Obtaining insights into the interplay between systems and software engineering

The high-tech equipment industry is adopting approaches like Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) to improve their practices. Instantiations of these approaches do not necessarily align across disciplines. Given the importance of software aspects in systems, the interplay between software and other engineering disciplines should be carefully addressed. Decision makers are interested in mitigating any risks in the collaboration of specialists in different disciplines. This short positioning paper proposes an applied research approach to identify such risks for later mitigation. The approach is inspired by grounded theory (we constructed concepts from interviews) and systems thinking. Work still to do is to cross-check identified concepts with literature. This research is in progress and we welcome discussions and critical opinions.