T5
. Running Market-Driven and Capability-Driven Technology Planning Workshops
Overview from the Chair:
A half-day tutorial on this subject was offered at last years conference, but it did not attract sufficient interest to run. This was surprising given the issues which arise from technology planning, or in many cases a complete lack of technology planning. With the completion of the project, this years version of the tutorial offers two complementary models for technology planning outside-in and inside-out.
This is an excellent opportunity to learn from a research project which not only has the benefit of input from many industry sectors, but has also developed practical techniques that you will be able to apply in your company. Successful systems rely on the efficient exploitation of available and emerging technology; can you afford to ignore technology planning?
Presenters:
Michael Emes and Alan Smith, UCL Centre for Systems Engineering
This tutorial was prepared as part of a UK INTERSECT-Faraday Partnership Project supported by the Department of Trade and Industry and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (contract grant reference GR/R51742/01).
Aims and Objectives of the Tutorial:
The tutorial will introduce technology roadmapping to the delegates, with UCLs own systems-based models of technology roadmapping. Delegates will learn how to perform their own technology planning activities.
Overview of the Tutorial:
Whilst roadmapping and other technology planning tools have become popular over the last decade, their use is inconsistent and often technology planning exercises lack rigour or consistency, often resulting in little better than a gut-feel assessment of technology.
UCL Centre for Systems Engineering has conducted a three-year research project investigating issues associated with technology planning in organisations whose core business relies on technology. Thirty technology-dependent companies were studied in several different industries. A total of 64 structured interviews were held with relevant individuals from a range of organisations including users, buyers and developers of technology as well as universities, technology consultancies and government officials.
Our research has found that in many firms, particularly in small firms with limited resources, the development of technology is stifled by poor planning. This finding is supported by much of the literature. Often managers will rely on experience to make technology plans, and whilst they may make mostly good decisions, a rigorous, logical approach to such trade-offs will provide better insights into where technology is going, what the threats and opportunities are, and how change can be influenced. Since most organisations are unwilling to invest significant time in technology planning, at least before they are convinced of its value, we believe that a facilitated technology planning workshop is the best mechanism to promote technology planning activities in firms.
From the interviews, the technology planning literature, and the presenters experience in systems engineering and management, we first developed a model for a workshop approach to technology planning. This model was refined during the course of four trial workshops in organisations involved in pharmaceuticals, farming and space technology. In each of the four workshops a slightly different approach was used, with the aim of understanding the extent to which a model planning process could be applied to different situations. Learning from these trials, we have developed two technology planning workshop models that have the flexibility to allow greater emphasis on certain activities where this is appropriate.
The first model is a traditional market-driven or outside-in technology planning model, which starts by looking out from the organisation into the marketplace to identify sources of revenue, political and environmental trends, and potential future needs. The ultimate aim is to identify one or more technological product or service offerings that will meet these future needs and to create a component technology roadmap showing how these products will be delivered. The second model is a capability-driven or inside-out technology planning model in which the organisation looks first at its internal capabilities, both current and expected for the future, and finally creates a marketing roadmap showing how the technology capabilities might be pushed out into the marketplace.
The two models will be useful in different circumstances, but most organisations will find both approaches valuable at various times. The models have several elements in common, and are based on two fundamental principles. Both include a systems-view in which the role of the technology product within a wider value-system is recognised. Secondly, both models include strategic and economic analysis through scenario planning, game-theory and a rigorous approach to evaluating potential technology products and services. Not only will these models enable a better quality of decision (and therefore accelerate the development of technology), they will also provide a documented rationale for any decisions taken, to justify such decisions to stakeholders and to facilitate the transfer of technology planning knowledge within the organisation.
The presenters will guide delegates through worked examples illustrating the use of the two models and discussing the key steps involved in each approach. Syndicate exercises in which the participants develop their own roadmaps will be included.
Course material provided:
Participants will be provided with hard-copies of the slides describing the key steps in the technology planning processes.
Intended Audience/Potential Interest:
Anyone interested or potentially involved in planning new technology.
Credentials of Presenters:
Dr Michael Emes is a Research Fellow at University College London (UCL) Centre for Systems Engineering and a member of INCOSE. He has worked at UCL for three years on a research project investigating the supply-chain and systems integration issues associated with new technology introduction in farming and in the pharmaceutical industry. He is currently writing technology management case-studies for teaching the M.B.A. at the London Business School and M.Sc. courses in Technology Management and Systems Engineering Management at UCL, where he also teaches in UML, Business Process Modelling and Supply Chain Management. His current research interests include technology management tools and theory, modelling, and the intersection of systems engineering and management. Before joining UCL, Michael spent two years as a strategy consultant for Mercer Management Consulting in London working on projects in retail, e-commerce and transport. He obtained a first-class M.Eng. in Engineering, Economics and Management at St. Johns College, Oxford University in 1997 and a Ph.D. in Spacecraft Cryogenic Engineering at University College Londons Department of Space and Climate Physics in 2000.
Prof Alan Smith is Director of UCL Centre for Systems Engineering, Director of the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation Systems at UCL as well as Professor of Detector Physics and Associate Director of Programmes for UCLs Mullard Space Science Laboratory. Before joining UCL in 1990, Alan worked for the European Space Agency as a project manager and scientist in their space science department. Alan has been involved with the management and engineering of instrumentation that has flown on satellites of all the major space agencies. He obtained his Ph.D. at Leicester University from work associated with rocket borne observations of supernova remnants.
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