Track 1 Using Systems Thinking
Exposing Mental Models – Kurt Colvin and Roger Burton
Mental models play an important role in the process of systems thinking. This talk will first offer our definitions of related terms, examples of mental models that resulted in negative outcomes and then an interactive activity intended to expose these hidden, often difficult-to-identify assumptions. The well-known, systems thinking iceberg model will be the basis for this activity.
Panel on Systems Thinking
Bo” Bohdan W. Oppenheim, PhD, Moderator
Panelists:
John Carfora, PhD, Associate Provost, LMU,
Hon. Ricarda Kessebohm, LL.M., Consulate Gen., Fed. Republic of Germany , LA,
Azad Madni, PhD. Prof. & Director, Systems Architecting and Engineering, USC,
Dr. Stephen Tarzynski, Chief of Pediatrics, Kaiser Permanente West LA,
The panel will discuss the uses and impacts of Systems Thinking in areas of Common Good, Economic and Political areas relative to Europe, Energy and Health Delivery.
Introduction to Systems Thinking – Padman Nagenthiram, PhD
This presentation will give a brief introduction to systems thinking. It will begin with definitions and the origins of systems thinking and trace its parallel development to systems engineering. It will also discuss some of the obstacles, both intrinsic and practical to implementing systems thinking and suggest ways for enhancing systems engineering processes and methods with systems thinking, both in the present and the future.
Putting “Systems Thinking” into Systems Engineering – Joyce D. Williams
The importance of how people think, their thought processes, how they interact with each other (on a project as well as with their peers, colleagues, and supervisors) is often an underlying factor in determining system development success. For most systems engineers, systems thinking goes against the grain of how they have been trained and/or how they develop systems. The whole may be greater than the sum of the parts and a reductionism approach is inadequate, unreliable, and often unfeasible. This presentation will look at ways to integrate systems thinking into the systems engineering lifecycle.
System Thinking Curriculum: Theory and Practice – “Bo” Bohdan W. Oppenheim, PhD
The presentation will describe a unique college course called Systems Thinking initiated in 2012 in which two LMU Colleges work together: Liberal Arts and Science & Engineering. Students and faculty together look at complex systems that combine both technological and societal aspects of our civilization, seeking to understand how things influence one another within a sufficiently large context, how they may create unintended consequences, and how we can influence them for common good.
Systems Thinking: A Multiplicity of Viewpoints – Mr. Michael Martin, PE, PMP
Systems thinking is fundamentally about consideration of complex problem situations from multiple selected viewpoints, leading to clarification of approaches to possible solutions. Peter Checkland established this concept in his Soft-Systems Methodology (SSM), identifying it as a “process of inquiry” that requires exploration into a system of interest. The presentation will highlight concepts and tools that can assist in the understanding of system landscapes and viewpoints. Systems thinking offers benefits that can be applied to today’s larger technological and sociopolitical challenges. Systems Thinking – A Simplified Perspective- Villy Angelico
In today’s world, generations of people from all disciplines need to understand systems thinking in order to integrate and interface with the exponentially growing communication networks, various interacting systems, and ever evolving technology developments.
Systems thinking can be simplified so that anyone can understand systems thinking. This objective is achieved by walking the audience through a floor layout of a room in a house, and then building up from there to fully integrated systems of systems.
Systems Thinking in Health Care – Professor AJ Lee
While advances in medical technology have propelled medicine to new heights, the recent stimulus package and legislations in healthcare have ignited an information boom that has divided the healthcare industry and fragmented many traditional paradigms of healthcare delivery.
This presentation examines the current and future trends in the healthcare industry and discusses how to uses systems thinking to prepare tomorrow’s healthcare leaders to harness the HITECH tsunami.
Track 2 Career Development
The Headhunter’s Secret Guide to Getting a Great Job – Mark Bregman, CEO of Boyle Ogata Bregman
One-on-One Resume Review and One-on-One job hunt audit (following the talk)
Personalized career plan – Joshua Hernandez from Workforce2
The Most Effective Way to Start Your Own Advanced Tech Business – Dennis Wonica, LaserLight Networks Inc.
Career Transition Panel – Stephen Guine – Moderator
Panelists
Dennis Wonica
Joel Davidson (Direct Gain Consulting, solar energy group)
Rex Ridenoure, Commercial Space
Pam Le Liz (networking), Irene Woerner
Paul Graven
Career Transition Resources Panel
Panelists
Elissa Grossman (LMU, responsible for entrepreneurship pgm)
South Bay Dev Center in Torrance – Russ Lefevre
Joel Davidson, SCORE
Donald Stukes, formerly with SBDC
Becki Walker
Joshua Hernandez Workforce 2
Track 3 SECamp
Clarifying the Context of SE for the SEBoK – Barry Boehm, PhD
This presentation focuses on the resulting clarification of four key aspects of SE: (1) What is the system boundary of SE? (2) Who are SE’s operational stakeholders? (3) What are the relations among SE and other disciplines? and (4) What is the historical context of SE?
Requirements and Scope Creep: Important Legal Concepts Related To Authoring Requirements – Sam Dodds
This presentation presents important legal concepts related to authoring requirements and why they are important to the systems engineer.
E-DECIDER: Decision Support for Earthquake Disaster Response – Margaret Glasscoe, et al.
Earthquake Data Enhanced Cyber–‐Infrastructure for Disaster Evaluation and Response (E–‐DECIDER) is a NASA–‐funded project developing new capabilities for decision–‐making utilizing remote sensing data and modeling software to provide decision support for earthquake disaster management and response.
CSEP Panel – John Silvas, Moderator, other Panelists – TBD
The International Council on Systems Engineering has established a multi-level Professional Certification Program to provide a formal method for recognizing the knowledge and experience of systems engineers, regardless of where they may be in their career.
Panelist will address why they became certified and the benefits they have received.
What Every Systems Engineer Ought to Know About Lean Six Sigma – Rick Hefner, Ph.D.
Lean Six Sigma (LSS) provides a powerful set of integrated tools and methods for optimizing products and processes. Although much has been written about the application of LSS to the manufacturing and service industries, it is increasing being applied to systems engineering, with tremendous success. This presentation identifies the types of systems engineering problems that can be addressed by LSS, the unique challenges, and lessons learned. This presentation will focus on how system engineers can select and use Lean Six Sigma tools and methods to address their everyday problems.
Agile Systems Engineering Panel – Panel Moderator, Phyllis Marbach, Boeing
Panelists:
Barry Boehm, USC
Dick Carlson, Boeing
Dan Allard, JPL
As Agile Software Development has increased in application in the past 12 years, interest in Agile Systems Engineering has increased. This panel includes representatives from academia and industry to discuss what it means to be Agile for Systems Engineering. Cases of Agile practices applied to typical systems engineering tasks will be described. Cases where Agile may not apply will be discussed, as well.
The following presentations make up parts of the AGILE Panel and discussions
Case Study of a Program using an Agile Software Development Process – Phyllis R. Marbach
A case study from a software intensive program using Agile practices for their software development will be presented. This case study includes: the Agile process used by the program, how systems engineering and software development worked to accomplish the program deliverables.
Adaptation of the Agile Scrum Methodology for the Implementation of Multi-Mission Relay Coordination Software – Dan Allard
The adaptation of Scrum to work within the mandated institutional waterfall process for this mission critical software has been particularly challenging, with certain aspects of Scrum modified and/or abandoned, with varying degrees of success. This presentation will describe the MaROS adaptation of Scrum and discuss the lessons learned in the adaptation process.
Applying Systems Thinking Using Scrum – Dick Carlson, Philip Matuzic
The Scrum Agile project management approach is a natural for highly collaborative teams developing aerospace software systems. Scrum enables teams to focus on the most important items first and then forces them to decompose the work into small quantifiable tasks to ensure they complete all committed work on time. This presentation shows practical examples of how simple Scrum practices used on projects apply systems thinking effectively.
Rapid Development Engineering With FIST – Philip Matuzic, Dick Carlson
We examine the tenets of FIST (Fast, Inexpensive, Simple, Tiny) in relation to Rapid Development Engineering in collaboration with well-established Agile software techniques and specifically relate process improvements on existing programs.
Agile Theory based on a Special Complex Adaptive Systems Theory – Kent Palmer
An Agile Theory is proposed based on Special Systems theory and Emergent Meta-systems Theory. This paper provides a synopsis of a longer monograph that compares in detail Special Systems Theory to Agile Practices with special attention to extraordinary claims of Agile (such as hyper-effectivity) and Lean (such as hyper-efficiency) as well as the claim of sustainable cadence but also paying attention to the structure of Scrum as the implementation of Agile values and principles.
Leffingwell’s Scaled Agile Framework – Kent Palmer
Dean Leffingwell’s Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) appears to be the utopian vision of choice for organizations that are attempting to adapt their organizations to Agile. The inability of command and control structures to keep up with the cadence of development teams is pushing organizations toward a large scale Agile Transformation. The briefing will introduce the Leffingwell framework and then offer critiques and suggestions concerning how it might be improved, tailored and extended. |