Membership Meeting: December 14, 2015

This is an early announcement concerning the 14 Dec chapter meeting.  Scott Workinger will be talking about Transformational Systems Engineering.  We will be trying a new location: Rinconada Library, 1213 Newell Rd, Palo Alto, CA 94303. We will also work on setting up satellite location at Lockheed Martin.  

Introduction to Transformational Systems Engineering

Scott Workinger scottworkinger@gmail.com

In recent years, many of our colleagues have observed that, “There is no one-size-fits-all systems engineering.”  This observation has arisen as the complexities in our world have multiplied and organizations have been experimenting with multiple innovative practices that could, in some sense, be identified as “Systems Engineering” (SE).  Such practices go by a variety of names, such as Model Based Systems Engineering, Agile Systems Engineering, Enterprise Systems Engineering, Design Thinking, System of Systems Engineering, Business Model Engineering, Complex Systems Engineering, Organizational Development and others.  Of course, Classical Systems Engineering, as it has been practiced in the Aerospace and Defense Industries, is not going away.  Each of these practices has been tried successfully in certain situations.  Each is intended to apply a holistic approach to problems with significant scope and extend the reach of Systems Engineering.  Typically, they offer new paradigms.  But these practices vary considerably as do the contexts in which they are normally applied.  Moreover, often, the practitioners do not self-identify as systems engineers.  For instance, to quote an experienced Apple engineer, “Apple doesn’t hire any systems engineers.  However two thirds of the people at Apple are doing Systems Engineering.”

 In 2013, members of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter (SFBAC) of INCOSE became interested in the problem of describing a “Systems Engineering” that is sufficiently inclusive to embrace all of the practices that offer systems engineering functionality, even though practitioners may not call themselves “SEs.”  At that time, we formed the Systems Engineering Transformation Caucus, a loosely knit organization whose mission was to define a larger body of systems engineering practice and make it more accessible to working engineers.  We refer to this rapidly evolving body of practice as “Transformational Systems Engineering” (TSE).

In October, the Caucus members collaborated to create a themed issue of INCOSE INSIGHT, entitled "Systems Engineering in Transformation."  This issue is intended as a snapshot of Transformational Systems Engineering as it exists at this point in time.  Upcoming SFBAC chapter meetings will discuss various aspects of TSE.  This first meeting will give an overview of Transformational SE as it exists today.  Upcoming meetings will describe a variety of TSE practice paradigms, going into more detail in each focus area.