Publication

Engineering involves designing solutions to meet the needs of markets or missions. Organizations would like to have the flexibility and agility to address both uncertain needs and uncertain technologies for meeting these needs. This report presents and illustrates a decision framework that enables flexibility and agility, and provides guidance on when to pursue optimal, highly integrated solutions, and when to hedge investments. We consider how uncertainties arise, contrasting the automotive and defense domains. We propose an approach to managing uncertainties. We consider how to represent alternative solutions and project the value of each alternative, including how market or mission requirements can be translated into system requirements. Possible use cases for our framework are discussed. Three detailed case studies are reported. The first focuses on designing a portfolio of autonomous vehicle platforms for enhancing the mobility of disabled and older adults. The second addresses designing a portfolio of policies for mitigating global warming as well as the impacts of global warming. The third case study is concerned with designing a portfolio of policies to enhance the STEM talent pipeline. An appendix of the report provides a software development plan for a software tool capable of supporting all three case studies.

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