We're working on a white paper "Increasing the Probability of Program Success with Continuous Risk Management," for the Joint Space Cost Council, Scheduler's Forum. During our research, I found a paper "Management Disciplines: Harbingers of Successful Programs," David Acker, Defense Systems Management Review, Summer, 1979.
Not the last bullet, adapting to change is a critical success factor for large defense programs in 1979.
- Planning, controlling, and applying system engineering to transform a contractually defined operational need into a system /end product definition and an optimized design that incorporates equipment, personnel, facilities, computer programs, and procedural data. The definition should be in terms of required system /end product performance parameters and planned technical approaches tailored to the program requirements.
- Identifying, providing, and controlling the detailed definition of the contract work breakdown structure in terms of technical tasks, assuring consistency and correlation of all program technical requirements.
- Identifying high-risk areas and continually assessing their impact on the program.
- Determining program technical requirements and integrating the specialty efforts and such disciplines as configuraticn management and data management.
- Providing the rationale and the definitive specifications for all hardware software, facilities, and personnel required to carry out and s!support contractual requirements;
- Establishing appropriate baselines and management reviews to permit effective engineering change control and monitoring.
- Establishing the rationale for ensuring that engineering decisions leading to the selection of design alternatives ate based on system/end product cost-effectiveness considerations.
- Establishing traceability of defined significant engirieering decisions to the system engineering management activities on which they are based.
- Planning, evaluating achievement, and reporting technical performance against program objectives for early identification of problems, and for visibility by management so that timely corrective action can be taken.
- Providing appropriate and timely redefinition of program technical requirements in response to changes directed by the customer or the problems identified through evaluation of performance.
