Technical Papers
Synchronizing Systems Engineering and Implementation in Lean-Agile Programs
Robert Maione
Techna Systems Inc.
Mark A. Wilson
Strategy Bridge International, Inc.
Communication suffers when Lean-Agile developers and program systems engineers operate in separate organizational “silos” instead of working together as a cohesive team. Day-to-day implementation decisions with potential impact to overall system capability can become buried within lower level engineering and development documents that are hard to synthesize to support timely program decisions. In our work with large programs employing Lean-Agile development strategies, we discovered an approach that maintains systematic collaboration between developers and the SE team. In our approach, we explicitly measure and communicate incremental delivery of value using a new level of abstraction that we call Mission Value Threads (MVTs). MVTs directly link system requirements and their associated SE artifacts to Lean-Agile development team backlogs and design documentation. This paper describes how to use MVTs to manage value delivery while fostering better collaboration between developers and systems engineers.
Governing Systems Engineering as an Enterprise Competence
A Benchmark Study with Pertinence to the US Department of Defense
William P Mullins
Energy Services Consultant
Mark A. Wilson
Strategy Bridge International, Inc
Addressing the System of Systems Challenge
Dr. John Boardman
Elipsis, Inc.
Mark A. Wilson
Strategy Bridge International, Inc
Allen Fairbairn
John Boardman Associates, Ltd.
Abstract. The top-down systems engineering strategies that worked well in the 20th century do not adequately address the complexity and interdependencies of today's higher-order systems that often must operate seamlessly with huge and disparate legacy systems. Soft management issues, such as organizational culture, also play a vital role in the organization's system of systems, often called the extended enterprise. Strategy must be formulated—and appropriate deployment mechanisms designed—for the system of systems level.
System of Systems (SoS) has become a popular buzz word among systems engineering practitioners, but what does it really mean? Some professional literature traces the origins of SoS to problems with systems that “nobody owns,”1 while the U.S. Department of Defense has recognized that Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems must be seamlessly integrated with weapons systems in order to achieve optimal SoS effects. This paper offers an explanation of key SoS concepts and proposes some useful practices that the authors have found useful to address the complexities of large-scale integration of SoS assets across the extended enterprise (EE).
The Work Breakdown Structure in the Systems Engineering Process
Mark A. Wilson
Strategy Bridge International, Inc
Frederick J. Manzer
Strategy Bridge International, Inc.
Optimizing Resource Allocation Decisions
Mark A. Wilson
Strategy Bridge International, Inc
Abstract. The paper explains how the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) theory of decision-making can be used to create justifiable, traceable resource allocation decisions in a resource-constrained organizational environment. By thinking about the decision as a six step process of: (1) framing the decision to be made, (2) identifying alternatives, (3) modelling-evaluating the trade study, (4) choosing an alternative, (5) conducting sensitivity analysis, and (6) implementing the selected alternative, key stakeholders can better understand how to reliably and repeatably make justifiable, traceable resource allocation decisions in the context of an enterprise systems framework.
The Impact of Fear on Project Success
Frederick J. Manzer
Strategy Bridge International, Inc.