Over many years, experience has shown that projects have difficulty in delivering solutions to stakeholders on time, on budget and satisfying needs. The greater the problem complexity, solution complexity, and diversity of stakeholders, the greater the challenge has proven to be.
This 5-day Systems Engineering Management training course provides in-depth coverage of how to manage engineering projects to maximize project success, within the project’s given constraints. The course establishes sound principles and provides effective methods to successfully manage projects, and for getting the best out of people, individually and in teams.
This Systems Engineering Management course will most benefit people who seek substantial knowledge and understanding of how to best go about managing technical projects, even more so those projects involving complex engineering.
This course is recognized by Engineers Australia for CPD purposes (40 hours). This course is recognized by Engineering New Zealand for 40 CPD hours (click here for details). This course may be credited toward the maintenance of the INCOSE Certified Systems Engineering Professional (CSEP) accreditation for 40 Professional Development Units. This course is recognized by ECSA South Africa (ref. INCOSE 17/006) for CPD 5 points.
At the conclusion of this course, delegates are expected to have learned:
the relationships of systems engineering management to management in general, project management, engineering management, and systems engineering;
how to select the most appropriate style of development, based on observable or predictable parameters (from Waterfall, Incremental, Evolutionary, and Spiral);
how critically important the concept of concurrent (simultaneous) engineering is, and how to implement CE in terms of both organization and processes;
how to plan an engineering activity in terms of engineering organization and engineering tasks;
how to effectively record and communicate that plan;
how to be aware of management issues and techniques specific to engineering, including configuration management, requirements management, interface management, and design management, with an overlay of risk management throughout; and
the trade-off between engineering overhead and risk due to design complexity.
Training Methods and Materials
The training is delivered using a balanced combination of video, presentations, workshops and discussion sessions. The workshops and discussions are focused on putting into practice the techniques covered in the presentations and the lessons to be learned from the videos.
The workshop sessions are used extensively to reinforce learning and to contribute to the development of understanding.
You will be provided with:
comprehensive Systems Engineering Management course notes containing presentation material
numerous supplementary descriptions, checklists, forms and charts which you can put to use immediately
What is the difference between systems engineering management and engineering management in general?
Why is following the PMBOK® not enough?
What is systems engineering and how is it relevant?
What are the Skills, Knowledge and Attitudes (SKAs) conducive to success in conducting engineering projects?
What is the role of the Engineering Manager/Team Leader in ensuring these SKAs are in place?
How are system life cycle models relevant?
What is the relevance of Waterfall development, Incremental development, Evolutionary development, Agile, Spiral development, Lean, simultaneous/concurrent engineering?
What is the role of Project (Work) Breakdown Structure PBS/WBS in successful projects?
How can a PBS/WBS best be developed?
How does PBS/WBS relate to cost and schedule estimating and control?
What is EVM and how does this relate to systems engineering management?
What are the ingredients of risk? How may risk be controlled?
Where does opportunity figure?
How does PBS/WBS relate to risk analysis and risk management?
Why are requirements management, configuration management, interface management and data management fundamental to success?
How may they be accomplished?
How do we know that we have problems before it is too late to solve them?
What is the role of leadership in conducting successful engineering projects?
Does a relationship exist between personality types and performance in different project roles?
Who Should Attend this Course?
This Systems Engineering Management course is designed for individuals who plan, manage, control, specify or support the development or acquisition of products, including software products, or systems. The course will be of particular value to programme managers, project sponsors, project managers and their planning advisers, project chief engineers, engineering managers, team leaders, system engineers, software systems engineers, engineers of all other types, stakeholders in the product being developed such as users and planners, and those responsible for the development of policy and processes in the fields of management, development, acquisition, and supply.
The course will also be of value to anyone who interfaces with a project team and who seeks an understanding of how projects are managed, e.g., members of functional units that interface with a project team such as Quality Assurance, Configuration Management, Human Resources, Safety, Training, Contracts, Finance, etc.
To summarize, the course will be of value to anyone who may take on a role within, or in relation to, a project team.
Course Availability:
This course is available worldwide for public and on-site delivery (i.e. at client-provided facilities).
1. The Value Proposition for World Class Systems Engineering & Management
The systems engineering management role must understand the value of systems engineering in order to make sound decisions regarding its application. The systems engineering management role will also often need to “sell” systems engineering to other stakeholders in the engineering, such as project management, customers and users. The terms management, project management, engineering management and systems engineering management are all defined in early chapters of the course. These definitions set the scope of systems engineering management as an activity, regardless of who does it.
2. Introduction to Systems Engineering
the concept of system
systems thinking
system life cycle processes
system life cycle models
systems-of-systems engineering
key features of excellence in systems engineering
key features of excellence in management
systems engineering principles and concepts
overall systems engineering process models
concurrent/simultaneous engineering
V model, Wedge model, Double-V model, Multiple V model
understanding the inputs and the outputs
defining the problem – requirements analysis
designing the physical solution
describing the logical solution – functional and state-based design
effectiveness evaluation and decision-making
requirements specification writing
system integration
verification
validation
specialty engineering
the role of cognitive systems engineering
workshop: principles of the engineering of systems
functional plans, e.g., test plans, system integration plans
costing the engineering effort
cost metrics
cost models, e.g., COSYSMO, PRICE, SEER
scheduling the engineering effort
event-based planning
workshop: SE master schedule
sequencing activities
concepts of critical path, and critical path index
decision analysis and value/cost engineering
workshop: decision-making in engineering planning
workshop: constructing an EMV decision tree
using verification and validation
verification and validation terms defined
verification requirements
methods of verification
verification design
methods of validation
technical reviews for verification, validation, assessment and control
requirements reviews
principles of design review
architectural design review (ADR)
detail design review (DDR)
functional reviews
system-wide design reviews
test readiness review (TRR)
requirements satisfaction audits (FCAs)
design description (BS-BS) audits (PCAs)
technical reviews and incremental builds
administration of technical reviews
customer involvement in technical reviews
pitfalls in conducting technical reviews
planning pitfalls and pointers
6. Organizing & Conducting the Engineering Effort – Team Processes
knowledge, skills and attitudes conductive to high performance in the nine systems engineering process areas
alternative organizational structures – functional, matrix, project
types of teams: teams in general, product development teams, Skunk Works™, process cells, tiger teams, red teams, Interface Control Working Groups (ICWGs), Integrated Product Teams (IPTs).
IPT types and related issues
characteristics and products of an IPT
inside an IPT
when to use IPTs
workshop: project structure & IPT membership
team key success factors
achieving customer focus
challenges to IPT effectiveness
IPT formation and start-up
IPTs and the PRINCE2TM project management methodology
IPTs and data management, configuration management
types of IPT
team size
using product cells
using functional cells
keys to success
staffing the engineering organization
relationships to customer and supplier organizations
organizational pitfalls and pointers
7. Managing & Leading the Engineering Team
Video: Teamwork The Meerkat Way
teamwork and teams
team performance
team development
team characteristics
team problems
leading and coaching
interpersonal skills
Video: 5 Dysfunctions of Teams – Patrick Lencioni
The Pentagon Game – An exercise in team behavior
difference between management and leadership
Video: The 5 levels of leadership – John Maxwell
team processes and skills
innovation
problem-solving
decision-making
implementation
communication
motivation
emotional intelligence
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
personality profiling
Video: The Business Case for Strengths – Marcus Buckingham
8. Requirements Management
selecting requirements analysis processes
requirements traceability in requirements analysis
requirements traceability in design
traceability from goals
integration with test or verification traceability – VCRI/VCRM/RTEM etc.
software tools supporting requirements management
pitfalls and pointers in requirements management
9. Design Management
selecting design processes
managing for innovation
managing design complexity
avoiding under-engineering
avoiding over-engineering
design traceability
pitfalls and pointers in design management
10. Configuration Management
what is configuration?
the concept and types of baseline
CM standards – EIA, ISO, etc.
the four fundamental CM activities
examples of CM implementation
pitfalls and pointers in configuration management
11. Interface Management
objectives of interface management
interface requirements
interface design
ensuring interface consistency
managing evolution of interfaces in complex systems
organizational aspects of interface management
pitfalls and pointers in interface management
12. Management of Engineering Data
objectives of data management
data modeling
tool data exchange
data management vs configuration management
pitfalls and pointers in data management
13. Knowledge Management
objectives of knowledge management
protection of new knowledge
lessons learned
communication of new knowledge
use of external knowledge – intellectual property
pitfalls and pointers in knowledge management
14. Engineering Specialty Integration (ESI)
what makes an engineering specialty special?
common engineering specialties
a general approach to ESI
organizational issues of ESI
pitfalls & pointers in engineering specialty integration
15. Managing System Integration
drivers to trouble-free system integration
system integration planning
role of integration testing
responsibility of designers
diagnosing the causes of problems
incremental system integration
integration test beds
metrics for the balance of work in a system integration phase
pitfalls and pointers in managing system integration
workshop: developing an integration plan
16. Managing Verification & Validation
project-wide V&V
requirements verification methods
design verification methods
system/subsystem verification requirements
system/subsystem verification methods
system/subsystem verification design
system/subsystem verification traceability
pitfalls and pointers in managing V&V
17. Managing the Development of Software-Intensive Systems
special issues for software-intensive systems
performance of alternative software development methodologies
18. Engineering Cost & Time Management
tracking systems engineering costs performance – EVM
controlling systems engineering costs
pitfalls and pointers in engineering cost management
tracking time performance
controlling systems engineering schedule
pitfalls and pointers in time management
19. Systems Engineering Performance Management
technical performance measurement
technical progress meetings
earned value management
integrated performance measurement
Six-Sigma revisited
pitfalls and pointers in performance management
20. Risk & Opportunity Management
the nature of risk
components of risk
the nature of opportunity
the five key activities of risk management
risk due to requirements
risk due to technology
risk due to complexity
integrating consideration of risk and opportunity into every aspect of systems engineering
pitfalls and pointers in risk and opportunity management
21. Stakeholder Management
determining stakeholder interests
dealing with conflicting interests
ensuring stakeholders have influence
keeping stakeholders informed
reporting to higher-level management
22. Other Techniques for Controlling Outcomes
qualification
integrated software support to product life cycle management
23. Release & Deployment Management
release management
deployment management
post-implementation reviews
24. Project Closure
archiving of engineering data
maintenance of engineering data
25. Continuous Performance Improvement
lessons learned
IS09000 Quality Management System
Six-Sigma driving improvement
CMMI
pitfalls and pointers in performance improvement
26. Professional Societies & Systems Engineering Education
International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE)
International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA)
national systems engineering societies
other societies with formal systems engineering interest areas
systems engineering in undergraduate education
systems engineering in postgraduate education
systems engineering certifications
internal systems engineering education programs
27. In Closing
Q. What is the difference between PPI’s Systems Engineering Management course and PPI’s Systems Engineering course?
A. The Systems Engineering Management course is 15% about doing systems engineering (in overview) and 85% about managing the systems engineering. The Systems Engineering course is the opposite – 90% about doing systems engineering (in depth) and 10% about managing the engineering.
Q. How well does PPI’s Systems Engineering Management training cover aspects of CMMI?
A. The Systems Engineering Management 5-day course briefly overviews CMMI. The coverage is mainly overview, because the correlation coefficients between CMMI practices and project performance (cost, schedule and quality) average out at only +0.3. The average is somewhat higher for the complex projects. These figures tell us that CMMI is generally in the right direction, but that there is a lot more to achieving high performance in engineering projects than is represented in CMMI.
The reasons for the only moderate correlations could be that:
• systems engineering practices are not always beneficial; or
• CMMI is substantially less that an optimum representation of systems engineering practices (I believe this to be the case); or
• other factors dominate over systems engineering practices in achieving high project performance.
We are sure that CMMI is of value, the data proves that, and will continue to evolve and improve.
If the CMMI correlation coefficients were close to 1, PPI’s training in Systems Engineering would align very closely with CMMI. Until this is the case, PPI will continue to maintain broad alignment, but teach what actually works best, where there is a difference!
Interestingly, CMMI is least effective in the area of systems engineering management; two of the correlation coefficients are negative!
Reference: “A Survey of Systems Engineering Effectiveness”, CMU/SEI-2008-SR-034, December 2008
