Our Clients Fantastic Experience at the WBSK First race at Philip Island

After hearing the great news that Our Sponsor team Voltcom Crescent Suzuki Team were victorious in the first race in Philip Island, we thought we would contact our clients who went to the race to find out all about the exciting event!

Below is the testimonial from the group of our clients we invited along, written by Minnie Tabilog, this was their experience…

“It's a pleasure to share our experience as guests of Objektum and the Crescent Suzuki team at the recently concluded World Superbike Championship in Phillip Island.

Most of us who attended have not been to a motorbike racing event before and so were pleasantly surprised at how well-organised the event was. Collecting our passes, parking the car, and finding the Suzuki team's garage was a breeze. 


We first met Christina Bulpett, who kindly went looking for Tim Walpole and brought him over to meet us. They look after Crescent Suzuki's WSBK sponsors and PR. Then Paul Denning (Team Manager) came out to say hello, which was really nice of him given that the race was starting in less than two hours.


After the introductions, Tim took us inside the garage for a tour. The team were very busy preparing for the first race but they gave us a very warm welcome. The atmosphere was very collegial and pretty relaxed, but there's definitely an underlying sense of excitement. We were very impressed with how well the guys worked together, each one calmly going about their tasks.

Tim patiently answered all our questions, and allowed us to take photos of the bikes as they were being put together. He thanked us again and again for supporting the team. We were pretty stoked to be able to personally wish Eugene and Alex good luck for the race. 





With the tour over, we decided to grab something to eat before finding the best spot to watch the race. We ended up on the pit garage roof, overlooking the start/finish line. We were very quiet, initially, but cheered louder and louder as Eugene climbed his way up from seventh to lead the pack. 

The other spectators definitely knew which team we were supporting when the race ended. Lots of hugs and high-fives to go around. It really made the trip quite special. Their first World Championship win since 2010 and we were there to see that happen! Awesome!!!

  
Next on our agenda was to look around the expo.  On our way there, we bumped into Christina bearing flowers and champagne for the team. She stopped for a chat and we enquired about Alex because we were quite worried after seeing him crash. More photos and congratulatory messages for the guys, then we set off again.

 
The expo was like an Aladdin’s cave, well, for bikers. It was fun looking at the superbikes and accessories on display. Some folks got a bit carried away with their wish list for their dream superbike(s). I can see a shopping trip coming up soon! The talk was quite animated and carried on until we reached our chosen spot for the second race.





We settled down with our picnic blankets on a grassy bank just before the final turn, where you can get very close to the action at ground level. Other, more energetic, members of the party went to explore further around the circuit. We knew they just wanted to keep debating bike purchase options.

The atmosphere was even more exciting at the start of the second race. All the teams were doubly fired up for their last chance of a win at Phillip. We were so relieved to see Alex and his bike were okay to race again. He certainly won a lot of admirers that day. It was incredible watching Eugene advance from fifth to first, and remained confident even when he dropped to second on lap fourteen. So imagine how bad we felt for him when heard the engine blow up and the red cards come out. 

We made our way back to the garages to thank Tim and Christina, and pass on our well wishes to the rest of the team. We had a fantastic time and didn't let our disappointment at the outcome of the second race keep us from celebrating the win. The team showed us that they can take on their much bigger competitors and come out on top.
 
We'd like to thank Objektum for inviting us to attend the opening event, and wish the Crescent Suzuki team all the best for the rest of the 2014 WSBK season. "

Systems Engineering is from Venus, MBSE is from Mars?

By Alex Stevenson, Principal Consultant, Objektum Solutions Limited

Before I receive any irate diatribes (assuming anyone reads this) on the title of this post I urge you to look back at the aforementioned title and note the question mark. My title was selected not because it represents an opinion that I hold but rather one that I am often faced with. While many engineers that I have encountered have embraced and adopted MBSE practises there are still those who would rather stick with the document centric SE approach. While I will always advocate the use of MBSE I also recognise that it is not a cure for all that ails your projects.

The INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook © INCOSE (www.incose.org) defines systems engineering as follows:

“Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary approach and means to enable the realization of successful systems. It focuses on defining customer needs and required functionality early in the development cycle, documenting requirements, then proceeding with design synthesis and system validation while considering the complete problem: operations, cost and schedule, performance, training and support, test, manufacturing and disposal. Systems Engineering integrates all the disciplines and specialty groups into a team effort forming a structured development process that proceeds from concept to production to operation. SE considers both the business and the technical needs of all customers with the goal of providing a quality product that meets the user needs.”

In addition the handbook quotes Howard Eisener’s Essentials of Project and Systems Engineering Management which refers to SE as a process.

In A Practical Guide to SysML: The Systems Modeling Language the authors (Sanford Friedenthal, Alan Moore and Rick Steiner) define MBSE as follows:

  

“Model-based systems engineering is the formalized application of modelling to support system requirements, design, analysis, verification and validation activities beginning in the conceptual design phase and continuing throughout development and later life cycle phases.

  

The key difference for me is that systems engineering is a process while MBSE is a method. 

As the lead systems engineering trainer for Objektum Solutions I spend many hours discussing these concepts and it is my style is to educate through questions. I do this for two primary reasons; firstly it allows me to establish what the level of understanding amongst my delegates is but, more importantly, it affords them the opportunity to guide them through their own discovery rather than simply dictate what I believe they should thin. Although this medium does not afford me the same opportunity I urge you to ask yourself; what is the difference between a process and a method. For those who do not have time to have this discussion with themselves or are concerned about the mental health implications of talking to yourself; read on immediately and I shall share my thoughts.

  

As I’ve said, Systems Engineering is, for me, a process but what does that actually mean? The dictionary defines a process as a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end but in an engineering context that is too vague. I would elaborate that definition by adding that a process defines a generic set of actions or activities must be undertaken to evolve the development of a system. These steps identify key development stages together with required inputs and deliverables while remaining independent of implementation. In other words a process describes what you must do but does not mandate how you should achieve it. For example; a process might tell you to analyse stakeholder requirements and produce a systems specification without detailing the artefacts to be produced or the method of analysis. A good systems engineering process should be applicable to all projects and be able to be realised by a number of different approaches (e.g. document centric or MBSE).

A method, on the other hand, represents the realisation of a process and details the techniques to be used and artefacts to be produced during the development effort. While a process is often mandated, within an organisation, projects should be free to select the most suitable method for the task at hand. The only constraint on the selected method is that it fully satisfies the process. Like processes; methodologies can be introduced at an organisation level however, an organisation’s method should always be a recommendation that individual projects can tailor to suit their specific needs. That being said, I do not believe that projects should be free to do what suits them in the moment. A projects method should always be fully documented prior to its implementation and that documentation must be maintained as the method evolves and grows.

Any MBSE method that I adopt will, until something better emerges, be based around the OMG’s Systems Modeling Language. Rather than detail the specifics of how and why I choose to use SysML I shall, over the coming weeks, discuss the key features of the language as well providing guidance on recommended usage. I shall not, however, be detailing my full MBSE methodology. It would, after all, be economic suicide if I gave away all of my secrets.