Short Courses

The following short courses have been taught by members of the SEAri staff:

Value-driven Tradespace Exploration for System Design (SC-2010-PI27s)

The Multi-Attribute Tradespace Exploration (MATE) methodology was developed at MIT for exploring tradespaces of possible architectures rather than settling quickly on an optimum. The power of the method comes primarily from the ability to quantitatively assess many design choices very early in the design process, along with gaining insight into how stakeholder preferences relate to technically feasible design alternatives. This capability enables quantitative assessment of factors such as variability in technical performance and cost, how they relate to stakeholder expectations, and the impact of changes in markets or government policy on the potential for system success by allowing exploration of a large number of possible situations, including speculative ("what if") scenarios. The course covers several advanced topics including system design for selected "ilities" (flexibility, adaptability, survivability, scalability, modifiability, and robustness) into the architecture; a systematic method for handling many types of uncertainties (requirements, technical, economic etc.); and integration with policy and product development issues. Strategic issues such as temporal considerations in tradespace exploration, use of real option approaches, and exploring complex tradespaces of families of designs and systems of systems are also discussed.

Past participant feedback:

  • "Very well put together. I have used the material in my profession within weeks of taking the course. I was able to easily reference the materials and revisit the topics I was looking for." - PI student, June 2009
  • "Fabulous, the course was extremely useful, and we are pushing forward on applying it internally, as well as keeping MIT involved." - PI student, June 2009
  • "The topic is very relevant to certain activities within my company, and the particular professors who lead the course were were very capable, yet accessible." - PI student, June 2008
  • "Excellent overview of the state-of-the-art. The course provided sufficient information and in-class practice to assess and justify the need for this capability. The preparation, presentation and teaching was of high caliber, commensurate with what is expected of a world-class university." - PI student, June 2008
  • "This is a relevant topic for System Engineering that is not given sufficient discussion in standard manuals." - PI student, June 2008
  • "Our department deals with Tradespace Analysis and I think that this course would be beneficial to not only new workers joining us but also experienced employees who have done this for a while" - PI student, June 2008

The following lectures are for the short course PI.27s Value-driven Tradespace Exploration for System Design. The lectures are provided to satisfy demand for learning more about MATE. The materials are provided without instructor support or exercises. In order to obtain the more interactive experience, interested parties are encouraged to request the course, taught as a part of the MIT Professional Education Short Programs. Suggested readings for the course can be found here.

  • Lecture 0: Introductions and Course Overview [pdf]
  • Lecture 1: Why use Tradespace Exploration? [pdf]
  • Lecture 2: Overview of Classical Methods for Architecting and Design [pdf]
  • Lecture 3: Introduction to Multi-Attribute Decision Making [pdf]
  • Lecture 4: Introduction to Tradespace Exploration [pdf]
  • Lecture 5: Basics of Applied Utility Theory [pdf]
  • Lecture 6: Modeling and Exploring the Tradespace [pdf]
  • Lecture 7: Lessons Learned from Case Studies in Tradespace Exploration [pdf]
  • Lecture 8: Enhancing Systems Engineering Practice with Tradespace Exploration [pdf]
  • Lecture 9: Uncertainty and Risk [pdf]
  • Lecture 10: Development of a Tradespace Exploration Laboratory [pdf]
  • Lecture 11: Flexibility and Other "ilities" [pdf]
  • Lecture 12: Dynamic Tradespace Exploration Techniques [pdf]
  • Lecture 13: Policy and Other Non-technical Influences on the Tradespace [pdf]
  • Lecture 14: Summary of a New Method [pdf]

Epoch-based Thinking: Anticipating System and Enterprise Strategies for Dynamic Futures (SC-2010-PI26s)

The following lectures are for the short course PI.26s Epoch-based Thinking: Anticipating System and Enterprise Strategies for Dynamic Futures. The lectures are provided to satisfy demand for learning more about EEA. The materials are provided without instructor support or exercises. In order to obtain the more interactive experience, interested parties are encouraged to request the course, taught as a part of the MIT Professional Education Short Programs.

  • Lecture 0: Introductions and Course Overview [pdf]
  • Lecture 1: Challenges of the Dynamic World [pdf]
  • Lecture 2: Concepts and Constructs for Epoch-based Thinking [pdf]
  • Lecture 3: Related Methods for Considering Context and Time [pdf]
  • Lecture 4: Case Examples of Epoch Shifts and Their Impact [pdf]
  • Lecture 5: Perceptual Aspects of Epoch-based Thinking [pdf]
  • Lecture 6: Building Anticipatory Capacity [pdf]
  • Lecture 7: Methods and Metrics for Multi-Epoch Analysis [pdf]
  • Lecture 8: Scenario Building and Analysis Using Ordered Sequences of Epochs [pdf]
  • Lecture 9: Formulating Epoch-based Strategies for Technology & Organizations [pdf]
  • Lecture 10: Highlights of Quantitative Epoch-based Implementations [pdf]
  • Lecture 11: Temporal Properties ("ilities") [pdf]
  • Lecture 12: Advanced Topics in Epoch-based Thinking [pdf]
  • Lecture 13: Course Summary and Discussions [pdf]