To understand the external state of the Systems Engineering (SE) discipline, in 2019 the NASA SE Technical Discipline Team (TDT) did a “comprehensive” survey across the aerospace industry from over fifty sources. The sources represented academia (NASA’s pipeline), government agencies (NASA’s sibling organizations), companies (NASA’s partners), and tool vendors (who are building NASA’s future). The survey complements and allows comparison against a similar comprehensive 2017 survey across NASA internal workforce. Finally, this survey has allowed the NASA SE TDT to perform similar alignment check on investments it’s made in re-tooling SE into the future (such as with MBSE).
The SE TDT’s study of its survey results found that within the SE discipline, the workforce is healthy and proficient in its technical, systems management, and leadership skills. And the SE industry is in agreement that the discipline should be focused on innovation. In fact, sources agree that innovation is fundamental to SE. The study also captured the state of MBSE, which is still very much in its infancy. A majority of study sources have infused the methodology into approximately 25% of their organizations, and while most agree there are significant benefits to be gained, measuring those benefits can be challenging. Because the study revealed that NASA and its partners are in similar spaces, the aerospace industry has a unique opportunity to partner with its stakeholders in advancing SE.
Join members of the NASA SE TDT on July 20, 2020, when they discuss the results of this study in a special webinar, Systems Engineering and Model Based Systems Engineering Stakeholder State of the Discipline. Find out where the SE discipline in the aerospace industry has opportunity for improvement and how cultural issues remain the number one challenge to MBSE implementation. And discover opportunities where NASA and its stakeholders can move forward together in SE innovation.
Anyone interested in SE and its future, from systems engineers, MBSE practitioners, managers, and NASA partners are invited to attend. The attached materials offer a preview and an opportunity to gain valuable background before the presentation. They also include a full detailed report of study results that goes beyond the overview’s executive conclusions. Please join us in this informative discussion.
State of the Discipline
- Summary: Systems Engineering & Model Based Systems Engineering State of the Discipline (PDF)
- Full Report: Independent Assessment of Perception from External/non-NASA Systems Engineering (SE) Sources (PDF)
- Webinar: Systems Engineering and Model Based Systems Engineering Stakeholder State of the Discipline
- Responses to Q&A
Points of Contact
- NASA SE and MBSE
- Jon Holladay – jon.holladay@nasa.gov
- Jessica Knizhnik – jessica.knizhnik@nasa.gov
- NASA MBSE Community of Practice
- Trevor Grondin – trevor.a.grondin@nasa.gov
- Samantha Infeld – samantha.i.infeld@nasa.gov
Stay in the loop with the NASA SE and MBSE Communities (NASA Internal)