SE Stories: Why a standard Systems Engineering Approach is not enough

This talk opens with a relatable real-world story from an engineering team tasked with estimating the effort for a product enhancement. When management challenges the team to reduce the estimate through “innovation,” many in the audience—likely 70%—will recognize the scenario and smile knowingly.

The narrative then shifts to the sales perspective: the additional feature presents a clear opportunity to expand the customer base. Market intelligence reveals that competitor products are priced similarly, raising a critical concern—if competitors follow standard engineering practices, they’ll likely arrive at the same effort estimates.

The dilemma: applying conventional systems engineering offers no competitive edge.
The solution: we must adapt and fine-tune systems engineering practices to unlock true differentiation and strategic advantage.

The talk will conclude with some tailoring recommendations of standard systems engineering practice.