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7.3.3 ‘That wasn't meant to happen!‘ Managing the hidden risks of system novelty
Author(s) -
Holt Jonathan E.,
Beasley Richard
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2011.tb01250.x
Subject(s) - novelty , process (computing) , face (sociological concept) , risk analysis (engineering) , component (thermodynamics) , market share , scale (ratio) , computer science , process management , business , marketing , sociology , psychology , social psychology , social science , physics , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics , operating system
The introduction of new technology is a major challenge ‐ probably the major challenge ‐ for organisations such as Rolls‐Royce whose business is developing and maintaining complex systems. In competitive market conditions, an organisation which takes a too conservative approach will fall behind in the introduction of new technology and quickly lose market share. On the other hand an organisation which fails to understand and manage the risks associated with the introduction of new technology can face ballooning development costs, significant delays and major customer dissatisfaction. The TRL scale is now widely used, but if ‘new technology’ is viewed only at a component level, the risks engendered in integrating novel systems, perhaps combining mature components for novel purposes, will be underestimated. This paper describes recent progress within Rolls‐Royce in applying systems thinking to the integration of system level innovation into products, explaining that thinking, describing some process improvements and illustrating by way of two examples.