THE VALUE OF BREADTH

Christopher Oster

Lockheed Martin SERC Fellow

Copyright Christopher Oster © 2012 All Rights Reserved

Bio and Background

• Model Based Engineering Rollout Manager – Lockheed Martin Advanced Practices & Tools• Focus on maturing and deploying new

engineering methodologies & associated tools across the Lockheed Martin Engineering Enterprise

• M.S., B.S. Computer Science at Penn State University• Research focused on use of immersive

technology in science & technology applications

• PhD Candidate, Systems Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology• Research focused on engineering

methodologies to support more diverse trade analysis earlier in the product lifecycle

Where I Work: Lockheed Martin

Approximately 126,000 Employees Worldwide

$45.8B Net Sales in 2010 Six time winner of the Collier Trophy Aerospace Heritage Stretching Back

to the Beginning of Aviation Four Major Divisions

Aeronautics Space Systems Electronic Systems Information Systems & Global Solutions

What is Breadth

Breadth is… Having multidisciplinary understanding and appreciation Skill set flexibility Balancing subject matter expertise with a wider capability

Would you feel comfortable jumping into a job as… A cost account manager? A project engineer? A systems analyst? A coder? A proposal writer? A requirements developer? An information technologist?

The Engineering Workplace

Engineering teams are becoming more and more diverse I’ve had team’s comprised of Physicists, Coders,

Engineers and Philosophers (at the same time!) Modern system problems are becoming more and

more complex Specialization has produced wonderfully

articulate, profound and proficient knowledge bases and skill sets. …

It has left in its wake many silos. [Boardman 2006]

Why Breadth Matters

While you may be majoring in Engineering Management, your first job will most likely not be Managing Engineers

Technology, methods, tools and systems change rapidly – sometimes being able to adapt is more important than having deep subject matter expertise

Engineers respect managers that can understand a technical problem, and more importantly identify a solution that won’t work

Why Breadth Matters

But most importantly…

More and more of today’s hard problem are “Systems Problems”

“Systems Problems” can often only be solved with breadth

Within systems engineering diversity exists everywhere

[Boardman 2006]

Story: Reaching Orbit

The Cost per Pound for achieving orbit on the space shuttle is approximately $5,000

A joint NASA and industry team was challenged to take significant weight out of the system early in the shuttle program but was coming up roughly 800 lbs short (equating to $4M / launch)

Weight is a huge deal for most Aerospace and Defense systems

Story: Reaching Orbit

STS-1 and STS-2 STS-3 and beyond

Breadth in your team can lead to a solution that will continue to evade specialists alone

Solution by a non-expert: Why is the tank painted white?

Story: Poorly Planned Warranty A US Based Defense Contractor won an

international bid for a radar program The business development (BD) team

responsible for closing the deal needs to negotiate a system warranty

Not understanding the natureof the system design, the BD lead offered an unwise warranty locking the contractor into effectively unlimited lifetime repairs

Story: Poorly Planned Warranty

Lack of Breadth caused a problem, but could bringing in someone with breadth help fix it?

Contractor team established a multidisciplinary team to review the issue, risk and interact with the customer Critical members of the team had both system level

understanding and the ability to dive into the details Could you represent software, firmware, test and

systems engineering if called upon?

Breadth makes you more valuable as an employee

A Lack of Breadth in the Proposal Team Led to a Costly Problem

Marketable

Story: Building Respect

I started my career as a software engineer Majored in Comp Sci, Minored in

Math M.S. in Comp Sci & Eng I was a very good software

developer

Success in that role opened doors to new opportunities leading teams

but…

New leadership challenges meant moving out of my comfort zone

Story: Building Respect

Good engineers respect other good engineers If an engineering team doesn’t think their

manager “gets it” they won’t follow their lead

Managers need to be able to separate real solutions from smoke and mirrors Managers control money and schedule and

need to ensure it gets used appropriatelyBreath is necessary to lead a diverse team

Be great at something, but be good in lots of other things too

Recap

Breadth in your team can lead to a solution that will continue to evade specialists alone!

Breadth makes you more valuable (and marketable) as an employee!

Breath is necessary to lead a diverse team!