Difference between revisions of "Guidance for General Managers"
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===Vignette: Emerging Nation Satellite System=== | ===Vignette: Emerging Nation Satellite System=== | ||
Tom Lee is the General Manager for Telecommunications of a large emerging nation whose leadership has given him the responsibility of creating a national satellite system for telecommunications and earth resources observation. His first need is to perform some SE functions to analyze alternative solutions and to perform cost-benefit tradeoff analyses. For this initial activity, he would like to use a combination of a proven satellite SE company and some of his brightest aerospace SEs, who can learn from the proven company and form the nucleus of the ultimate national satellite system in development and operation. | Tom Lee is the General Manager for Telecommunications of a large emerging nation whose leadership has given him the responsibility of creating a national satellite system for telecommunications and earth resources observation. His first need is to perform some SE functions to analyze alternative solutions and to perform cost-benefit tradeoff analyses. For this initial activity, he would like to use a combination of a proven satellite SE company and some of his brightest aerospace SEs, who can learn from the proven company and form the nucleus of the ultimate national satellite system in development and operation. | ||
| + | |||
To ensure that he has a good understanding of the required SE capabilities and their application to the satellite system domain, he uses Part 1 of the SEBoK for an overview and pointers to the key sections of Parts 3 through 6 as discussed above. After getting a good general understanding of the life cycle, nature, scope, and management aspects of enterprise SE from these parts, he closely studies the successful satellite system case studies in Part 7 (Global Positioning System, MITI) for good ways to proceed and the unsuccessful satellite system case study in Part 7 (Hubble Space Telescope) for pitfalls to avoid. Thus prepared, he feels confident in going forward in formulating and executing his approach. | To ensure that he has a good understanding of the required SE capabilities and their application to the satellite system domain, he uses Part 1 of the SEBoK for an overview and pointers to the key sections of Parts 3 through 6 as discussed above. After getting a good general understanding of the life cycle, nature, scope, and management aspects of enterprise SE from these parts, he closely studies the successful satellite system case studies in Part 7 (Global Positioning System, MITI) for good ways to proceed and the unsuccessful satellite system case study in Part 7 (Hubble Space Telescope) for pitfalls to avoid. Thus prepared, he feels confident in going forward in formulating and executing his approach. | ||
| − | + | ||
| + | ===Vignette: Commercial Safety Equipment Company=== | ||
| + | Maria Moreno is the General Manager of Safety First Equipment Company, a highly successful company which has specialized in hardware-intensive safety equipment, but is finding that its competitors are eroding their market share with software-intensive capabilities and user amenities. Maria’s background is in electromechanical systems, and she is preparing an initative to make Safety First into a leading software-intensive safety equipment provider. Besides the general SEBoK information in Parts 1 through 6, she focuses on the Part 6 knowledge area of Systems Engineering and Software Engineering. This provides her with numerous insights about the nature of software, differences between hardware and software architectures and practices, and key aspects about managing software teams. She also consults the article on Human Systems Integration in the Systems Engineering and Specialty Engineering knowledge area in Part 6 for insights into the SE of user amenities. | ||
| + | |||
| + | She then looks into the case studies in Part 7 and finds two safety-critical SE case studies to learn from. The Next Generation Medical Infusion Pump Case Study provides here with insights on the software aspects of safety practices such as fault tree analysis and failure modes and effects analysis, and also on overall approaches for concurrent engineering of the hardware, software, and human factors aspects of safety-critical equipment. The Medical Radiation Case Study provides her with examples of hardware-software pitfalls to avoid in safety-critical equipment. She now has the basis for assembling a core team of Safety First SEs, complemented by external experts in software and human factors engineering. As a first assignment, she begins to develop a team shared vision by having them read the portions of the SEBoK that she has found most valuable in assessing the challenges of transitioning Safety First into a leading software-intensive, user-friendly safety equipment provider. | ||
| + | |||
==Summary== | ==Summary== | ||
| − | The SEBoK provides insights and guidance concerning systems engineering and | + | The SEBoK provides insights and guidance concerning systems engineering principles and practices for General Managers in a variety of application domains and SE-related management challenge areas. These complement the general management guidance available in sources such as the PMBOK. |
==References== | ==References== | ||
===Works Cited=== | ===Works Cited=== | ||
| − | + | ||
| + | PMI. 2008. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). 4th ed. Newtown Square, PA, USA: Project Management Institute (PMI). | ||
| + | |||
===Primary References=== | ===Primary References=== | ||
| − | + | ||
| + | PMI. 2008. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). 4th ed. Newtown Square, PA, USA: Project Management Institute (PMI). | ||
===Additional References=== | ===Additional References=== | ||
| − | + | Abran, A., J. W. Moore, P. Bourque, R. Dupuis, and L. L. Tripp. 2004. SWEBOK: Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge, 2004 version. Los Alamitos, CA, USA and Tokyo, Japan: IEEE Computer Society Press. | |
| + | |||
| + | Booher, H. 2003. Handbook of Human-Systems Integration. New York, NY, USA: John Wiley & Sons Inc. | ||
| + | Pew, R. and A. Mavor. 2007. Human-System Integration in the System Development Process. Washington, DC, USA: The National Academies Press. | ||
| + | |||
---- | ---- | ||
Revision as of 19:15, 1 August 2012
This use case concerns those who want to understand the scope of systems engineering (SE) relative to their roles in projects and programs that involve systems engineering of products, services, enterprises, or systems of systems. Managers, other kinds of engineers, and all others who are involved in or are affected by a project or program that involves systems engineering will use the SEBoK to understand how their roles mesh with the roles of systems engineers. The SEBoK will also help them to better understand the relationships between systems engineering and other project or program activities.
Part 1 of the SEBoK provides an orientation and overview of systems engineering for all other stakeholders who have an interest in systems engineering. The extensive lists of references in Part 1 and throughout the SEBoK provide a basis for further readings on selected topics in systems engineering.
Part 7 of the SEBoK provides implementation examples that illustrate the application of systems engineering practices, principles, and concepts in real settings. Some of these may be of direct applicability for some other stakeholders; all of the examples provide concrete examples of the role of systems engineering in various kinds of projects and programs.
Links to glossary terms are embedded throughout the SEBoK; in version 1.0 of the SEBoK, each term will include a discussion of its relevance to systems engineering, which will provide further insights into systems engineering for managers.
The Use of Topics
Managers will find the following topics in the SEBoK to be relevant to their interests:
- In Part 3 of the SEBoK, managers will find the topics of Life Cycle Models, Systems Engineering Management, Product and Service Life Management, and Systems Engineering Standards to be of interest.
- A cursory reading of the Part 4 knowledge areas (products, services, enterprises, and systems of systems) will provide managers with an overview of the distinctions among systems engineering activities for these different kinds of engineered systems. Managers involved in development or modification of one of these types of systems will benefit from detailed reading of the content, primary references, and glossary terms for that topic.
- Managers will benefit from detailed reading of the knowledge areas in Part 5 of the SEBoK. In particular, managers whose project or program includes SE activities will benefit from the following Part 5 knowledge areas: Enabling Teams to Perform Systems Engineering and Enabling Individuals to Perform Systems Engineering. Higher-level managers will gain benefits from the Part 5 knowledge areas: Systems Engineering Organizational Strategy and Enabling Businesses and Enterprises to Perform Systems Engineering.
- The Systems Engineering and Project Management knowledge area in Part 6 will be of interest to project and program managers as well as to higher level managers who manage portfolios of project that involve SE. Those whose projects include SE as well as software engineering (SwE) will benefit from the Systems Engineering and Software Engineering knowledge area.
Vignette: Emerging Nation Satellite System
Tom Lee is the General Manager for Telecommunications of a large emerging nation whose leadership has given him the responsibility of creating a national satellite system for telecommunications and earth resources observation. His first need is to perform some SE functions to analyze alternative solutions and to perform cost-benefit tradeoff analyses. For this initial activity, he would like to use a combination of a proven satellite SE company and some of his brightest aerospace SEs, who can learn from the proven company and form the nucleus of the ultimate national satellite system in development and operation.
To ensure that he has a good understanding of the required SE capabilities and their application to the satellite system domain, he uses Part 1 of the SEBoK for an overview and pointers to the key sections of Parts 3 through 6 as discussed above. After getting a good general understanding of the life cycle, nature, scope, and management aspects of enterprise SE from these parts, he closely studies the successful satellite system case studies in Part 7 (Global Positioning System, MITI) for good ways to proceed and the unsuccessful satellite system case study in Part 7 (Hubble Space Telescope) for pitfalls to avoid. Thus prepared, he feels confident in going forward in formulating and executing his approach.
Vignette: Commercial Safety Equipment Company
Maria Moreno is the General Manager of Safety First Equipment Company, a highly successful company which has specialized in hardware-intensive safety equipment, but is finding that its competitors are eroding their market share with software-intensive capabilities and user amenities. Maria’s background is in electromechanical systems, and she is preparing an initative to make Safety First into a leading software-intensive safety equipment provider. Besides the general SEBoK information in Parts 1 through 6, she focuses on the Part 6 knowledge area of Systems Engineering and Software Engineering. This provides her with numerous insights about the nature of software, differences between hardware and software architectures and practices, and key aspects about managing software teams. She also consults the article on Human Systems Integration in the Systems Engineering and Specialty Engineering knowledge area in Part 6 for insights into the SE of user amenities.
She then looks into the case studies in Part 7 and finds two safety-critical SE case studies to learn from. The Next Generation Medical Infusion Pump Case Study provides here with insights on the software aspects of safety practices such as fault tree analysis and failure modes and effects analysis, and also on overall approaches for concurrent engineering of the hardware, software, and human factors aspects of safety-critical equipment. The Medical Radiation Case Study provides her with examples of hardware-software pitfalls to avoid in safety-critical equipment. She now has the basis for assembling a core team of Safety First SEs, complemented by external experts in software and human factors engineering. As a first assignment, she begins to develop a team shared vision by having them read the portions of the SEBoK that she has found most valuable in assessing the challenges of transitioning Safety First into a leading software-intensive, user-friendly safety equipment provider.
Summary
The SEBoK provides insights and guidance concerning systems engineering principles and practices for General Managers in a variety of application domains and SE-related management challenge areas. These complement the general management guidance available in sources such as the PMBOK.
References
Works Cited
PMI. 2008. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). 4th ed. Newtown Square, PA, USA: Project Management Institute (PMI).
Primary References
PMI. 2008. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). 4th ed. Newtown Square, PA, USA: Project Management Institute (PMI).
Additional References
Abran, A., J. W. Moore, P. Bourque, R. Dupuis, and L. L. Tripp. 2004. SWEBOK: Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge, 2004 version. Los Alamitos, CA, USA and Tokyo, Japan: IEEE Computer Society Press.
Booher, H. 2003. Handbook of Human-Systems Integration. New York, NY, USA: John Wiley & Sons Inc. Pew, R. and A. Mavor. 2007. Human-System Integration in the System Development Process. Washington, DC, USA: The National Academies Press.
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