Client

• Major Aerospace and Defense Company
• Design and Deployment of Space Systems
• Annual revenues over $30 Billion
• Top tier workforce for engineering knowledge and application

Background

The company had acquired this business unit prior to winning a major, long term US Government contract. After a year, the work was grossly past due and over budget and there were major functionality issues. After a comprehensive "replan" was approved by the customer, our consultants were engaged to assist with the redesign of the operating model for the system design, development, test and deployment teams.

Additionally, as management looked ahead at the growing commercialization of space applications, the need to shift the mindset of frontline managers was clear. The old approach of seeking perfect solutions at any cost was no longer appropriate.

It was essential that the business become much more disciplined in its application of management principles and tools.

Key Issues

The engineering-centric culture needed to be balanced with more effective work and management processes to ensure optimal resource utilization:

• There was weak alignment between team level work assignments and contract requirements. Project milestones were completed on time only 48% of the time
• Unclear project priorities and reliance on a small number of experts hindered efforts to resolve critical path barriers
• Adherence to procedures for reporting, sequencing of activities and escalation varied greatly between teams
• Functionality decisions were often made independent of contract specifications, resulting in “over-engineering”

First line team leaders lacked the tools and training to manage effectively. Few teams tracked team-level performance and continuous improvement efforts were sporadic.