Systems engineering and project management - Chair's presentation

1. Systems engineering and project
management – partners in
successful projects
January 15th 2013

2. Agenda
9.30am
Registration and refreshments
10am Mary McKinlay
Chairman’s welcome and introduction
10.20am Dr Michael Wilkinson, INCOSE
Systems engineering for project managers. What you need to know, what you may think that you know which ain’t so and what the main challenges
are.
10.40am Mike Nichols, APM
Project management for systems engineers. What you need to know, what you may think that you know which ain’t so and what the main
challenges are.
11.00am Coffee break
11.15am Nick Obolensky
Syndicate working: What are the main challenges related to putting the ideas of project management and system engineering to work better
together on complex projects? What are profitable areas to explore when looking for opportunities for do better?
12.45pm
Lunch

3. Who Are We?
• How would you describe yourself?

4. Why Are We Here?
“The situation the world is in is a mess”
(Russell Ackoff 2004)
“Systems Engineering and Project or Programme
Management need to be linked effectively to
promote the prospects of success in complex
systems development”
APM Vision for 2020 – “A World in which all
Projects Succeed”
The traditional approach to PM is to break things
down
Systems Engineering addresses interconnectivity

5. Can we work together?
• What can we profitably address?
• How can we reconcile different cultures?
• Does our thinking apply to all sorts of project?

6. Complex Projects
• Interconnectivity
• Wicked Problems
• Uncertainty
• Training Project Managers to think
systemically – Using Mike Jackson’s book,
“Systems Thinking, Creative Holism for
Managers.”

7. Afternoon Agenda
1.30pm Mary McKinlay
Brief summary of work in this area to date
1.40pm Jim Luffman, Thales
Case study: Within the context of business goals, Jim will demonstrate that effective
communication and behaviours between PMs and SEs are critical success factors for current and
future projects. A case study illustrates the 10 main lessons learned from Thales systems
engineering projects. Mapping these lessons to a set of PM/SE capability improvement enablers
identifies some areas to look for solutions now and in the future.
2.10pm- introduction
2.20pm
Syndicate working: What steps could project organisations, APM and INCOSE take to make progress in
the areas identified in the morning? (Tea while working)
3.20pm
Plenary session: feedback from syndicates and discussion of conclusions for the workshop.
4.00pm
Close

8. Work done to date
• INCOSE Symposia
• INCOSE Conference UK
– "Integrating Project Management (PM) and Systems
Engineering (SE) – A Mutualistic Approach”
– Eileen Arnold, “Systems Engineering and Project
Management Intersects and Confusion” The key points
seem to be that both SEs and PMs share both
competencies/traits (big picture thinking, breadth,
knowledge, communications, leadership, etc) and
ownership of artefacts (WBS, tasks definitions, risk
register/management plan, stakeholder engagement plan,
etc) - the take home point being that both communities
are approaching the same problem from different starting
points and for subtly different purposes.

9. There’s more!
• Joint INCOSE UK and APM Events in Bristol 25th March
2009 - "So you THINK you know about Risk Management
?" - Peter Campbell (Chairman of the APM Risk
SIG)· [The last time that we held a joint INCOSE UK
and APM event, one of the key insights to emerge was
that the effective management of risk ought to be key to
delivering capability. Most of those present would agree
with this view, but how many of us really understand risk,
and manage it effectively, rather than simply forming “risk
admiration societies” to look at the risk register once a
month.Project management of complex systems – it’s a
risky business…]
• 28th May 2008 “Delivering Capability – Why can’t we do it
better?” ·

10. Thanks
• Thales – our hosts today
• Colleagues from Incose UK and APM who have
worked together to create this event
• All of you – for defying the weather