Concurrent Teams

1. Concurrent Teams IGDS Concurrent Engineering Module, 25th February 2003 Duncan Greenman Engineering Capability Development Manager, Airbus UK

2. 2 What are “concurrent teams?” What elements should they contain? Should all disciplines be involved? What type of people do we need? Do different levels of teams need different disciplines and/or types of people? for example …….

3. Systems Out of Service First Flight Entry into Service Project Inception FUNCTIONAL INVOLVEMENT THROUGH PRODUCT LIFE 3 Human Resources, Engineering Resource Development Planning and Control Research and Technology, Engineering Processes & Methods Design / Structures Support in service Future Projects Flight Physics Production Manufacturing Engineering Procurement / Supply Chain Management Product Integrity

4. 4 • Some Issues …….. • How are team members chosen? • How are teams formed or disbanded? • Are internal team dynamics important? • How do we deal with multi-layered matrix management? • How do teams accommodate individual accountabilities and responsibilities? • Do modern electronic forms of communication make co-located teams obsolete? • What skills do today’s engineers need? • What are today’s “scarce” skills?

5. 5 How are team members chosen? Why do you want a particular person in your team? • A close friend ? • Someone you admire ? • Good technical skills ? • Good people skills ? • Makes decisions quickly ? • Experienced ? • Female / Male ? • Easy to boss around ? • Too challenging ? • Too aggressive ? • Not a team player ? • Too “tech-ie” and sad ? • Too new to the company ? • Female / Male ? • Too senior for available role ? • Friend of the boss ?

6. 6 How are team members chosen? Why do you want a particular person in your team? Source - Meredith Belbin Team Roles At Work, 1993

7. 7 How are teams formed (and disbanded)? • Do they just join the team when they are available? • Are they the people you want or are they the ones that are available? • How do you get the person you really want, but who is being under-used in another role? • Do you have a formal team launch event? • Do you invite your customer? • Do you invite your suppliers? • How do you find out if your suppliers can actually do the job? • Do you hang on to good people “just in case”? • Do you hold a celebration event on disbanding?

8. 8 Are internal team dynamics important? Belbin - Team Roles Source - Meredith Belbin Team Roles At Work, 1993

9. 9 Are internal team dynamics important? Belbin – Styles of Leadership Source - Meredith Belbin Team Roles At Work, 1993

10. 10 Are internal team dynamics important? Margerison and McCann The Team Management Wheel Source – Margerison & McCann Team Management, 1990

11. 11 How do we cope with multi-layer matrix management ?

12. Management and integration oriented teams A380 Design & Build oriented teams ACMTAircraft Component Management Team Landing Gear Wing CMITComponent ManagementIntegration Team Ailerons Spoilers Equipped Wing Wing box Slats/ Flaps IDBTsIntegration Design& Build Teams Fixed Leading Edge Fixed Trailing Edge Midbox Stage 1 and 2 CDBTsComponent Design& Build Teams J-Nose Bathtub Ribs Outboard Covers Mid FLE Inboard Covers 12 How do we cope with multi-layer matrix management ?

13. 14 How do teams accommodate individual accountabilities and responsibilities? • To be successful, each team should have : • A clear set of objectives and timescales. • A single person accountable for the team’s deliverables. • A person who takes responsibility for resource issues. • A person who takes responsibility for project management. • Some innovative team members. • Appropriate technical experts. • People who are simply “workers” – probably the majority. • Good visibility of their suppliers and customers. • Mutual tolerance and respect.

14. 15 Do modern forms of communication make teams obsolete? Electronic data vaults - Single source of the latest data. Enables dispersed working. Permits “follow the sun” working. ……. But …… makes quality and task management more difficult and is no use when “the system goes down”. Electronic mail - No time restrictions on communications. Copy can be stored in paperless form. ……. But …… product liability dangers; relies on good common language writing skills; useless if “the system is down”. People still need to meet and to see for themselves.

15. 16 What (skills) do today’s engineers need? • High level technical skills. • For some, leadership skills. • Good business understanding. • Good interpersonal and team working skills. • The ability to think innovatively. • The ability to challenge. • Speak at least one other modern language. • The desire to develop themselves. • Adaptability, and ………….. • A sense of humour. A sort of “Concurrent People”

16. 17 What (skills) are “scarce” today? • High level technical skills. • For some, leadership skills. • Good business understanding. • Good interpersonal and team working skills. • The ability to think innovatively. • The ability to challenge. • Speak at least one other modern language. • The desire to develop themselves. • Adaptability, and ………….. • A sense of humour.

17. 18 Is knowledge management important? No … in Airbus, it’s critical !! • Being world leaders, we can rarely recruit the skills we need, we have to develop our existing staff ourselves. • With a product life cycle that can be 70 years, we have to maintain all the skills to support our legacy aircraft. • We need to manage the exit of our staff, to ensure we minimise the loss of skill, experience, etc. through coaching our younger and/or less experienced staff. • Where possible, electronic knowledge management of processes is used.

18. 19 Concurrent People Concurrent Teams Concurrent Engineering

19. AIRBUS