Archive for category Systems Engineering & Project Management
Training budgets: Smaller is not an option
Posted by Val in Acoustics & Sonar, Analysis and Signal Processing, Continuing Education and Seminar Marketing, Defense, Including Radar, Missiles and EW, ENGINEERING, General, GPS Technology, Satellites, Space and Satellites, Systems Engineering & Project Management, Systems Engineering and Project Management, Underwater Acoustics and Sonar, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) on February 6, 2013
The debate on the budgets for the government organizations is pretty toxic in the US. Both US Navy and US Army alongside other organizations have declared budget shortfalls which effect many areas including training. Without commitment to training and learning new skills there can be no continuous improvement, which is one of the prime directives of any government or company.
The Applied Technology Institute (ATI) specializes in short course technical training in space, communications, defense, sonar, radar, systems engineering and signal processing. Since 1984 ATI has provided leading-edge public courses and on-site technical training to defense and NASA facilities, as well as DOD and aerospace contractors. The courses provide a clear understanding of the fundamental principles and a working knowledge of current technology and applications.
When your company does not want to pay for the training you really want, as an alternative, you can:
- Spent your own personal money and funds; if you believe in it and then you will do it
- Find a user group who are practicing the skills you desire
- Don’t accept the classic answer from the boss, “How does X help the business?”. If the training is relevant to you achieving a goal of being a much better employee then of course it is relevant.
- Find another organization to work for
A training manager with a good team can:
- Fight for your team and their training; fight for your team’s budget and don’t let the senior management take it away
- Give up your personal training for the entire year and suggest that they allocate the extra budget to training for your team members
- Perhaps, it is time to evaluate the relationship with the preferred supplier of training. Has your firm been getting decent value from the PSL (preferred supplier list)?
- Find alternatives to training like brown bag lunches and/or collaborate with other businesses
Everybody needs training and self-improvement.
Please share your opinion with us by commenting below.
Under President Obama, the PUBLIC Sector is Doing Fine
Posted by admin in Systems Engineering & Project Management on July 10, 2012
Typical Agile Project Management Process
Typical Agile Project Management Process
Do You Know How to Satisfy the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Requirements (Circular A-11) while Applying an Agile Execution Approach?
If you answered NO,
Then you should take our
Agile Projects in the Government Environment Course
In this powerful two-day course, you’ll grasp the concepts, principles, and structure of Agile development and how these are being applied in the unique federal environment.
A common misconception is that Agility means lack of order or discipline, but that’s incorrect. It requires strong discipline. You must have a solid foundation of practices and procedures in order to successfully adapt Agile in the Government environment, and you must also learn to follow those practices correctly while tying them to pre-defined, rigid quality goals. This workshop gives you the foundation of knowledge and experience you need in order to be successful on your next federal project.
Define principles and highlight advantages and disadvantages of Agile development and how to map them to federal guidelines for IT procurement, development and delivery. Get firsthand experience organizing and participating in an Agile team. Put the concepts you learn to practice instantly in the classroom project. Understand and learn how to take advantage of the opportunities for Agile, while applying them within current government project process requirements.
Specifically, you will
• Consistently deliver better products that will enable your customer’s success
• Reduce the risk of project failure, missed deadlines, scope overrun or exceeded budgets
• Establish, develop, empower, nurture and protect high-performing teams
• Identify and eliminate waste from processes
• Map government project language to Agile language simply and effectively
• Foster collaboration, even with teams that are distributed geographically and organizationally
• Clearly understand how EVM and Agile can be integrated
• Understand the structure of Agile processes that breed success in the federal environment
• Embrace ever-changing requirements
Who Should Attend
Because this is an immersion course and the intent is to engage in the practices every Agile team will employ, this course is recommended for all team members responsible for delivering outstanding software. That includes, but is not limited to, the following roles:
• Business Analyst
• Technical Analyst
• Project Manager
• Software Engineer/Programmer
• Development Manager
• Product Manager
• Product Analyst
• Tester
• QA Engineer
• Documentation Specialist
The Agile Boot Camp is a perfect place for cross functional “teams” to become familiar with Agile methods and learn the basics together. It’s also a wonderful springboard for team building & learning. Bring your project detail to work on in class.
About the Applied Technology Institute (ATI)
Since 1984, the Applied Technology Institute (ATI) has provided leading-edge public courses and onsite technical training to DoD and NASA personnel, as well as contractors. Whether you are a busy engineer, a technical expert or a project manager, you can enhance your understanding of complex systems in a short time. You will become aware of the basic vocabulary essential to interact meaningfully with your colleagues. If you or your team is in need of more technical training, then boost your career with the knowledge needed to provide better, faster, and cheaper solutions for sophisticated DoD and NASA systems.
What You Will Learn
• Consistently deliver better products that will enable your customer’s success
• Reduce the risk of project failure, missed deadlines, scope overrun or exceeded budgets
• Establish, develop, empower, nurture and protect high-performing teams
• Identify and eliminate waste from processes
• Map government project language to Agile language simply and effectively
• Foster collaboration, even with teams that are distributed geographically and organizationally
• Clearly understand how EVM and Agile can be integrated
• Understand the structure of Agile processes that breed success in the federal environment
• Embrace ever-changing requirements for your customer’s competitive advantage
Why not take a short course? ATI short courses are less than a week long and are designed to help you keep your professional knowledge up-to-date. Our courses provide a practical overview of space and defense technologies which provide a strong foundation for an understanding the issues that must be confronted in the use, regulation and development of complex systems.
Dates and Locations
For the dates and locations of these short courses, please see below:
Jul 19-20, 2012 Baltimore, MD
Aug 9-10, 2012 Washington, DC
Sep 13-14, 2012 Herndon, VA
Oct 18-19, 2012 Columbia, MD
Sincerely,
The ATI Courses Team
P.S Call today for registration at 410-956-8805 or 888-501-2100 or access our website at www.ATIcourses.com. For general questions please email us at ATI@ATIcourses.com
Systems Engineering Conference October 24-27, 2011 in San Diego, California
Posted by Jim in Defense, Including Radar, Missiles and EW, ENGINEERING, Systems Engineering & Project Management on September 21, 2011
ATIcourses teaches more than 40 classes on Systems Engineering at locations around the U.S. Courses including Agile Project Management, Applied Systems Engineering, Architecting with DoDAF, Certified Systems Engineering Professional Preparation, Fundamentals of Systems Engineering and Total Systems Engineering Development & Management.
A schedule is shown at
http://www.aticourses.com/schedule.htm#project
There is a Systems Engineering Conference October 24-27, 2011 in San Diego, California. Are any of you planning to attend? Please let me know. The details are as follows.
Link http://www.ndia.org/meetings/2870/Pages/default.aspx
A major conference focusing on improving acquisition and performance of Defense programs and systems, including net-centric operations and data/information interoperability, system-of-systems engineering and all aspects of system sustainment, will be convened in San Diego, CA, October 24-27, 2011. This conference is sponsored by the National Defense Industrial Association, Systems Engineering Division, with technical co-sponsorship by IEEE AES, IEEE Systems Council and the International Council on Systems Engineering, and is supported by the Office of Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, Director, Systems Engineering, and Office of the DoD Chief Information Officer.
Conference Objectives
This conference seeks to create an interactive forum for Program Managers, Systems Engineers, Chief Scientists, and Engineers and Managers from the Requirements, Design, Verification, Support, Logistics and Test communities from both Government and Industry. The conference will provide the opportunity to shape policy and procedures by exchanging innovative tactics and lessons learned.
Defense Budgets: Will It Be Army versus Navy versus Air Force
Posted by admin in Defense, Including Radar, Missiles and EW, Systems Engineering & Project Management on September 15, 2011
Cuts in the defense budgets will put stress on all the services. Will it lead to cut throat competition? If the congressional Super Committee fails to find an acceptable solution, the Pentagon would have to cut $600 billion. This would mean cutting up to $100 billion from the fiscal 2013 budget alone. This is a good article summarizing the positions of each service.
http://defense.aol.com/2011/09/14/biggest-service-food-fight-in-a-generation/
Winning NASA Space Mission Proposals
Posted by Jim in Satellites, Space and Satellites, Systems Engineering & Project Management, Systems Engineering and Project Management on August 6, 2011
This is an interesting article on Winning NASA Space Mission Proposals
NASA’s robotic space missions are awarded through a competitive proposal process. These missions can cost from $100 to $750 million dollars, not including launch services and inflight propulsion devices. They are presented to the public first as planning documents and later as announcements of opportunity, or AOs. These AOs are released by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate about once per year for cheaper missions and every few years for higher cost missions.
Announcements of opportunity are usually released in draft form about six months from the due-at-NASA date and in final form about three months from the due-at-NASA date. A month or so before the draft release, there will usually be a heads up announcement citing the particulars of the release—schedule, cost cap, etc. These announcements are posted in the NEWS page on each mission’s home page.
Explorer Class—usually capped at $200 million although Small Explorers (SMEX) can come in at $120 million. They usually focus on astrophysics and heliophysics and are released every year or so. Since 1958 there have been 92 Explorer missions.
http://explorers.gsfc.nasa.gov
Discovery Class—The next Discovery release in fall of 2012 is expected to be capped at $500 million. They usually focus on planetary science and are released ever 1-3 years. Since 1995 there have been 11 Discovery missions.
http://discovery.nasa.gov/
New Frontiers Class—A spin-off of the Discovery program, they are usually capped at $650 million. New Frontiers usually focus on planetary science.
http://newfrontiers.nasa.gov/
Flagship Class missions usually cost several billion dollars and are typically the
product of study groups such as the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group
(MEPAG) or the Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG). They are
generally not announced through AOs.
http://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/vexag/
More information is available at
http://www.24hrco.com/images/articles/html/EjnerFulsang_July11.pdf
Probing the Ocean for Submarines – Additional Information
Posted by Jim in Acoustics & Sonar, Systems Engineering & Project Management, Underwater Acoustics and Sonar on July 16, 2011
Title: Probing the Ocean for Submarines: A History of the AN/SQS-26 Long-Range Echo-Ranging Sonar
(2nd Edition)
Author: Thaddeus G. Bell
Publisher: Peninsula Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-932146-26-7
Pages: 264
Binding: Soft cover
This book presents the history of the design and development from 1955 to 1975 of the AN/SQS-26 echo-ranging sonar for submarine detection from ocean escorts (DEs). The sonar was the first to utilize long-range bottom reflection and convergence zone paths, in addition to the more conventional surface-duct paths. These long-range paths are little affected by submarine depth. In deep water a “bottom bounce” active detection range out to as far as 25 miles is possible, where the bottom is sufficiently reflective. In shallow water the bottom is normally reflective enough to permit echo ranging out to as much as 20 miles via multiple bottom reflections. If the water depth is sufficient, a “convergence zone” is also available from deep refraction paths converging over a narrow annular detection zone with an outer extent up to 40 miles from an echo-ranging source.
The book describes AN/SQS-26 echo-ranging detection performance using these long-range paths against surface ships of opportunity, U.S. submarines and Soviet submarines on patrol. Starting about 1975, digital upgrades of the original design were produced for destroyers, guided missile destroyers, and guided missile cruisers. The upgrades are currently being installed at this writing (2011) on the new construction of today’s DDG-51 class guided missile destroyers. In the early 1980s the major characteristics of this surface ship active sonar were also incorporated into the bow array sonar of USN submarines.
The historical information presented should be of interest to operational commands, sonar designers, research scientists, undersea warfare tacticians and those involved in resource-allocation decisions for research, development and production programs.
Are Your Soft Skills Hard on Your Career?
Posted by admin in Continuing Education and Seminar Marketing, Systems Engineering & Project Management on June 16, 2011
Even He Can't Do It Alone
Video Clip: Click to Watch
“Soft Skills” May Help You Get or Keep a Job
In a 2008 survey of more than 2,000 businesses in the state of Washington, employers said entry-level workers in a variety of professions were lacking in several areas, including problem solving, conflict resolution and critical observation.
You’ll likely see these “soft skills” in job descriptions, after demands for technical qualifications. Employment experts agree that tech skills may get you an interview, but these soft skills will get you the job and keep it.
Since 1984, ATI has provided leading-edge public courses and onsite technical training to DoD and NASA personnel, as well as contractors. Some of our courses cover these “soft skills” as well.
One of these “soft skills” is teamwork. Forming and leading teams is critical to becoming a successful leader. Successful leaders learn good team formation skills teamwork is a keystone of effective projects. Some of our teamwork related courses are summarized below.
ATI PROJECT DOMINANCE COURSE
This two-day course is designed for engineers, scientists and managers who work in the projects domain on complex systems. Students will learn how to build a cancellation-resistant project, how to form and lead a world-class project team and how to lead the entire effort to a successful conclusion. Cross-discipline and inter-generational techniques are taught and key topics are reinforced with small-team exercises. Attendees are given the Meyers-Briggs© assessment – many discover mismatches in temperament and assignment. All learn how to be much more effective on Project Teams.
ATI’S PROJECT MANAGEMENT OVERVIEW AND LEADERSHIP COURSE
This class is an introductory class to the Project Management discipline. It includes the basics of Project Management as well as Leadership as it pertains to Project Management. This course is intended for project managers and team leaders who need a good foundation for further study in Project Management. There are no prerequisites for this course.
ATI’S FUNDAMENTALS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT COURSE
Today’s complex systems present difficult challenges to develop. From military systems to aircraft to environmental and electronic control systems, development teams must face the challenges with an arsenal of proven methods. Individual systems are more complex, and systems operate in much closer relationship, requiring a system-of-systems approach to the overall design.
This three-day workshop presents the fundamentals of project management approach to solving complex problems.
What you will learn:
• How to prepare a sound plan for your project and maximize your probability of success
• How to achieve Buy-In from the people who will perform the work on the project
• How to deal with conflict and also to use it to the advantage of your project
• Techniques for monitoring and controlling the outcome of your project
• Effective approaches to managing multiple projects
Course Outline, Samplers, and Notes
Determine for yourself the value of our courses before you sign up. See our samples (See Slide Samples) on some of our courses.
Or check out the new ATI channel on YouTube.
After attending the course you will receive a full set of detailed notes from the class for future reference, as well as a certificate of completion. Please visit our website for more valuable information.
Every Spring, the Pros Get Back to the Fundamentals, Do You?
Posted by admin in Continuing Education and Seminar Marketing, Defense, Including Radar, Missiles and EW, ENGINEERING, Systems Engineering & Project Management on March 8, 2011
Spring into Fundamentals with a Short Course from the Applied Technology Institute (ATI)
Do you return to the fundamentals of your profession once a year like professional baseball players do?
Dictionary.com defines fundamental as: “a basic principle, rule, law, or the like, that serves as the groundwork of a system; essential part: to master the fundamentals of a trade”.
Since 1984, the Applied Technology Institute (ATI) has provided leading-edge public courses and onsite technical training to DoD and NASA personnel, as well as contractors. Some ATI short courses are designed to reinforce fundamental professional knowledge.
Our short courses are designed for individuals involved in planning, designing, building, launching, and operating space and defense systems. Whether you are a busy engineer, a technical expert or a project manager, you can enhance your understanding of complex systems in a short time while keeping necessary skills up-to-date.
Our courses provide a practical overview of space and defense technologies which provide a strong foundation for understanding the issues that must be confronted in the use, regulation and development such intricate systems. You will also become aware of the basic vocabulary essential to interact meaningfully with your colleagues.
The three courses below emphasize the fundamentals. They are all offered soon or they can be scheduled at your facility. Please see our website for more information.
ATI’S FUNDAMENTALS OF RF TECHNOLOGY COURSE
This two-day course is designed for engineers that are non specialists in Radio Frequency (RF) engineering, but are involved in the design or analysis of communication systems including digital designers, managers, procurement engineers, etc. The course emphasizes RF fundamentals in terms of physical principles behavioral concepts permitting the student to quickly gain an intuitive understanding of the subject with minimal mathematical complexity. These principles are illustrated using modern examples of wireless components such as Bluetooth, Cell Phone and Paging, and 802.11 Data Communications Systems.
What You Will Learn:
• How to recognize the physical properties that make RF circuits and systems unique
• What the important parameters are that characterize RF circuits
• How to interpret RF Engineering performance data
• What the considerations are in combining RF circuits into systems
• How to evaluate RF Engineering risks such as instabilities, noise, and interference, etc.
• How performance assessments can be enhanced with basic engineering tools
ATI’S FUNDAMENTALS OF SONAR AND TARGET MOTION ANALYSIS COURSE
This three-day course is designed for SONAR systems engineers, combat systems engineers, undersea warfare professionals, and managers who wish to enhance their understanding of this discipline or become familiar with the “big picture” if they work outside of the discipline. Each topic is illustrated by worked numerical examples, using simulated or experimental data for actual undersea acoustic situations and geometries.
From this course you will obtain the knowledge and ability to perform basic SONAR and USW systems engineering calculations, identify tradeoffs, interact meaningfully with colleagues, evaluate systems, and understand the literature.
What You Will Learn:
• What are of the various types of SONAR systems in use on Naval platforms today?
• What are the major principles governing their design and operation?
• How is the data produced by these systems used operationally to conduct Target Motion Analysis and USW?
• What are the typical commercial and scientific uses of SONAR and how do these relate to military use?
• What are the other military uses of SONAR systems (i.e. those NOT used to support Target Motion Analysis)?
• What are the major cost drivers for undersea acoustic systems?
From this course you will obtain the knowledge, skill and ability to configure a communications payload based on its service requirements and technical features. You will understand the engineering processes and device characteristics that determine how the payload is put together and operates in a state-of-the-art telecommunications system to meet user needs.
ATI’S FUNDAMENTALS OF SYSTEMS ENGINEERING COURSE
Today’s complex systems present difficult challenges to develop. From military systems to aircraft to environmental and electronic control systems, development teams must face the challenges with an arsenal of proven methods. Individual systems are more complex, and systems operate in much closer relationship, requiring a system-of-systems approach to the overall design.
This two-day workshop presents the fundamentals of a systems engineering approach to solving complex problems. It covers the underlying attitudes as well as the process definitions that make up systems engineering. The model presented is a research-proven combination of the best existing standards. Participants in this workshop practice the processes on a realistic system development.
You Should Attend This Workshop If You Are:
• Working in any sort of system development
• Project leader or key member in a product development team
• Looking for practical methods to use today
This Course is Aimed at:
• Project leaders,
• Technical team leaders,
• Design engineers, and
• Others participating in system development
Course Outline, Samplers, and Notes
Determine for yourself the value of our courses before you sign up. See our samples (See Slide Samples) on some of our courses.
Or check out the new ATI channel on YouTube.
After attending the course you will receive a full set of detailed notes from the class for future reference, as well as a certificate of completion. Please visit our website for more valuable information.
About the Instructors and ATI
ATI’s instructors are world-class experts who are the best in the business. They are carefully selected for their ability to clearly explain advanced technology.
Our mission here at ATI is to provide expert training and the highest quality professional development in space, communications, defense, sonar, radar, and signal processing. We are not a one-size-fits-all educational facility. Our short classes include both introductory and advanced courses.
Times, Dates, and Locations
For the times, dates and locations of all of our short courses, please access our schedule.
Can You Pass the Certified Systems Engineers Professional (CSEP) Exam?
Posted by admin in Systems Engineering & Project Management, Systems Engineering and Project Management on December 14, 2010
While the economy is down, the demand for systems engineers is still growing — but supply is low. To assist you in your career, the Applied Technology Institute (ATI) has added a CSEP preparation course to its curriculum. Systems engineering is a profession, practice and way of doing business that concentrates on the design and application of the whole system to produce a successful product or system.
The International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) has established a Professional Certification Program to provide a formal method for recognizing the knowledge and experience of systems engineers. The INCOSE CSEP rating is a coveted milestone in the career of a systems engineer, demonstrating knowledge, education and experience and is of high value to systems organizations.
Course Outline, Samplers, and Notes
Determine for yourself the value of our course before you sign up. For example click here to see our CSEP slide samples or click here to see ATI CSEP on YouTube.
After attending the course you will receive a full set of detailed notes from the class for future reference, as well as a certificate of completion. Please visit our website for more valuable information.
About ATI and the Instructors
The instructor for this class is Eric Honour, an international consultant and lecturer, who has nearly forty year career of complex systems development & operation. He was Founder and former President of INCOSE. He has led the development of eighteen major systems, including the Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation systems and the Battle Group Passive Horizon Extension System.
Dates, Times and Locations
The dates and locations for our CSEP courses in 2011 are listed here:
February 11-12, 2011, Orlando, FL
March 30-31, 2011, Minneapolis, MN
September 16, 2011, Chantilly, VA
For a complete ATI course list, please access the links below.
Sincerely,
The ATI Courses Team
P.S. Call today for registration at 410-956-8805 or 888-501-2100 or access our website at www.ATIcourses.com. For general questions please email us at ATI@ATIcourses.com.
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