30 April – 2 May 2018 | ICC Sydney

Unlocking the Future through Systems Engineering

sete2018.com.au

Conducting the Formal Design Review – Barrier or

Benefit?
Simon Hutton
 About Me…
Simon Hutton MSc BSc CEng MIET
§ Principal Systems Engineering Consultant,
Acmena Group
§ BAESYSTEMS Certified Design Review &
Technical Bid Review Chair and Assessor
§ BAESYSTEMS, Thales Transport, Jacobs, WS
Atkins on the Supplier side of Design Reviews
§ UK MOD on the Customer side of Design
Reviews
§ First design review in 1995!

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 Are we in this together?

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 Topics
§ What is a Design Review?
§ Why do we review the design?
§ When do we review the design?
§ How do we review the design?
§ Principles, Advice and Guidance

© 2018 Acmena Group Pty Ltd

 What is a Design Review?
§ A formal, documented, comprehensive and
systematic examination of a design to
evaluate the design requirements and the
capability of the design to meet these
requirements and to identify problems.
§ An opportunity to baseline the design.
§ An assessment of technical maturity and risk
§ A key V&V Activity

© 2018 Acmena Group Pty Ltd

 Why Do We Review the Design?
§ Required by Legislation or
Code of Practice
§ Required or
recommended by
standards
§ Required by corporate
governance processes
§ Good practice and
common sense

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 When do We Review the Design?
§ Between
lifecycle phases
§ Major events
§ At regular
intervals
(annually)
§ When required

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 How do we review the design
Consider three formats:
§ Peer review
§ Presentational Event
§ Progressive Process

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 The Design Review by Peers
§ Evaluation of the design documentation by one
or more people of similar competence to the
designers.
§ Often independent, individual and isolated

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 The Design Review as an Event
For example IEC 61160 ‘Design Review’

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 Traditionally Adversarial

And when did you last verify your

requirements?

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 And Often a Surprise!

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 The Progressive Design Review
Identify Chair Start Review
Identify Assessors
§ Progressive review of Establish scope
design by assessors Establish entry criteria
Define Baseline & review materials
§ Identify and address Agree topic areas and potential risk
issues during Prepare the design team

assessment phase Issue review material

Kick-off
through participation Present engineering overview, organisation,
known risks and issues Meeting
§ Review Meetings focus Socialise

on maturity, risk and Assessment Phase

Material Reviewed against expected maturity
actions Minor Actions addressed with project
Risks identified, mitigation discussed
§ Encourages Entry Review
engagement, controls Assessors present report to Project
- Summary of project status Meeting
the review team, - Actions & Risks
- Pass
- Fail
improves the design Agreed with project team - Fail with Actions

and planning Raise risks and close out actions

Update plans Exit Review
Review and agree action closure Meeting
- Pass
Final output and design baseline - Fail

© 2018 Acmena Group Pty Ltd

 Design Review Principles
§ Independent
§ Expert
§ Proportionate
§ Timely
§ Multidisciplinary
§ Objective
§ Accountable
§ Transparent
§ Accessible

© 2018 Acmena Group Pty Ltd

 Guidance and Advice
§ Plan the review, don’t just schedule
§ Nominate and engage the review team early,
especially the Chair
§ Define and agree target maturity and
objectives with Chair, and review the design
against agreed maturity and objectives
§ Agreed Actions and emerging risks are part of
the review
§ Pass, Fail, Fail with Actions
© 2018 Acmena Group Pty Ltd
 Summary – It’s a Benefit!
§ The Design Review enables a shared
understanding of technical maturity and risk at
key points in the engineering lifecycle
§ An appropriate and planned review engages
and supports rather than challenges the design
§ The Design Review provides a key V&V and risk
identification activity

© 2018 Acmena Group Pty Ltd

Unlocking the Future through Systems Engineering
sete2018.com.au