Helix
Investigating the DNA of the Systems Engineering Workforce
Presentation to the NDIA Systems Engineering
Division
Art Pyster
February 13, 2013
This material is based upon work supported, in whole or in part, by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Systems Engineering Research
Center (SERC) under Contract H98230-08-D-0171. The SERC is a federally funded University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) managed by
Stevens Institute of Technology consisting of a collaborative network of over 20 universities. More information is available at www.SERCuarc.org
Material supported by a SERC research activity
February 2013
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Helix Project Motivation
• Strong forces are buffeting the US defense SE workforce:
― Near-term retirement of many senior-most engineers
― Attrition early in careers
― Rapid changes in defense system technology and mission requirements
― Revamping of processes used to develop defense systems
― Harsh new fiscal reality
― How best to prepare for next generation
• DoD and NDIA-SED want to understand the impact of those forces in order to
refine efforts to improve today’s systems engineers and develop tomorrow’s.
― Who the “real” systems engineers are?
― What do they do?
― How they are deployed?
― How effective are they?
― What forces (competency? education? experiences? …) most impact their
effectiveness?
• They want to understand how the SE workforce is changing over time.
Material supported by a SERC research activity
February 2013
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The Response
• DoD and NDIA-SED are sponsoring the SERC’s Helix Project,
which is developing a baseline of SE workforce characteristics,
including effectiveness, for both the DoD and NDIA-SED
organizations and will regularly refresh that baseline over time.
• That workforce baseline will support benchmarking of
organizations with respect to segments of industry and DoD.
• Helix will publish reports on a regular schedule – initially
planned to be quarterly after startup. (Note: Publication will
aggregate/anonymous results.)
• Helix will recommend changes in current and planned DoD and
NDIA-SED organizations’ efforts to increase the effectiveness of
those initiatives.
Material supported by a SERC research activity
February 2013
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Helix Research Approach
• Helix has defined three research questions about the SE
workforce it will initially seek to answer:
― WHO ARE THE SYSTEMS ENGINEERS?
― HOW EFFECTIVE ARE THEY AND WHY?
― WHAT ARE EMPLOYERS DOING TO IMPROVE EFFECTIVENESS?
• Helix will collect data primarily through interviews (not surveys)
and from institutional documents and databases.
• Helix will slice data in multiple ways; e.g., to distinguish between
characteristics of the SE population in NDIA-SED organizations
and the DoD.
• Helix has an advisory panel of representatives from DoD and
NDIA-SED companies to help validate the project approach and
to help the project access needed data.
Material supported by a SERC research activity
February 2013
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Research Questions
1.
WHO ARE THE SYSTEMS ENGINEERS? What are the various
definitions and characteristics of a “systems engineer” in DoD and
NDIA-SED organizations and how do they differ? What are the
activities they actually perform?
2.
HOW EFFECTIVE ARE THEY AND WHY? How can the effectiveness
of systems engineers (not systems engineering) be measured in
DoD and NDIA-SED organizations and which forces, such as
competencies, attrition, education, culture, environment,
expectations and experiences, have the greatest impact on the
effectiveness of systems engineers?
3.
WHAT ARE EMPLOYERS DOING TO IMPROVE EFFECTIVENESS?
What efforts do DoD and NDIA-SED organizations currently
employ to maintain and improve the effectiveness of their SE
workforce and how aligned are those efforts with the forces that
have the greatest impact on effectiveness?
Material supported by a SERC research activity
February 2013
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Benchmarking
Comparing Key SE Effectiveness Factors
Context
Formal
Education
Experience
Your org
Similar orgs
Organizational
Alignment
Competencies
Knowledge
Transfer
Axes are for illustration. Real axes will emerge from collected data.
Material supported by a SERC research activity
February 2013
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Research Method
Steps 1-5 are a research cycle that is repeated
periodically, beginning with pilot in spring 2013:
1. Prepare for cycle (grounded theory)
2. Collect data (interviews and institutional)
3. Analyze data (search for repeated patterns)
4. Answer research questions
5. Publish results
Material supported by a SERC research activity
February 2013
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Key Term: Effectiveness
• Effectiveness
―An individual systems engineer is effective when the
outcomes for which he is individually responsible are
achieved as a result of the systems engineering activities he
performs.
―An organization’s systems engineering workforce is effective
when the outcomes for which they are collectively
responsible are achieved as a result of the systems
engineering activities they perform.
Material supported by a SERC research activity
February 2013
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Participation Requested
• NDIA-SED companies are invited to participate in both the pilot
and the full study
• Please contact me directly at art.pyster@stevens.edu.
Material supported by a SERC research activity
February 2013
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