach

Human-intensive systems are complex systems in which humans are an intimate part of the system; where human beings and their decisions and actions are key elements of system success. The human-intensive system breaks when a human error is made. Virtually any business can be considered a human-intensive system for the delivery of products and/or services. In contrast, the “ordinary” systems that companies mostly deliver to customers may require human interaction to operate, but the engineer is typically not responsible for human failures in the operation of the system or device. Engineers typically develop these “ordinary” systems which may include software and hardware, and are designed to perform as expected once development is complete. Responsibility for proper usage of these ordinary systems belongs to the customer. However, the activity of those engineers in developing an “ordinary” system is in itself a human-intensive system, as the decisions and actions of the engineers greatly influence the outcome of the effort. This paper outlines the unique properties and needs of human-intensive systems, and offers an approach to improve the outcomes of human-intensive systems. This approach has been utilized for the past five years at a major defense contractor to successfully complete major internal technical initiatives which required the successful re-engineering of human-intensive product delivery systems. This paper concludes with the description and results of a practical internal change effort successfully implemented over five years at this company which resulted in a 65% productivity improvement across the engineering product design cycle.