Evaluation and Synthesis of Methods for Measuring System Engineering Efficacy within a Project and Organization

During the 1990s the aerospace industry focused on ways to achieve the later part of the industry mantra “faster, better, cheaper”. This was driven by an ever shrinking defense budget and ever increasing price competition in the commercial market. In the last few years there has been elevated governmental spending 1 for complex system of systems endeavors such as the U.S. joint services Future Combat Systems (FCS) and NASA’s return to the moon and ensuing mission to Mars. In the commercial sector, two “bet the company” level of investment aircraft programs are in development at Boeing and Airbus which could lend to changes in the global air transportation system. Yet there is still a call in the industry to decrease overall systems cost while vastly improving the time to market. Most continue to view systems engineering as a key enabler to attain these goals. However, there is a desire for greater control of the systems engineering process.