Improving the Systems Thinking Skills of the Systems Architect via Aesthetic Interpretation of Art

Systems engineering has been considered for a long time both an art and a science. In fact, previous work has shown that principles and practices of systems engineering are exhibited in the creation of a film original score, a major artistic endeavor, and that some of the concepts employed in artistic painting to convey beauty are also used by system architects to reduce complexity and achieve elegance. Reflecting on the authors' experience as practitioners and educators of systems thinking and systems architecting, this paper discusses a common linkage between art and systems engineering through a third discipline, systems thinking, which has a unique role in helping us understand the dynamic nature of complex systems. Then we elaborate a learning model that relates art, systems thinking, and systems architecture, which results in a number of propositions to improve the systems thinking skills of systems architects via learning aesthetic interpretation of art.

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