THE VALUE OF BREADTH Christopher Oster Lockheed Martin SERC Fellow Copyright Christopher Oster © 2012 All Rights Reserved

Bio and Background Model Based Engineering Rollout Manager – Lockheed Martin Advanced Practices & Tools Focus on maturing and deploying new engineering methodologies & associated tools across the Lockheed Martin Engineering Enterprise M.S., B.S. Computer Science at Penn State University Research focused on use of immersive technology in science & technology applications PhD Candidate, Systems Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology Research focused on engineering methodologies to support more diverse trade analysis earlier in the product lifecycle

Where I Work: Lockheed Martin  Approximately 126,000 Employees Worldwide  $45.8B Net Sales in 2010  Six time winner of the Collier Trophy  Aerospace Heritage Stretching Back to the Beginning of Aviation  Four Major Divisions  Aeronautics  Space Systems  Electronic Systems  Information Systems & Global Solutions

What is Breadth  Breadth is…  Having multidisciplinary understanding and appreciation  Skill set flexibility  Balancing subject matter expertise with a wider capability  Would you feel comfortable jumping into a job as…  A cost account manager?  A project engineer?  A systems analyst?  A coder?  A proposal writer?  A requirements developer?  An information technologist?

The Engineering Workplace  Engineering teams are becoming more and more diverse  I’ve had team’s comprised of Physicists, Coders, Engineers and Philosophers (at the same time!)  Modern system problems are becoming more and more complex  Specialization has produced wonderfully articulate, profound and proficient knowledge bases and skill sets. …  It has left in its wake many silos. [Boardman 2006]

Why Breadth Matters  While you may be majoring in Engineering Management, your first job will most likely not be Managing Engineers  Technology, methods, tools and systems change rapidly – sometimes being able to adapt is more important than having deep subject matter expertise  Engineers respect managers that can understand a technical problem, and more importantly identify a solution that won’t work

Why Breadth Matters  But most importantly… More and more of today’s hard problem are “Systems Problems” “Systems Problems” can often only be solved with breadth Within systems engineering diversity exists everywhere [Boardman 2006]

Story: Reaching Orbit  The Cost per Pound for achieving orbit on the space shuttle is approximately $5,000  A joint NASA and industry team was challenged to take significant weight out of the system early in the shuttle program but was coming up roughly 800 lbs short (equating to $4M / launch)  Weight is a huge deal for most Aerospace and Defense systems

Story: Reaching Orbit STS-1 and STS-2STS-3 and beyond Breadth in your team can lead to a solution that will continue to evade specialists alone Solution by a non-expert: Why is the tank painted white?

Story: Poorly Planned Warranty  A US Based Defense Contractor won an international bid for a radar program  The business development (BD) team responsible for closing the deal needs to negotiate a system warranty  Not understanding the nature of the system design, the BD lead offered an unwise warranty locking the contractor into effectively unlimited lifetime repairs

Story: Poorly Planned Warranty  Lack of Breadth caused a problem, but could bringing in someone with breadth help fix it?  Contractor team established a multidisciplinary team to review the issue, risk and interact with the customer  Critical members of the team had both system level understanding and the ability to dive into the details  Could you represent software, firmware, test and systems engineering if called upon? Breadth makes you more valuable as an employee A Lack of Breadth in the Proposal Team Led to a Costly Problem Marketable

Story: Building Respect  I started my career as a software engineer  Majored in Comp Sci, Minored in Math  M.S. in Comp Sci & Eng  I was a very good software developer  Success in that role opened doors to new opportunities leading teams but…  New leadership challenges meant moving out of my comfort zone

Story: Building Respect  Good engineers respect other good engineers  If an engineering team doesn’t think their manager “gets it” they won’t follow their lead  Managers need to be able to separate real solutions from smoke and mirrors  Managers control money and schedule and need to ensure it gets used appropriately Breath is necessary to lead a diverse team Be great at something, but be good in lots of other things too

Recap  Breadth in your team can lead to a solution that will continue to evade specialists alone!  Breadth makes you more valuable (and marketable) as an employee!  Breath is necessary to lead a diverse team!