SYSE.24:1 - Problem Frame

Several recurring failures make this difficulty visible, often only after commitment. Internal development begins because building is prestigious or familiar. A polished supplier demonstration is accepted as if integration, configuration, assurance, migration, support, and exit were already included. Outsourcing is treated as removal of engineering responsibility. A continuing provider relation is compared with a one-time purchase price. An AI Agent is placed beside a department as a short label. Comparison becomes meaningful only after each label is expanded into an arrangement that names Work, Methods, means, assignments, integration, and acceptance.

The practical difficulty is not merely make versus buy. It is constructing several ways of obtaining the same result so that each way exposes the burdens and dependencies that can change the engineering choice. Until that happens, general decision theory receives a false OptionSet: its rows seek different results, use different acceptance conditions, and hide different Work.