How corona will change systems engineering
Even if this blog has a technical focus, it is currently practically impossible to ignore Covid-19 - the coronavirus. It is also clear that coronavirus will keep us busy for years to come. This in turn means that it will have a lasting impact on our society. Socially, this is already foreseeable. But how will this affect systems engineering?
Virtual collaboration takes on a new significance
Systems engineering is a social activity. We are therefore certain to see a boom in technologies that enable effective remote collaboration. Many people are currently working from home. Of course, companies will try to get employees back into the office in the medium term. But at the same time, companies will also realize that working from home has its advantages and many will stick with it in the long term. Apart from the fact that it can also be cheaper.
However, this will also increase the need for technologies that make this possible. This starts quite banal with conference systems such as Zoom and Skype, and will certainly take on "Big Brother" dimensions in some countries in order to monitor employees at home.
Communication becomes part of automated workflows
But for people in systems engineering, tools with effective built-in collaboration are much more interesting. Years ago gitHub has already done this very effectively by making sent messages part of workflows: For example, I can set a bug to "done" by explicitly mentioning it in the comment when committing. Modern tools enable collaboration in context. Be it with Jama, in the context of a requirement, or with OneShapein the context of a component.
Industries are shifting
Germany in particular, with 7% of employees in the automotive industry, will be hit hard. In fact, this is already the case. We are seeing the shift from travel to online events. This trend was already set in motion by climate change, but it will accelerate dramatically due to corona. At the same time, the need for transportation is increasing - of goods, not people. Companies in the transportation segment that can turn around quickly are doing well.
The defense sector has been hit particularly hard. This is because structures have been established here over decades that make working remotely virtually impossible. This starts with the fact that many employees do not have company laptops, but can only work in the office with the desktop computers that are secured there.
Corona accelerates the shifts set in motion by climate change
At the same time, we are already seeing increased demand in certain areas of medical technology - from ventilators to automated rapid tests.
There is a good chance that the world will return to normal once rapid coronavirus tests and vaccinations are available. But the changes that have been set in motion are unlikely to be reversed.
Experts have it easier
Experts are already in demand today. Due to the increasing complexity of the world, companies often need to call in experts. In the past, however, this often involved a lot of traveling, as it was previously difficult to be effective remotely.
However, the current crisis is increasing the need for experts on the one hand, and the acceptance of "remote help" on the other, as many of the company's own employees are no longer on site.
There are already many marketplaces for outsourcing development work, such as Upwork and many others. These will certainly also experience a boom, as many companies urgently need expertise to deal with the crisis. This will happen even if these companies simultaneously put employees on short-time working or even lay them off because they do not have the right expertise.
Those who can write good requirements have a clear advantage
To be able to use such platforms, you must of course be able to describe the problem to be solved well, i.e. have reasonable requirements.
Those who can should consider turning their expert knowledge into a "productized service", i.e. putting together a clearly understandable service package for the customer that can be bought "ready-made". Very suitable for this is the recently published book by Maik Pfingstenwhich I am currently reading.
Conclusion
We are currently in a crisis, but even this will change at some point. However, as this will take months or years, it will leave its mark. As systems engineers, we are in the fortunate position of being both in demand and able to work remotely.
