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3.2.1 Task Teams – Meeting The Organizational Challenges of Systems Engineering
Author(s) -
Shylanski Jennifer C.,
Wilke Carol E.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.1998.tb00034.x
Subject(s) - avionics , task (project management) , schedule , systems engineering , engineering management , process management , computer science , engineering , aerospace engineering , operating system
The organization required to engineer complex systems is complicated by many factors. The organization must ensure that the overall system requirements are understood, analyzed and allocated. It must also provide focus on the subsystems to which system requirements have been allocated to ensure cost effective design and implementation of the requirements. And, the organization must integrate the subsystems to form the system and ensure that system requirements are met. Often, organizations must also produce and support multiple configurations of the system simultaneously. To meet this organizational challenge, Boeing's F/A‐18 Avionic Weapon Systems team has established a formal organization of Integrated Product Teams focused on the avionic subsystems on the aircraft. Networked across that IPT organization, are project‐oriented teams, known as task teams, that are focused on a particular system configuration update of those subsystems that must work together to provide coherent, integrated capabilities to the F/A‐18 aircrew. The task teams face many challenges that come from operating outside the formal organization. Boeing's F/A‐18 Avionic Weapon Systems team determined, through an analysis of task team performance, that for the task teams to operate effectively, the teams and particularly the task team leaders must be well trained; there must be coordinated support from the formal organization; and the tools that support cost and schedule performance must provide insight into task team performance. This paper addresses the steps to help the task teams meet these challenges. For the current configuration update, the F/A‐18 Avionic Weapon Systems team developed a training program, a management support system, and PC‐based management tools to help the task teams operate more effectively. The training, management support, and tools are being utilized in the current configuration update. A description of these changes is provided, and results from a survey of the task teams and task team leaders that was recently performed to assess the effectiveness of these changes is discussed.