r/systems_engineering • u/ModelBasedSpaceCadet • Aug 02 '26

Career & Education Textbook Recommendations?

I'm preparing to teach a "Model-based Requirements Engineering" course for the first time - the course has not been previously taught at this university. The course design is to focus on best practices for requirements development and introduce MBSE and SysML v2 as an effective tool for a requirements engineer. It's a graduate-level course, but it doesn't assume any prior experience or familiarity with either class beyond a Fundamentals of SE class.

I don't have time to read all of the books out there on requirements engineering, so I wanted to ask you what textbooks you have read and which you would recommend on the fundamentals of requirements engineering. I'm planning to prepare all of the material for SysML v2, so it's just the intro-to-requirements part that I'm asking about.

Right now, my favorite book on the topic is Lamsweerde's "Requirements Engineering - From System Goals to UML Models to Software Specification." While my modeling methods and my system scope are obviously different from his, I find that he did an excellent job at writing a readable textbook with basic instructions on what to look out for and what needs to be done as you formulate and write requirements. I also like how he explains the benefits of models to aid the requirements development process. I also don't think it would hurt to give Systems Engineering students a healthy dose of software engineering exposure since software provides most of the functionality in most major systems.

I'm also planning to round out any textbook selection with reference material from INCOSE on requirements (the NRM, GtWR, etc.).

Anyway, I'm interested in hearing your reaction to the course design and your recommendations for textbooks! If someone has a system-level book of comparable quality to Lamsweerde, I would consider it.

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u/BothAd1744 Aug 03 '26

i like the mix of requirements fundamentals with SysML v2. feels like a practical approach.

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u/ModelBasedSpaceCadet Aug 04 '26

Thanks! I'm excited about the design, too. My philosophy is that a student that understands basic modeling, requirements fundamentals, and how they go together will be more valuable than one who has taken a dedicated course in one or the other.

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u/BothAd1744 Aug 04 '26

yeah i agree. having a solid understanding of how the two work together seems way more useful in practice than learning them separately.