Abstract: Systems Engineering (SE) has arguably failed to transform industry from Document Based SE to MBSE (seriously folks, while there are pockets of success, as a whole the number of presentations at the INCOSE International Symposium on the subject tells you that as an industry, we can’t put up the “mission accomplished” banner yet.). The 4^th Industrial Revolution is in full swing, and, as of June 2018 and the OSD/DoD memo, the DoD Digital Engineering Revolution has begun. What does it Mean to Digitally Transform when we can’t yet claim credit for full-on MBSE? Is Digital Transformation MBSE Redux? MBSE+Mod/SiM? PLE and PLM tools?

This talk will look at the situation from the perspective of “Antagonistic Engineering”. The presenter borrows the term from bio-mechanics. We’ve certainly all heard the comment that “SE will slow down the project” (to which we respond with the ROI of SE and finding problems early). Are we slowing things down or providing Necessary Counterbalance? The DE revolution wants to move us even faster; do we still need to “slow down to go fast”? In this construct, is SE an Agonist Muscle, or an Antagonist Muscle? How do we impact engineering processes, attitudes, and culture to not only enable MBSE but further the Digital Revolution?  Think of Systems Engineering Agonist/Antagonist as a variant on the following definition from https://study.com/academy/lesson/antagonist-muscle-definition-examples.html:

For every action, there must be an equal and opposite reaction. The same is true for muscles! Think about moving your arm, for example. If you bend your arm at the elbow, one muscle is tightening to pull your arm up; another muscle is working in tandem, relaxing to counterbalance the first muscle. When you relax your arm, the muscles take on opposite roles to pull your arm straight. ... We call these opposites agonist muscles, or muscles that produce movement through contraction; and antagonist muscles, which are muscles that provide the opposite of the agonist movement. Sometimes, antagonist muscles control and slow down movement opposite to their agonist partner, while in other situations a muscle can be an antagonist throughout a particular movement. The terms agonist and antagonist aren't set properties of a muscle; they apply to a muscle depending on whether the muscle is doing the movement

Speaker Biography: Arno Granados is currently the Engineering Manager for Systems Engineering Integration and Test (SEIT) and Mission Systems at Boeing Laser and Electro Optic Systems (LEOS) in Albuquerque New Mexico.  Arno’s career has included roles in scientific research, software engineering, systems engineer, and management. His domain experience includes research astronomy; ground based, airborne, and space-based imaging systems, UAS, missile systems, and software system of systems. He has worked for companies as diverse as Boeing, Sandia National Labs, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, NASA, Positive Systems (a seven person company), and Orielle (a 2 person company). His systems engineering perspective has been developed through hands-on work ranging from academic research, defense R&D and commercial production environments. Arno is an evangelist for “Digital Engineering”, and participates in the NDIA/INCOSE Digital Engineering Information Exchange working group (DEIX-WG). While his career has morphed from science, to engineering, to management, his love of discovery has never diminished.