When I use the word system in this web site, I mean a defined set of equipment, tools, software, procedures, information, and actors that perform a specific set of functions, and which are implicitly or explicitly related to some business or political purpose or social need. In any organized endeavor, value can be created when the product or service offerings associated with such systems address the needs of the stakeholders better than alternatives. This value can be maximized when such improvements are demonstrably superior to all existing alternatives. Understanding these value propositions of such systems and sub-systems (whether organizational, political, or technical) is the first step in analyzing a system and deciding how to make changes to it.

A successful system is one that is developed and operates within budgeted resources, throughput, and quality targets, and which delivers appropriate functionality, capacity, and performance to satisfies the needs of stakeholders throughout it's lifetime.