Author: Ken Hambleton Publisher: The Stationery Office ISBN: 9780117730342 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 324
Book Description
The complex task of defence equipment acquisition has probably never been more challenging, given developments in defence technologies and the increasing pressures to minimise expenditure and improve best value for money. This publication considers how to address these challenges by applying the philosophy and techniques of defence systems engineering. Topics covered include: an overview of the UK defence environment; aspects of acquisition including Smart Acquisition, research and technology, public-private partnerships and the private finance initiative; operational and financial analysis; supplier issues; test processes and evaluation; effective management procedures; and future developments in defence systems acquisition and engineering in the 21st century.
Author: Mike Hinchey Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 1447122976 Category : Computers Languages : en Pages : 477
Book Description
Software has long been perceived as complex, at least within Software Engineering circles. We have been living in a recognised state of crisis since the first NATO Software Engineering conference in 1968. Time and again we have been proven unable to engineer reliable software as easily/cheaply as we imagined. Cost overruns and expensive failures are the norm. The problem is fundamentally one of complexity: software is fundamentally complex because it must be precise. Problems that appear to be specified quite easily in plain language become far more complex when written in a more formal notation, such as computer code. Comparisons with other engineering disciplines are deceptive. One cannot easily increase the factor of safety of software in the same way that one could in building a steel structure, for example. Software is typically built assuming perfection, often without adequate safety nets in case the unthinkable happens. In such circumstances it should not be surprising to find out that (seemingly) minor errors have the potential to cause entire software systems to collapse. The goal of this book is to uncover techniques that will aid in overcoming complexity and enable us to produce reliable, dependable computer systems that will operate as intended, and yet are produced on-time, in budget, and are evolvable, both over time and at run time. We hope that the contributions in this book will aid in understanding the nature of software complexity and provide guidance for the control or avoidance of complexity in the engineering of complex software systems.
Author: Michael L. George Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional ISBN: 0071454969 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 353
Book Description
Conquering the complexity in products and services can generate larger contributions to profits and growth than nearly any other business strategy Here's a guarantee: Somewhere in your business, there is too much complexity. You may also be losing out by having too little complexity where it counts - in the products, services and options you offer to customers. Either way, the impact of complexity is enormous in terms of lost profit and missed growth opportunities. Conquering Complexity in Your Business shows how to break through the ceiling on profits and growth by implementing the three rules for conquering complexity: Eliminating complexity that customers will not pay for Exploiting the complexity that customers will pay for Minimizing the costs of the complexity you offer You'll find methods and tools you need to: Identify the offering and process complexity in your business Quantify the impact of that complexity Decide which complexity you want to keep and which to eliminate Select specific approaches to eliminate different kinds of complexity This knowledge will significantly improve your ability to grow profit, revenue, and shareholder value.
Author: Alan Siegel Publisher: Twelve ISBN: 145550968X Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 256
Book Description
For decades, Alan Siegel and Irene Etzkorn have championed simplicity as a competitive advantage and a consumer right. Consulting with businesses and organizations around the world to streamline products, services, processes and communications, they have achieved dramatic results. In SIMPLE, the culmination of their work together, Siegel and Etzkorn show us how having empathy, striving for clarity, and distilling your message can reduce the distance between company and customer, hospital and patient, government and citizen-and increase your bottom line. Examining the best and worst practices of an array of organizations big and small-including the IRS, Google, Philips, Trader Joe's, Chubb Insurance, and ING Direct, and many more-Siegel and Etzkorn recast simplicity as a mindset, a design aesthetic, and a writing technique. In these illuminating pages you will discover, among other things: Why the Flip camera became roadkill in the wake of the iPhone What SIMPLE idea allowed the Cleveland Clinic to improve care and increase revenue How OXO designed a measuring cup that sold a million units in its first 18 months on the market Where Target got the idea for their "ClearRX" prescription system How New York City simplified its unwieldy bureaucracy with three simple numbers By exposing the overly complex things we encounter every day, SIMPLE reveals the reasons we allow confusion to persist, inspires us to seek clarity, and explores how social media is empowering consumers to demand simplicity. The next big idea in business is SIMPLE.
Author: John C. Camillus Publisher: University of Toronto Press ISBN: 144262406X Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 200
Book Description
In business, some problems are so complex, intractable and threatening to organizations—or entire industries—that they are best described as “wicked.” These problems appear to be unsolvable and they render traditional analytical tools of strategy virtually impotent. Wicked Strategies offers a comprehensive framework for identifying, responding to and profiting from wicked problems. John C. Camillus, drawing on detailed, real-life examples from companies across the globe, has skillfully woven together the analytical techniques, processes and organizational designs that will enable managers to navigate a disruptive marketplace. His feed-forward framework for fashioning wicked strategies empowers firms to presciently transform their business models before they are made obsolete by the competition. Wicked Strategies is a practical and evocative guide that demonstrates how business leaders can profitably capitalize on unknowable futures.
Author: Donald A. Norman Publisher: MIT Press ISBN: 0262528940 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 309
Book Description
Why we don't really want simplicity, and how we can learn to live with complexity. If only today's technology were simpler! It's the universal lament, but it's wrong. In this provocative and informative book, Don Norman writes that the complexity of our technology must mirror the complexity and richness of our lives. It's not complexity that's the problem, it's bad design. Bad design complicates things unnecessarily and confuses us. Good design can tame complexity. Norman gives us a crash course in the virtues of complexity. Designers have to produce things that tame complexity. But we too have to do our part: we have to take the time to learn the structure and practice the skills. This is how we mastered reading and writing, driving a car, and playing sports, and this is how we can master our complex tools. Complexity is good. Simplicity is misleading. The good life is complex, rich, and rewarding—but only if it is understandable, sensible, and meaningful.
Author: S. Collinson Publisher: Springer ISBN: 1137006226 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 236
Book Description
Complexity is slowing companies down, costing them on average 10% of their profits. Based on cutting-edge research, this practical 'how to' guide will show businesses how to remove complexity to boost profits and morale.
Author: Yeliz Karaca Publisher: Academic Press ISBN: 0323886167 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 352
Book Description
Multi-Chaos, Fractal and Multi-Fractional Artificial Intelligence of Different Complex Systems addresses different uncertain processes inherent in the complex systems, attempting to provide global and robust optimized solutions distinctively through multifarious methods, technical analyses, modeling, optimization processes, numerical simulations, case studies as well as applications including theoretical aspects of complexity. Foregrounding Multi-chaos, Fractal and Multi-fractional in the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the edited book deals with multi- chaos, fractal, multifractional, fractional calculus, fractional operators, quantum, wavelet, entropy-based applications, artificial intelligence, mathematics-informed and data driven processes aside from the means of modelling, and simulations for the solution of multifaceted problems characterized by nonlinearity, non-regularity and self-similarity, frequently encountered in different complex systems. The fundamental interacting components underlying complexity, complexity thinking, processes and theory along with computational processes and technologies, with machine learning as the core component of AI demonstrate the enabling of complex data to augment some critical human skills. Appealing to an interdisciplinary network of scientists and researchers to disseminate the theory and application in medicine, neurology, mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, information theory, engineering, computer science, social sciences and other far-reaching domains, the overarching aim is to empower out-of-the-box thinking through multifarious methods, directed towards paradoxical situations, uncertain processes, chaotic, transient and nonlinear dynamics of complex systems. Constructs and presents a multifarious approach for critical decision-making processes embodying paradoxes and uncertainty. Includes a combination of theory and applications with regard to multi-chaos, fractal and multi-fractional as well as AI of different complex systems and many-body systems. Provides readers with a bridge between application of advanced computational mathematical methods and AI based on comprehensive analyses and broad theories.