Realizing Relevance: Stories for our Digital Era

The Business Value of Thinking in Systems (When You Are Building Software)

Priced at $15.00 USD, but available to Members and Non-Members for free!

NewStoryTellersCover

This eBook is brought to you by the INCOSE Systems and Software Interfaces Working Group. Our mission is to increase the relevance of systems engineering and systems thinking in business settings that are software- and data- intensive, enabling the resilience of organizations and the products, systems and services they produce.

SOUND ON!

While this book might not be one that you can hold in your hands, that does not mean it is not interactive. Turn on your sound and hear the pages turn, watch the video's embedded within these pages and read along while the author's read you their stories, and finally take advantage of the quick surveys within to not only better connect with these individual stories, but also the greater storytelling community! We look forward to meeting you!

Today’s digital and digital-physical businesses and ecosystems offer the promise of unprecedented capabilities and vast connectedness, with the expectation of flexibility and lightning speed delivery. As software and data prevail across industries, options seem endless.

From complex products & platforms to narrowly scoped apps that exist in multi-sided markets or unpredictable environments, these software- and data-intensive businesses are complex, layered, connected systems of products & services, people and organizations.

For success and resilience, these systems must exist in concert. When they don’t, product and operational interfaces break, bottlenecks occur, and bottom-line business impact materializes. For example: stifled growth, imperiled business pivots, irrelevant products and services, failed and delayed releases, staff turnover. (See “not so fun facts” below).

In this eBook, we paint 5 stories of improving the relevance and performance of digital solutions, products and services by resolving technical and operational challenges with germane, fit-for-use systems engineering and thinking.

These are business stories first and foremost. From Healthcare, eCommerce and Startups to Automotive and Aerospace, they represent real business risks facing executives and their teams. They offer practical examples and decision-making leverage for executives (and also practitioners) who need to chart an effective path to maximize success.

Flip Through Your Copy Today!

Priced at $15.00 USD, but available to Members and Non-Members for free!

What People Are Saying About Our Stories...

Not-So-Fun Facts:

$1Trillion (US) potential revenue is lost to competitors in the US because offerings weren’t relevant enough (Accenture).
The total cost of unsuccessful development projects among US firms is an estimated $260 Billion USD.
About 66% of software projects fail.
44% of projects fail due to a lack of alignment between business and project.

Our Contributors

Jeannine Siviy

Jeannine Siviy is a business and technology strategist who recognizes undiscovered possibilities and spearheads paths of practical innovation, cutting through complexity and ambiguity to deliver value at speed, at scale. She is PointClickCare’s Senior Director of Decision Analytics, serving seniors and healthcare organizations via point-of-care and business insights. She held prior leadership, product, and technical roles at SDLC Partners (Highmark), UPMC, Carnegie Mellon’s Software Engineering Institute, and Kodak. She earned engineering degrees from Purdue and RIT, and Caltech’s Technology & Innovation Management certificate. A Pittsburgh native, she enjoys its cultural diversity and has a longstanding passion for nature and animals.

Dorothy McKinney

Dorothy McKinney, an INCOSE Fellow, has over 45 years of aerospace and research experience, 34 of those at Lockheed Martin and heritage companies (including over 15 years as an adjunct professor at two universities during that time). Since retiring as Fellow Emeritus, she has started and closed a dot com start-up (ConsideredThoughtfully) and a systems engineering consulting firm (Advanced Systems Thinking).  Earlier she worked at Stanford Research Institute and at ArgoSystems/Boeing. Her undergraduate degree is from Prescott College in English and Systems Sciences. She also has an MS in Computer Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Sarah Sheard

Sarah Sheard is an INCOSE Fellow, CSEP, and Founder’s Award winner. An INCOSE member since 1992, she chaired INCOSE’s SaSIWG from 2017-2021 and has been a Journal Associate Editor for over 15 years. Her systems engineering publications include 4 INCOSE “Best Papers” and an INCOSE “Product of the Year.” She retired in 2019 as a systems and software engineering researcher and consultant at CMU’s Software Engineering Institute. She earned her 2012 Ph.D., which examined system development complexity, at the Stevens Institute of Technology. During the pandemic she added acrylic painting and piano playing hobbies to 50 years of folk dancing.

Lauren Stolzar

Lauren Stolzar has over 15 years’ experience in systems engineering, software engineering, program management, proposal management, and technical leadership on software systems for a wide variety of organizations, ranging from ecommerce to defense. She specializes in leading geographically distributed, multi-organization teams in bringing complex systems to life. Lauren has led teams from early research experimentation, flight test, and deployment, in addition to working directly with the user community to understand existing needs. She holds a BS and M.S. in Computer Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and was initiated into INCOSE's Institute for Technical Leadership in 2020 as part of Cohort 4.

Yann Argotti

Yann Argotti graduated in computer science and electrical engineering from the French Grande Ecole ESIEA and received the postgraduate diploma in Fundamental and Applied Computer Science from Paris-Est / Marne-la-Vallée University (France). He obtained a PhD degree in computer science and embedded systems at INSA, University of Toulouse (France) and at LAAS-CNRS laboratory. Over the last 25 years he accumulated experience over a wide range of companies, positions, and technologies related to software and systems. Since 2018 he is acting as a specialist in Qualimetry, software measures and data at Renault Software Labs. His fields of interest are on Qualimetry, data science, software development and evolution of embedded systems. He authored international articles and is an AFIS - INCOSE member.

Dr. Stephanie M. White

Dr. Stephanie M. White has been an educator, technical leader, corporate manager, and entrepreneur. Her research interests and publications are in systems science and engineering with emphasis on modeling and semantic analysis of complex systems. As Principal Engineer, she performed research for the U.S. Navy and Northrop Grumman, leading to higher quality and lower cost products. Currently, Senior Professor Emeritus at LIU, she taught systems science, systems engineering, and computer science, and still participates on dissertation committees. Her degrees include a Ph.D. in Computer Science from what is now NYU Tandon School of Engineering. She has held many positions in IEEE, including Systems Council President and Computer Society Vice-President and member of the Board of Governors. She is currently a member of the IEEE Board of Directors, 2023-2024.

Press Release

SAN DIEGO (May 31, 2023) – The International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) is pleased to announce the launch of the eBook “Realizing Relevance: Stories for Our Digital Era: The Business Value of Thinking in Systems.” This eBook is a guide for maximizing business and client value by unleashing the relevance and performance of digital solutions, products and services with fit-for-use systems engineering and thinking.

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