Reverse Engineering Risk: Converging Medical Standards for Improved Systems Engineering

Abstract

AbstractEarly systems engineering and active risk management have been credited with improving the Department of Defence's (DoD) ability to deliver on cost, schedule, and technical requirements. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) continues to identify risk management of critical technologies as a key contributor in schedule delays and cost overruns. A review by GAO of key DoD programs has found that specifically an increase in technical scope, interoperability requirements, and advanced technology integration has been the root cause for many of these delays. To address these findings, DoD mandates Technology Risk Assessments (TRA) of key technologies at specific milestone gates. Unfortunately, the tools and metrics supplied for the TRAs continue to rely on dated concepts that have failed to provide the objective insight into modern technology integration and interoperability requirements. This paper proposes a new approach for technical risk management that borrows from concepts in the medical field that treat risk management as a top‐down integrated system concept.