Bits of Reflection
ASEC 2016. An Engineers Meetup Story.
INCOSE UK Annual Systems Engineering Conference ‘Building on Success’ #asec2016 INCOSE UK Annual Systems Engineering Conference. Tim also wrote up his fresh thoughts here. A pleasurable a thought provoking read. https://storify.com/aditot/asec-2016-an-engineers-meetup-story
read more9 Laws of Systems Engineering
During my last session of YouTube foraging ( oh, you don’t want to see my view history … ) I stumbled upon this gem. Thought it’s a really good webinar, spot-on and directly to the core. I’d say it’s short, even though you wouldn’t say just based on video length. It addresses the basics very briefly and clearly enough, so I’d share with you all. It might come useful to explain that everlasting question on what is Systems Engineering and what is it you’re doing. Then the blank stare and quick...
read moreThoughts on the ASEC2015 – Day Two
INCOSE UK Annual Systems Engineering Conference ‘Systems Engineering comes of age’ #asec2015 INCOSE UK Annual Systems Engineering Conference (ASEC2015): ‘Systems Engineering comes of age’ INCOSE UK Annual Systems Engineering Conference ‘Systems Engineering comes of age’ Thoughts on the ASEC2015 – Day Two (with images, tweets) · aditot INCOSE UK Annual Systems Engineering Conference ‘Systems Engineering comes of age’...
read moreThoughts on the ASEC2015 – Day One
INCOSE UK Annual Systems Engineering Conference ‘Systems Engineering comes of age’ INCOSE ASEC2015: ‘Systems Engineering comes of age’ INCOSE UK Annual Systems Engineering Conference ‘Systems Engineering comes of age’ Thoughts on the ASEC2015 – Day One (with images, tweets) · aditot INCOSE UK Annual Systems Engineering Conference ‘Systems Engineering comes of age’...
read moreSystems Engineering at its Finest
Ever wondered how design decisions are made? What are the drivers behind some of the most intriguing solutions? Here is a teaser of what’s going on sometimes in our world when striving to satisfy the customer. Even though a satire, will draw smiles on the faces of those designing systems.
read moreUnderstanding the Three Stages of Change
Change is a common thread that runs through all businesses regardless of size, industry and age. They say the only constant in the world is change. Our world is changing fast and, as such, organizations must change quickly too. Organizations that handle change well thrive, whilst those that do not may struggle to survive. The concept of “change management” is a familiar one in most businesses today. But, how businesses manage change (and how successful they are at it) varies enormously depending on the nature of the business, the...
read more3D UML Modelling?
Developed on top of Google SketchUp? That’s interesting. I thought it dead since Google sold it to Trimble and it went silent for the least to say, as it got to be a paid tool now. This has been tweeted today, even though the news is from 2009: UML in 3D – #oldiebutgoldie http://t.co/EqgSNudYCA — Jordi Cabot (@softmodeling) September 6, 2014 Would be interested in further development of the concept, in a more professional look & feel for using in practice, provided it was shown effective. Would be interested in seeing some...
read moreReqIf – standardising interchange?
Just to drop a few quick lines on the side of this article from the most recent IREB Magazine issue: Open Up. The leading Automotive companies (both OEMs and suppliers) already picked up the lead in developing an open requirements exchange standard. And maybe this is the most important word here: standard. They are the most affected, so with a great interest in aligning exchange. Then my thoughts: how about open source requirements management tools? There are already some, but any chance soon any of them could emerge above all and replace...
read moreOn Motivation
Thinking about the way to maximize people’s involvement in your project, and full-heartedly follow you and push forward your project. How do you motivate them? There is nothing really new on this topic, people studied this area long and thoroughly. David J. Schwartz spoke about it in the The Magic of Thinking Big, illustrated by taking some largely ignored routes, like treating people the human way: “What’s the human approach?” Listening to opinions, never criticize but always praise publicly, using the sandwich...
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Significant pieces of the globe are literally not on the map: they're missing from the most widely used mapping platforms, like Google Street View, leaving communities neglected of vital services and humanitarian aid. In this globetrotting talk, photographer Tawanda Kanhema takes us along on his journey to map 3,000 miles of uncharted areas in Zimbabwe, Namibia and northern Canada -- and shows how we can all contribute to building a more connected world. [...]
As the founder of a startup, Tracy Young often worried that employees and investors valued male CEOs more -- and that being a woman compromised her position as a leader. In this brave, personal talk, she gives an honest look at the constraints women face when trying to adapt to a male-dominated business culture -- and shares how she developed the courage and vulnerability to lead as her complete, raw self. (This talk contains a graphic story. Discretion is advised.) [...]
Democracy needs an update -- one that respects and engages citizens by involving them in everyday political decisions, says writer and researcher Max Rashbrooke. He outlines three global success stories that could help move democratic systems forward and protect society against the new challenges this century is already bringing. [...]
When global leaders think about which industries can fuel economic growth, the arts are often overlooked. But filmmaker Mehret Mandefro says the creative sector actually has the power to grow economies -- while also helping safeguard democracy. In this captivating talk, she shares a behind-the-scenes look at how she's putting culture back on the economic agenda in Ethiopia, and explains why other countries would benefit from doing the same. [...]
The future economy won't be built by people and factories, but by algorithms and artificial intelligence, says data scientist Mainak Mazumdar. But what happens when these algorithms get trained on biased data? Drawing on examples from Shanghai to New York City, Mazumdar shows how less-than-quality data leads to AI that makes wrong decisions and predictions -- and reveals three infrastructural resets needed to make ethical AI possible. [...]
The whole of enterprises’ endeavors and behaviors cannot be coerced into models lest they inhibit their ability to navigate ill defined and shifting business environments. Enterprises immersion in digital environments is making limits all the more explicit: On the environment side, facts, once like manna from heaven ready to be picked and interpreted, have turned … Continue reading "Facts, Categories, Concepts" [...]
Compared to its bricks and mortar counterpart, enterprises architecture is a work in progress to be carried out all along enterprises life cycle; hence the need of actionable representations of environments, organization, assets, and processes. As any artifact, actual or symbolic, models must serve some purposes which for systems architectures can be of two kind, … Continue reading "Actionable Enterprise Architectures" [...]
When push comes to shove, deciding on a development process is to decide between instant or delayed returns, namely focusing on users needs with agile development, or taking extended features into consideration and weighting the benefits of reuse against additional costs, e.g.: Designs to be reused as patterns. Profiling configurations. Structuring business process models so … Continue reading "EA in the Loops" [...]
As far as enterprise architecture is concerned, the issue of scale is fogged by two confusions: one between processes and structures, the other between space and time. That square is at the core of the discipline. The Matter of Time Even before the digital unfolding of environments, everybody was to agree that business is all … Continue reading "About Scales & Times" [...]
Preamble Beyond varying names, requirements have often been classified into four basic categories: Process requirements deal with organization and business processes independently of the part played by supporting systems. Application requirements deal with the part played by supporting systems in the realization of processes requirements.. Quality of Service requirements deal with users experience independently of … Continue reading "Requirements in Digital Environments" [...]
Note: this blog builds upon a previous blog published several years ago on allocation and traceability. We were recently asked the following question: “I’m trying to improve the way our requirements are leveled and allocated. One nuance that we have … Read More The post Blog first appeared on Requirements Experts. [...]
On May 11, 2019 we presented our 1-day Scope Definition seminar for the INCOSE ChicagoLand Chapter Spring Seminar offering to their membership. This was a natural follow on seminar to the Writing Good Requirements seminar we presented at the 2018 … Read More The post Blog first appeared on Requirements Experts. [...]
Hi all, I will be giving a 1-day seminar on scope definition for the ChicagoLand INCOSE Chapter on May 11, 2019 for their Spring Tutorial. Last year I gave our 1-day Writing Good Requirements seminar which was very popular and … Read More The post Blog first appeared on Requirements Experts. [...]
A special thanks to all that attended the RWG sessions at IW2019 along with those that volunteered to give a presentation and lead a discussion on their topic – without your active involvement and dedication, IW2019 would not have been … Read More The post Blog first appeared on Requirements Experts. [...]
The RWG has a full agenda planned for IW 2019, Jan 26-29, 2019 in Torrance, CA. Planned Activities for IW2019 Welcome new members Overview to the RWG “Guide for Writing Requirements” for new members and the whitepaper “Integrated Data as a Foundation of … Read More The post Blog first appeared on Requirements Experts. [...]
In my book "The Manager's Guide for Effective Leadership" I stress the importance of giving people control over the processes they are responsible for in order to increase productivity. Of course it’s necessary to train people in the management of processes and to establish boundaries for what they can control before they are set free to control their own processes. There is another parameter that management controls that can increase or stifle productivity. That is the work space of the workers. The December 2013/January 2014 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek has an excellent article by Joshua Brustein on the modern workplace that is worth reading. This post borrows from that article and from my own personal experience as a worker. Brustein’s article is questions posed by Burstein and answered by several experts on work place issues. I will quote some of… [...]
We last addressed your leadership action plan at the end of the review of lectures 11-16. If you are a diligent student you have been very busy working on the actions you defined for yourself up to that point. That is why you have not been asked to update your plan as you studied lectures 17 – 29. Now it is time to go back to your plan.First, conduct an assessment of how well you are doing implementing your action plan. Are you making reasonable progress on every item? If so, you deserve a pat on the back. Are there planed actions that you have found difficult to implement? If there are, go back to the lecture that gave rise to the difficult actions and review the lecture to see if you are missing anything in your implementation efforts. Are… [...]
The first 22 lectures deal with the management functions of staffing, communicating and motivating. The remainder of the lectures deals with selected aspects of control. It is assumed that the student understands methods of cost and schedule control appropriate to the student’s organization. If not, references for self-study are provided in lecture 23. It is critical to understand how to apply the principles of control to different organization types because these principles must be tailored to the organization type and applying them inappropriately results in significant inefficiencies. It is also necessary to understand management accounting, which differs from standard financial accounting, in order to make sound decisions relating to costs of products or services. The three aspects of control discussed in lectures 23-28 relate to processes involved in the day to day work of any organization. These three are risk… [...]
Everything discussed up to this point is supportive of the manager’s main function, which is leading the organization in accomplishing its strategic objectives. I have discussed several times how implementing the methods discussed eventually frees the manager from daily firefighting activities thereby making time for more strategic work. An organization of highly motivated workers that are trained and empowered to control their processes will conduct the organization’s normal activities with little oversight from the manager. However, accomplishing an organization’s strategic objectives almost always involves doing some things differently or some new things. The success of the organization depends on accomplishing these different or new things successfully. Ensuring that the organization has the highest probability of success in achieving strategic objectives is the responsibility of the leader. In this lecture I describe a process that helps both the leader and the… [...]
In most cases the largest cause in a Pareto chart is the first target for improving a process. However, in this example the students aren’t complaining about the time they spend in the stacks. The students’ primary complaint is about the second shortest step in the overall process. Based on these observations the process improvement team decides to divide the problem into two pieces. First they will determine if they can reduce the amount of data required for the checkout process, thereby addressing the main complain of the students, and second they will analyze the process in more detail to see if the overall time can be shortened without major investments in new equipment or facilities.Examining the rational for requiring the student’s local and home addresses for checking out books determined that this policy traces to the era before the… [...]
Clients are interested in changes to the specific values on the server. It's difficult for clients to structure their logic if they need to poll the server continuously to look for changes. If clients open too many connections to the server for watching changes, it can overwhelm the server. more… [...]
Cluster nodes need exclusive access to certain resources. But nodes can crash; they can be temporarily disconnected or experiencing a process pause. Under these error scenarios, they should not keep the access to a resource indefinitely. more… [...]
Like many Americans, I was transfixed and horrified by the recent assault on the Capitol. Much of this anger originates in lies perpetrated by irresponsible politicians and spread through media agencies. Lies like this can destroy democracies, and while we must have free speech we must not be free of the consequences of that speech more… [...]
Tim continues his comparison of high and low effectiveness organizations by comparing their key feedback loops. To improve these, organizations need to understand the importance of micro feedback loops, which are often neglected because they are so small. more… [...]
Unmesh Joshi has a few more of his Patterns of Distributed Systems ready to share with the world. Consistent Core looks at how a large cluster can keep some information strongly consistent, Lease allows unreliable nodes to access limited resources without blocking them when they fail State Watch allows clients to be notified of changes on a server. more… [...]
A friend left her phone near me. Over the next half hour, it pinged and chirped. I felt myself getting anxious and a little antsy… These were not pings for me, not on my phone. They weren’t sounds that my phone even makes. It doesn’t matter. The training has been going on for years. We’re […] [...]
It’s probably not completely original. It’s probably not breathtaking in scope. It’s probably not immediately popular. But… it’s definitely worth pursuing, consistently and persistently for years and years. If you care. If it’s generous and helpful and worth the journey. All the big ideas that made a difference follow this pattern. [...]
We can choose to commit to a recursive and infinite path that elegantly creates more of the same. We can choose possibility. We can choose connection. We can choose optimism. We can choose justice. We can choose kindness. We can choose resilience. And we can decide to take responsibility. Each leads to more of the […] [...]
Everyone who wants to be busy is busy. But not everyone is productive. Busy is simply a series of choices about how to spend the next minute. Productive requires skill, persistence and good judgment. Productive means that you have created something of value. Perhaps your self-created busy-ness is causing you to be less productive. [...]
It means two things: In high-quality manufacturing, producing to tolerance means that all the parts are as identical as possible. Getting the tolerances precise permits cars to be made more reliably, and for production to run more effectively. In human beings, tolerance creates resilience. Tolerance of different abilities and preferences makes it easy to work […] [...]