Short Courses

All short courses are highly interactive with a minimal amount of lecturing. The conversion from lecture-centric to an activity-centric immersion format took six months and was only made possible by a grant from the Leverhulme Trust to Cranfield University as part of the development of the Integrated Multidisciplinary Engineering for the 21st Century  course. See the Seraswati Project for further information. Short courses are:

Integrated Multidisciplinary Engineering for the 21st Century(download Study guide)

The purpose of this 4-day course is to begin the process of providing industry and government with a pool of skilled personnel for the acquisition and maintenance of the systems that underpin 21st century civilization. This is an introductory course proving an overview of the topic and a favour of the details which should be more fully explored in depth through other courses. This course is very different to similar introductory courses . This is because:

  1. This is the first ever immersion course in systems engineering. Participants experience systems engineering in the various phases of the systems development life cycle. 
  2. The course was systems engineered by determining the needs of the stakeholders (employers (industry/government), students and academia) and then applying modern educational methodologies with some principles from cognitive psychology to the problem of providing an effective learning opportunity to mature students who are employed in the work force with corresponding demands on their time.
  3. Unlike current similar courses, this course views systems engineering from the problem solving perspective .
  4. The course introduces multidisciplinary and systems engineering and the need for their application from the problem solving perspective. The focus of the course is on:
    • systems engineering ,  
    • the application of systems thinking , and
    • interpersonal communications.

Providing a broad overview, the context for systems engineering, the competencies needed to perform systems engineering and the life cycles employed are reviewed. The application and measurement of systems thinking in the various phases of the project life cycle is employed in practical exercises. The course employs problem based learning to enhance the learning experience.

Outcomes

At the end of this course, participants should:

1.       Have improved systems thinking abilities.

2.       Understand the reasons for the different definitions of the term "system", and the various viewpoints on systems engineering.

3.       Be able to identify the various types of problems faced by systems engineers in different phases of the system life cycle.

4.       Be able to identify an appropriate tool or methodology to solve the problem.

5.       Understand the need for systems engineers with different competencies, skills and knowledge in different parts of the system life cycle.

6.       Understand that there isn't always a single "right" solution to a problem.

7.       Have improved their critical thinking level.

8.       Be better than average systems engineers for their level of experience.

Schedule

  • Cranfield University, November 2007, December 2008.
  • National University of Singapore, January 2008, May 2008.
  • Melbourne, Australia, July 2008.

Contact jkasser@therightrequirement.com for dates, pricing and seat availability.

 

Requirements Engineering

Requirements are an important element in the process of producing systems. Poor requirements and the lack of consensus on requirements are major contributors to project failure. The purpose of this 4-day course is to provide an overview of the importance and use of requirements. Topics addressed include:

  • Techniques for eliciting requirements.
  • Techniques for building consensus on requirements.
  • Writing "good" requirements.
  • Detecting poor requirements.
  • Acceptance criteria, priority, risk, and cost attributes of requirements.
  • The effect of changing requirements on cost and schedule.
  • The use of non-text-based requirements (models, drawings, etc.)

Students will be provided with a registered version of the Tiger Pro requirements tool for use during and after the course.

Outcomes

At the end of this course, participants should:

  1. Understand why lack of stakeholder consensus on requirements is a major contributor to project failure.
  2. Understand the importance of well-written requirements and the effect of poorly-written ones.
  3. Be able to elicit and elucidate requirements.
  4. Write verifiable requirements.
  5. Critique and clarify poorly written requirements.
  6. Evaluate the suitability of commercial requirements tools for use on a project. 
  7. Link acceptance criteria, priority and risk to requirements.

 

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