SELLING SYSTEMS ENGINEERING: This is a long post, but if you're a lead systems engineer responsible for working with customers developing system-level requirements, it's well worth the read. I've found over the years that I've developed pretty much the same ideas, but without giving them any formal thought. My 'methodology', if you will, probably came from my prior teaching career where I used similar techniques (though not as obviously formal) to get students to understand why certain mathematical and engineering tools were important to understand and use.