About

Core principles

I have built engine control systems, and developed and integrated aircraft systems: alone, in teams, and at the head of them. I have managed customers and suppliers, and answered to the authorities.

Three pairs of principles delivered every result:

• Curiosity with Discipline: Follow the process. Let the data lead. Don’t jump to conclusions.
• Candour with Humility: Ask the hard questions. Learn what it takes to answer them.
• Collaboration with Transparency: Respect what others know. Admit what I don’t.

Programmes converge through structured engineering, not heroics. I can fight fires with anyone. But firefighting is addictive. Make it the norm and you lose the discipline that stops fires starting.

The pattern

I spent years in development. Then I moved to in-service troubleshooting, and a pattern emerged. Problems that looked different were the same mistakes, made again and again.

Physical systems carry the flaws of the organisations that design them. Poor architecture causes unintended behaviour. Untraced, invalid requirements lead to incomplete testing. Incomplete testing leads to poor performance and reliability.

The case studies trace physical problems blamed on suppliers:

• Poor component reliability.
• Missed system performance targets.
• No Fault Found (NFF) part removals.

back to the organisation that designed them:

• Duplicated, untraced and invalid requirements.
• Testing written against the implementation, not the requirements.
• Unvalidated architecture and requirements, producing unintended behaviour.

The sickness: Development Assurance applied as compliance, not engineering.
The cure: a development lifecycle fit for purpose, and no heavier than it needs to be.

Individual competence only goes so far. I know the standards and the authorities first-hand. I help organisations tailor their processes so they support teams instead of hindering them. Organisational competence improves the engineering and delivers compliance.

I offer advisory work, and fractional support to startups and established organisations. If you deliver complex or safety-critical products and a need is emerging, let’s talk.