A Tutorial on Varieties of Possibility Analysis

Abstract

In system safety engineering and analysis, there often arises a task to enumerate all the possible ways something can happen, or all the possible ways a situation can pertain.  In textbooks and guidance documents, there is often little or no indication of how one might go about this task.  This tutorial identifies two common subtasks, and proposes some orderly approaches.  I call it Possibility Analysis to indicate that there is a basis for common method.  This tutorial makes no pretence to be a comprehensive account. It is, rather, an encouragement to develop such common method further.