{"id":59838,"date":"2022-01-28T03:00:40","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T11:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/?p=59838"},"modified":"2023-01-12T16:47:41","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T00:47:41","slug":"systems-engineers-career-path-how-to-elevate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/blog\/systems-engineers-career-path-how-to-elevate\/","title":{"rendered":"Systems Engineers Career Path \u2013 How to Elevate"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Systems Engineers Career Path<\/h2>\n

Most Systems Engineers we speak with have a common perspective on their role within their organization. Systems engineering as a concept is understood and supported by leadership. And, if systems engineering best practices are followed across all engineering disciplines, leadership also acknowledges the benefits the organization can realize. However, leadership will not force change on engineering disciplines (software, hardware, electrical, risk, verification, and validation) to remove barriers to systems engineering best practice adoption. This leaves most Systems Engineers in the challenging position of possessing responsibility for achieving systems engineering benefits without the authority to ensure engineers adopt best practices.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The good news is that there is a way out of this situation. The first step to elevating your career is to realize that managing the product engineering process through data is the key and that the Systems Engineering role is the natural role to lead this. For most organizations, the product engineering process is the only process in the company that is not managed through data. No one can go to a system and see the status of all product requirements and where development, integration, risk, and testing stand at any point in time. There is no way to manage by exception. There are no alerts that requirements are not covered, test cases are missed or that hardware made a change that now impacts software. Most organizations have come to accept this state of affairs and try to manage the process through endless meetings, emails, and Slack messages.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Until the product engineering process is manageable through data, Systems Engineers will be stuck in their current trap \u2014 endlessly trying to address issues after the fact, holding unwanted meetings, and the uphill battle of trying to persuade changes in behavior. Below is a 3-step approach that Systems Engineers we work with have used to solve this organizational challenge and have thereby elevated their careers. As with any process change, it is best to do it in stages. You can start with the following steps.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. Baseline\u00a0current process performance<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Build the business case for change to gain support<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Deliver quick wins<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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    RELATED POST:<\/strong> How to Overcome Organizational Barriers to Live Requirements Traceability<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n
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    Step One |\u00a0Baseline Current\u00a0Traceability Performance<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    The first step towards moving the organization to manage the product engineering process through data is to baseline current process performance.\u00a0\u00a0The best place to focus the baseline effort is on traceability since it spans the entire product development process, is a data management concept that is understood, enables systems engineering benefits, and is required by industry standards. To ease the baselining effort, we\u2019ve developed a Traceability Diagnostic that you can use to assess your current situation. The Diagnostic inventories traceable data, the systems in which they reside, and your current Traceability Score\u2122<\/span>.\u00a0This is a few-hour effort and forms the basis of the business\u00a0case\u00a0in step two.<\/span><\/p>\n

    In this no-cost, guided process, we\u2019ll help you:<\/p>\n