Managing Aerospace Projects

Over the next twenty years, the role and contributions of successfully managed projects will continue to grow in importance to aerospace organizations, especially considering the demands of emerging markets. The accompanying challenges will be how to effectively reduce product and process cost where known (incremental) and unknown (transformational) technological innovation is required.

Managing Aerospace Projects brings together ten seminal SAE technical papers that support the vision of a more holistic and integrated approach to highly complex projects. Using the concept of project management levers, Dr. Jimmy Williams, Jr., the editor of this title, expands on the critical importance of correctly deciding on

• Organizational strategies
• Technology and product strategy
• Global portfolio strategy
• Project portfolio strategy

Sub-optimized strategies result in and contribute to a portfolio of misdirected projects and organizational dissatisfaction with project management outcomes unrelated to the actual project management process. As an example, ensuring the convergence and readiness of technologies that are critical for the design, development, and assembly of aircraft requires a disciplined and flexible approach for product and technology development. Operating in an environment in which customer needs and supplier capabilities are dynamic requires continual focus on a portfolio of projects, initiatives, and capabilities that result in sustaining competitive advantage and influence.

Managing Aerospace Projects stresses the positive impact of project classification and the specific handling and leadership knowledge requirements so that these endeavors are indeed successful. Some comparisons and lessons from the automotive industry are offered. The notion that project management competence and capabilities are embedded in distinct ways of coordinating and combining multiple competencies suggests that failing to recognize the required organizational adaptations could be a major contributor to sub-optimized project management outcomes.