Behavioral competencies of highly regarded systems engineers at NASA

Have you ever wondered why some systems engineers are successful and others aren't? In order to answer that question, NASA recently conducted a study of the behavioral competencies of highly regarded systems engineers working on different types of programs and projects in diverse environments across the agency. As projects become increasingly complex, NASA understands that it is vital to grow and develop a cadre of highly trained and skilled systems engineers who will be available to ensure the continued success of future missions. It is not enough to focus only on the science of engineering space systems, since that is only half the story. The other half of the story is the art of systems engineering. But what does that entail? In April 2008, the NASA Office of the Chief Engineer launched the Systems Engineering Behaviors Study with the goal of studying how highly regarded systems engineers at each of the ten NASA Centers practice the art of systems engineering. The study was conducted by personnel from each of the NASA Centers and the NASA Academy of Program, Project and Engineering Leadership (APPEL) who were trained in psychology, organizational behavior, engineering, human resources, training and development. Several study team members were certified to administer and interpret the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI
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). The study involved interviewing, shadowing, and observing 3 8 highly regarded systems engineers and administering the MBTI to them to identify their personality type. Once the data was compiled, it was then analyzed for common themes and grouped into clusters of competencies with associated behaviors. Once the initial analysis was complete, it was reviewed, and concurrence on the overall competencies was sought with the interviewees, once at the center level, and again at the agency level. The behavioral attributes in the findings fall into five broad themes: leadership, communication, problem solving and systems thinking, attitudes and attributes, and technical acumen. This paper summarizes the method, findings, and conclusions of the study of behavioral competencies of highly regarded systems engineers at NASA. It details the competencies and associated behaviors for each of the themes in depth, and summarizes the typical MBTI
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profiles of the systems engineers studied. It also discusses some potential uses of these results to provide a more balanced picture of systems engineering and to train, coach, mentor and develop NASA's current and future systems engineers.