Designing and enhancing a systems engineering training and development program

The MITRE Institute, the Training and Development (T&D) organization of the MITRE Corporation, is in the process of designing and enhancing its systems engineering (SE) T&D program. This long-term, strategic program is intended to complement an existing deep, self-selection, internal catalog program and an on-site Masters Degree program in systems engineering. The program direction and design are driven by a competency model that focuses on behaviors of successful SEs at MITRE. The program horizontally integrates and blends many T&D approaches at the same program level, including technical, non-technical, and e-Learning courses; student and manager assessments; customized on-the-job projects; group work and networking; a focused training resource database; student manager commitment through an individual development plan (IDP); and a certification option. The program integrates concepts vertically by replication of content that is considered important on multiple, or all levels of the program, such as enterprise systems engineering, risk, team development, and persuasion and influence. The SE T&D program, called SEworks, will have three tiers, roughly in line with MITRE's technical career ladder, with the purpose of ensuring that SEs at certain levels in their career are armed with and capable of using various SE skills, methodologies, and techniques on the job, and also capable of tailoring them to their projects. Kilpatrick level 1 and 2 measurement approaches will be used in various aspects of the instructor-led and e-Learning courses. Long-term, programmatic measurements on behavioral changes (Kilpatrick Level 3) will focus on two approaches. One approach and goal is an 80% improvement of competencies that students focused on for their on-the-job projects, as determined through manager assessments. The other approach is a long-term trend analysis on our cross corporate assessments of students in the SEworks program. With substantial senior manager input and support, The MITRE Institute has initiated a long-term, strategic internal SE T&D program, which is designed to complement existing deep SE catalog and onsite MS in SE degree programs. The main purpose is to enhance the SE behaviors and skills of MITRE staff, a core competency of the MITRE Corporation, and thereby allow the staff to deliver better products to our customers.