Chapter Meetings (Western Cape)

Dr Neville Comins " Why should we grow and harness the National System of Innovation? ". Presentation Slides — PDF (2.2 MB)

David Walden’s lighthearted presentation seeks to do more than just entertain. Analogies between the proven approaches in both Golf and Systems Engineering will shine some light on the challenges Systems Engineers face in today’s dynamic environment. David Walden is recognised by INCOSE as an ESEP with a wealth of experience in Systems Engineering. He has also made numerous valuable contributions within INCOSE and is currently the INCOSE Certification Program Manager. Presentation Slides — PDF (801.3 KB)

Often portrayed as separate items, requiring separate disciplines, Systems Engineering, Innovation and Leadership should really be viewed as a “merging” of interrelated parts, making something greater than the sum of these three together. This talk will relate experiences and findings by dr , working across diverse countries and industries and show how a more holistic view of these parts can enhance the value of business and engineering. Born and raised in Germany until 15 years of age, Dietmar has a professional background in Aeronautical Engineering, specifically missile/rocket propulsion and gun-projectile aerodynamics as well as in the area of technology and senior management. He graduated as an Aeronautical Engineer from Stellenbosch in 1977 and completed his Masters degree (1986) and first PhD (Eng) from the University of Pretoria (1988). He obtained a second doctorate in 2005 (Dr.-Ing) from the University of Johannesburg in Engineering and Technology Management. For 15 years he worked in the SA Defense Industry on complex, multi-disciplinary Systems as Technical Specialist, Systems Engineer and Senior Manager. He decided to leave “Big Corporate” at end of 1989 and switched to being an entrepreneur. Since then, Dietmar has been working mainly in Europe (from Finland to Cyprus and from Turkey to the UK and many places in-between), as well as the USA. He has worked in various prestigious organisations, mainly as in-house Workshop Facilitator for companies and organisations to assist with Business Transformation, Business Leadership, Business Strategy Development in a variety of non-defense related industries. Since 1999, Dietmar has authored and co-authored more than 25 peer reviewed research papers and presented these at numerous international conferences. He frequently acts as external examiner for Master and PhD Dissertations and from time to time as Study Leader for PhDs with international students. Based on his wide experience, Dietmar acts as Business Coach at Middle and senior Management Level mainly in the English-speaking world. Presentation Slides — PDF (1.7 MB)

For almost ten years, the systems engineering community has been focused on the transformation from document-centric to model-based techniques. While most systems engineering organizations have completed pilot efforts, established appropriate communities of practice, and are plotting their path forward, this transformation is far from complete. In terms of the Roger’s innovation adoption lifecycle, we are beyond the early adopters, in the early majority, and moving towards the tipping point where model-based systems engineering becomes the expected framework and approach for systems engineering. Systems engineering remains a young discipline – one that must continue to learn and evolve, one where transitions should be viewed as waypoints along a journey rather than destinations themselves. While work remains to ensure the transformation to model-based techniques is both efficient and effective, it is time for the systems engineering community to begin looking beyond MBSE. When model-based is simply the way organizations practice systems engineering, what is the next evolution required to address next generation problems and deliver the organizational value required? How must the systems engineering practice evolve? What can we begin doing today – even in the continued implementation and adoption of MBSE – to prepare ourselves and our organizations to make that transition? Looking at the journey to date and the opportunities in the future, how can we characterize the next leg of the journey and plot a path forward for ourselves, our organizations, and the greater systems engineering practice? For over twenty years, David Long has focused on helping organizations increase their systems engineering proficiency while simultaneously working to advance the state of the art across the community. David is the founder and president of Vitech Corporation where he developed CORE®, a leading systems engineering software environment. He co-authored the book A Primer for Model-Based Systems Engineering and is a frequent presenter at industry events around the world. A committed member of the systems community, David is the immediate past president of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), a 10,000 member professional organization focused on sharing, promoting, and advancing the best of systems engineering. Presentation Slides — PDF (6.3 MB)

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) can be a powerful aid in effectively managing projects, but it is also easily misunderstood and misapplied. Issues to be considered include: why WBS must not be just a breakdown of work, essential principles in adopting WBS as a management tool, failsafe rules for constructing effective WBS, relationships to other structures useful in project/engineering management, e.g. Systems Breakdown Structure (SBS), Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS), Organisational Breakdown Structure (OBS), Specification Breakdown Structure (Specification Tree), application of WBS to costing, scheduling, definition, risk analysis, measurement, reporting, organisational design, and control. Alwyn Smit is a Principal Consultant with Project Performance International (PPI). He has a B.Eng. (Electr) degree from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, and is registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) as a professional engineer. He has spent the bulk of his career working in the South African defence industry as systems engineer and project manager on technology intensive projects, most recently as principal systems engineer with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research(CSIR). Alwyn is a founding member of the South African Chapter of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE SA) and an INCOSE Certified Systems Engineering Professional (CSEP). He has served on the INCOSE SA management team in numerous roles including President. He is currently a co-opted member of the INCOSE SA Chapter Management Committee, a member of the Western Cape branch as well as an appointed INCOSE Ambassador. Alwyn is also a member of the System Dynamics Society and the International Institute of Business Analysis. Alwyn was a member of the South African Bureau of Standards Working Group SC-71C on Systems and Software Life Cycle Processes. He has also represented South Africa on the ISO/IEC JTC1 SC7 Working Group 7 (WG7) on Systems and Software Life Cycle Processes, developing the international systems engineering standard ISO/IEC 15288. Alwyn teaches postgraduate modules in Systems Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS), Johannesburg. Since joining the PPI team, Alwyn has delivered public and on-site systems engineering related training in Australia, Europe, South America, South Africa and the USA. Presentation Slides — PDF (1.0 MB)