For several years INCOSE’s PM-SE Working Group has investigated areas of conflict and tension between PMs and SEs. We met with INCOSE and Project Management Institute (PMI) chapters to discuss what we had learned and to obtain feedback as to how their projects were being run and any underlying causes leading to tension between PMs and SEs. There was also a survey distributed to PMs and SEs as part of this effort in order to document their experiences and views. At this presentation we will provide an overview of our initial research and then look at the data and results obtained as part of this initiative.  This includes specific views from SEs as to how their projects are being managed and their relationships with the PM as well as views from PMs as to how engineering is performed in their organization and its relationship to the project management function.  Finally, we will provide recommendations, on how to reduce tensions, based on our findings.

Bio

Mark Kaufman, PMP, has over 40 years’ experience in the management of IT systems development.  He is currently MITRE’s Department Manager for Enterprise Program and Risk Management. Prior to working for MITRE, he was Vice President for Project Management for a Fortune 500 company.  He has managed projects in support of child support payment processing, the Earth Observing System, and improving the quality of care for dialysis patients, and the Department of War.  Mark has served as a subject matter expert in the standup of numerous program management offices across the Federal space, a topic he spoke about at PMI Global 2018.  He was also the lead systems engineer for the ground system and the data archive for the Hubble Space Telescope. Currently Mark serves and an Initiative Lead for the INCOSE PM-SE Working Group looking at the causes of tension between project managers and systems engineers. Mark has a B.E. from Stevens Institute of Technology and a MSEE from the University of Maryland.