A system lexicon is a simple tool which can have a big impact on the success of the system. It aligns terminology among technical teams, the customer, subcontractors, support personnel, and end users. This creates shared understanding and improves consistency. Read on to learn how to implement this powerful tool on your program.
Read MoreAuthor: Benjamin Schwartz
Hi, I'm Ben!
Growing up I wanted to be an astronaut because it looked fun. Then I watched Apollo 13 and saw that it was the engineers who had the most interesting and challenging roles. At Space Camp I learned about the unique challenges of living and working in space, so I decided to pursue a career in human factors engineering. I have been fortunate to work on many fascinating projects in aviation, military, and commercial systems. I'm proud to make complicated, mission-critical systems easier and more effective to use.
I am currently the Director of Human Engineering at Monterey Technologies, a small business providing human engineering services to a variety of commercial and government customers. I support a top-notch team of human factors engineers, user experience designers, and other specialists. We apply agile, user-centered systems engineering to ensure that systems meet stakeholder and mission needs.
I'm also involved in STEM education and mentorship through organizations such as the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), SAE International, Girl Scouts, and local schools.
I'm passionate about improving the discipline and practice of systems engineering and particularly the systems engineering specialty of human systems integration (HSI). Through professional societies such as the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), and the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) I have contributed to the development of standards and guidance, presented at conferences, and generally shared my passion for developing mission-capable, highly-usable systems.
That's also my objective for Engineering for Humans. Writing this blog helps me think through and organize my thoughts. I also want to bring awareness to the role of human engineering in system development and to foster critical discussion on current industry trends.
I'd love to hear from you, you can reach me at benjamin@engineeringforhumans.com.
An Engineering Touchstone to Enable Successful Designs
Successful systems are created by engineers who understand and design to the ultimate objectives of the project. When we lose sight of those objectives we start making design decisions based on the wrong criteria and thus create sub-optimal designs. Scope creep, group think, and simple convenience are frequent causes of this type of variation. An effective design assessment tool is a touchstone by which we can evaluate the effectiveness of ongoing design decisions and keep the focus on the optimal solution.
Read MoreThe Lopsided Hourglass – A Model for Successful Systems Engineering
Have you ever seen a lopsided hourglass? Me neither. I imagine it wouldn’t be very practical.
Lately I’ve been thinking of the defense acquisition system as an hourglass. The symmetry of the hourglass reflects the success of the system. Allow me to explain…
Read MoreUsing Agile on Traditional Government Contracts
Say you’re standing up a software development team. You really like the agile approach, but your customer didn’t read my previous post about agile contracts. Can you still use agile or are you stuck developing a waterfall-based program plan?
Read MoreAgile Government Contracts
Agile is a popular and growing software development approach. It promotes a focus on the product rather than the project plan. This model is very attractive for many reasons and teams are adopting it across the defense industry. However, traditional government contracts and project management are entirely plan-driven. Can you really be agile in a plan-driven world?
Read MoreThe Role of the Human Systems Integrator
This article is required reading for anyone who needs to hire, wants to become, or is going to be working with an HSI expert. Understand what the job entails, the key skills required, and how it relates to the rest of the systems engineering effort.
Read MoreThe Value of HSI
The application of human systems integration (HSI) throughout a project results in improved system performance, reduced lifecycle cost, reduced development risk, and no increase in development cost when executed effectively.
Read MoreIs Human Systems Integration Different from Human Factors Engineering?
DoD acquisition policy requires Human Systems Integration (HSI). Various human-centered engineering approaches are also gaining traction outside of military projects. But is HSI just a fancier way of saying Human Factors Engineering (HFE)?
Read MoreHuman Systems Integration: The Basics
Human systems integration (HSI) is a systems engineering function with the goal of optimizing system performance and cost across the entire system lifecycle. It ensures that the human elements of the system are given at least as much consideration as any other component across the entire project. HSI is a relatively new and often misunderstood term. Here are the basics:
Read MoreWhy you should use a writing coach (even if you’re already a good writer)
My first grad school paper was a pretty straightforward assignment with a three-page limit. There was so much to the topic1 that I wrote five pages without even thinking about it. I thought it would be easy to pare down but, try as I might, I could not get it below the limit without removing key points. I was a decent writer and had even worked professionally as a technical author, but I was really struggling.
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