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Experience from a Program for Accelerating the Creation of T‐shaped Technical Leaders
Author(s) -
Cederberg Linda,
Axehill Johanna Wallén,
Herzog Erik
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2019.00630.x
Subject(s) - engineering management , program structure , knowledge management , soft skills , aerospace , process management , engineering , computer science , management , economics , programming language , aerospace engineering
Abstract In the aerospace industry systems are becoming more and more complex. At the same time development projects run for longer time periods. Consequently there are fewer opportunities for engineers to experience the full system lifecycle and the associated nuances in development. This in turn makes it more challenging to grow staff suitable for technical leadership roles, including both breadth and depth of technical skills as well as soft skills for leading large engineering projects. In this paper we examine the desired competencies of a technical leader by extending the T‐shape engineer model and use the said model to discuss an organization internal, 2.5 year, program to accelerate the creation of technical leaders. The evaluation is performed through interviews with program participants and organizational internal stakeholders. Overall the program has proven cost efficient and successful in the sense the program participants in many cases have progressed into technical leadership roles. The program, as described, has been executed within a single organization but should be feasible to execute in other organizational settings. While results are very positive, there are some identified improvement suggestions included in the analysis of the program.