Integrating Program Management and Systems Engineering

INTRODUCTION

The core message of this book is that bringing people together from diverse perspectives will dramatically improve their ability to produce valuable outcomes. This is not necessarily a new idea. The value of working this way is axiomatic in fields as diverse as science, politics, or industrial management. This book specifically explores how a close working relationship between program managers and chief systems engineers in complex programs can significantly improve the resulting benefits to their stakeholders. Indeed, this book is the product of that very approach to working. Representatives from program management, systems engineering, and academic communities worked collaboratively to pool, merge, and synthesize their collective insights into something of potentially great importance to not only their respective disciplines, but also to an array of industrial sectors, government, and to society.

The Origins of an Important Collaboration

This publication results from a collaborative journey underway for five years as of this writing. The journey began with two separate efforts that shared common interests, participants, and institutional sponsors. In 2011, Project Management Institute (PMI) and International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) formed a strategic alliance to advance the integration of the systems engineering and program management disciplines. That alliance was driven by the vision that better integration of these two disciplines would lead ...