Engineering Concept of Operations

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Engineering Concept of Operations

• Col James Horejsi
• Chief Engineer
• Space Missile Systems Center

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EN CONOPS Philosophy

• Technical Conscience
• Ensure Technical Integrity
• Advocate the Technical Position
• Full Open Disclosure
• Apply Checks Balances
• Trust but Verify
• Remember the End User
• Processes Tools
• Implement a Process-Centric Approach
• Standardize Where it Adds Value
• Continuously Improve

• Manage the Work
• Plan the Work Work the Plan
• Guide Technical Work Execution
• Use Risk to Make Decisions
• Focus on the Life Cycle
• Plan for the Enterprise Future
• Actively Manage the Industrial Base
• Engineering Resources/Skills Mix
• Grow Our Own

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Ensure Technical Integrity

• Accept the responsibility to ensure the technical
  integrity, quality, and performance of the
  product
• Be able to provide the right technical response
  regardless of pressures from customers,
  management, industry or colleagues
• Make every attempt to resolve technical issues at
  the lowest possible level using program channels
• Use the Chief Engineer as an advisor/mediator in
  disputes with the Program Manager

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Advocate the Technical Position

• The first loyalty of the Engineer is to advocate
  what is technically optimum
• Always propose the technically optimum approach
  first, and then technically acceptable options
  based upon programmatic constraints
• Use the Chief Engineer for help in resolving
  technical issues

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Use Full and Open Disclosure

• Treat the public trust as critical to the
  systems ability to achieve its mission, and
  transparency of action and information, within
  the constraints of national security, as the
  means to achieve this
• Engineering is a team activity practice
  transparency in all you do
• Demand and give full and open access to all
  engineering data developed or used to support or
  justify engineering decisions

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Use Checks and Balances

• Actively seek technically dissenting opinions,
  treat all views as valuable, and carefully
  consider those views when making a decision
• Dissenting views are the best way to gain insight
  into an issue/topic
• Use peer reviews, data pedigree reviews, audits,
  staff assistance visits, and similar checks as
  means to enhance engineering discipline
• Conduct independent reviews using specialists not
  directly involved in or affected by the activity
  or outcome
• Know what constitutes best practice and where you
  stand in relation to it

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Trust But Verify

• Check to ensure the right action is taken
• Check the pedigree of the data/analysis
• Apply peer reviews, data pedigree assessments,
  independent reviews and assessments, spot checks,
  audits similar techniques to
• Verify the plan has been properly executed
• Ensure the approach is technically correct
• Ensure program technical efforts are soundly
  planned, and
• Verify the work is acceptable.
• Practice reasonable paranoia
• An engineer without data has only opinionsrely
  on the data

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Remember the End User

• Never forget that the end user is a real person
  who is relying on your due diligence for their
  mission success and survival

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Plan the Work Work the Plan

• Plan all actions first in a way that can be
  measured
• Structure the plans to ensure completeness,
  adherence with higher-level guidance, and
  reasonableness, given resource constraints.
• Once approved, rigorously follow the plan, but
  never blindly
• Make the Systems Engineering Plan Systems
  Engineering Master Plan living documents guiding
  program execution
• Continuously measure progress against the plans
  and periodically reassess the viability of
  executing the plan

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Guide Technical Work Execution

• Continuously monitor and evaluate the programs
  engineering and technical work to ensure it is
• properly directed toward maintaining the
  technical integrity of the enterprise product
  line,
• effectively and efficiently executed using best
  practices and applying lessons learned, and
• aimed towards mission success
• Ensure the right work is performed as the best
  means for meeting cost, maintaining schedule and
  achieving required user performance objectives
• Define and actively oversee the execution of the
  technical tasks required to procure and sustain
  user capabilities, consistent with policies,
  procedures, vision and roadmaps

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Use Risk to Make Decisions

• Make decisions in a timely manner, using risk
  management principles
• Continuously identify risks to mission success,
  assess the impact of those risks, take steps to
  mitigate and control them, and incorporate those
  actions in all planned activities
• Identify the technically optimum approach and
  treat any deviation from that approach (i.e.,
  technically acceptable options) as a risk to
  successfully execute the approved plan
• Ensure management is aware of the risk, however
  much they may not want to hear it

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Focus on the Life Cycle

• Address the entire system lifecycle
• Address, up front and early, all specialty
  engineering disciplines as the best means to
  achieve a balanced design in the final product

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Plan for the Enterprise Future

• Account for requirements evolution, technology
  transition, and recapitalization of the product
  line
• Provide situational awareness of the engineering
  ramifications of a changing environment and the
  impact on the industrial base
• Develop an integrated roadmap to assist in
  planning the evolution of the system into the
  future and to facilitate in implementing
  cross-program vision architectures

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Manage the Industrial Base

• Be aware of and understand the impact on
  engineering of a changing environment
• Monitor key indicators such as
• Policy, technology, and marketplace changes
• Users system and technology roadmaps, and
• Issues in the joint and international arenas
• Actively work to improve the position of the
  industrial base through technology insertion,
  process improvement, and use of best practices

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Implement a Process-Centric Approach

• Publish only those policies, instructions, and
  procedures that enhance a programs ability to
  efficiently and effectively execute systems
  engineering
• Monitor the programs implementation of and
  adherence to the approved processes
• Use the Systems Engineering Plan (SEP) to define
  the processes and approach used to execute the
  systems engineering function, and assure all
  technical activities are identified, managed, and
  communicated to all stakeholders.

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Standardize Where It Adds Value

• Develop and publish hardware, software, test,
  manufacturing, and other relevant specifications
  and standards (along with rationale) to guide
  program activities
• Keep these documents updated to reflect best
  practice and to capture lessons learned
• Provide guidance and approve the tailoring of the
  specifications and standards to meet the needs of
  each program
• Tailor, implement, and enforce approved
  specifications and standards on existing and new
  acquisitions
• Ensure all technical standards, processes,
  procedures, and policies implemented by SMC are
  periodically reviewed for technical accuracy and
  completeness

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Focus on Continuous Improvement

• Never be satisfied with simply maintaining the
  status quo, but constantly look for better ways
  of implementing the engineering program,
  consistent with the philosophy captured herein
• Actively proliferate best practices and lessons
  learned
• Base all changes on relevant evidence
  demonstrated by measured data
• Document, apply, and sustain best practices as
  the means to achieve improvement to include using
  process improvement techniques such as
  benchmarking, Lean, and six-sigma
• Apply this continuous improvement philosophy to
  the workforce
• Beware the latest fad more often than not it is
  a repackaging of what already is good enough

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Engineering Resources and Skills Mix

• Ensure the appropriate engineering
  expertise/skills are applied in sufficient
  quantity to completely execute each engineering
  task
• Manage the engineering workforce as a single
  entity, drawing skills from the gamut of
  engineering support, to ensure the right person
  is working the right job

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Grow Our Own

• Take full responsibility for developing and
  growing the engineering expertise of the entire
  engineering workforce
• Support improving the systems engineering
  discipline
• All engineers are responsible for obtaining the
  education and training required to perform their
  jobs properly, as well as assisting in the
  education and training of those who will replace
  them
• Take responsibility for coaching and mentoring
  each other and following generations of
  engineers.
• Make full use of industry and professional
  associations, as well as academia
• Create a learning organization that values
  knowledge and seeks to expand it throughout the
  engineering community

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