Engineering Management

Engineering Project Plan

Required. A complete project plan for a real engineering project: Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) with at least three decomposition levels, Gantt chart with critical path identified, resource loading profile, risk register with likelihood-impact assessment and mitigation actions, and cost estimate by WBS element. ProjectLibre (free, open-source) or Microsoft Project free trial. A project manager or engineering manager challenges the plan: presents a scope change or resource constraint and asks what the critical path impact is and which risks are now triggered.

Technical Risk Assessment (FMEA)

Elective. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) or technical risk assessment for a real engineering system or process: systematic enumeration of failure modes for each component or process step, severity and probability scoring against a defined scale, Risk Priority Number (RPN) calculation, and recommended design or process actions for all RPNs above the defined threshold. Methodology follows IEC 60812 (FMEA) or MIL-STD-1629A. An engineering manager challenges the FMEA: presents a failure mode you did not identify and asks what its RPN would be and whether it changes the design priority.

R&D Portfolio Analysis

Elective. Analysis of a real R&D or technology portfolio: Technology Readiness Level (TRL) assessment for each project, stage-gate criteria documentation, portfolio balance analysis (risk vs. return, near-term vs. long-term, exploit vs. explore), and recommendations with explicit criteria. Based on a real company's publicly disclosed R&D pipeline (annual report, patent portfolio, technology roadmap) — not a hypothetical. A technology strategy practitioner or R&D director challenges the portfolio analysis: presents a funding constraint and asks which projects should be prioritised and why.

Engineering Management Case Study

Elective. A case analysis of a real engineering management decision: project failure, technology strategy pivot, build-vs-buy decision, organisational restructuring, or safety management failure. The case must be based on real documented evidence (published post-mortems, court records, academic analyses, annual reports) — not a reconstructed narrative. Analysis covers: what decision was made, what the decision-making process was, what information was available, what the outcome was, and what a better process would have produced. A senior engineering manager or academic challenges the analysis: presents a piece of evidence you did not address and asks how it changes the conclusion.

Free, open-source project management software equivalent to Microsoft Project. Supports WBS, Gantt charts, critical path method, resource assignment, and earned value analysis. Use for the project plan step — ProjectLibre files are the proof artifact alongside the exported Gantt chart PDF.

IEC 60812 defines the FMEA methodology: failure mode identification, severity and probability scoring, RPN calculation, and recommended action documentation. The named methodology reference for the technical risk assessment step. MIL-STD-1629A (US military standard, public domain) documents the same methodology free.

Free NASA guide to Technology Readiness Levels (TRL 1-9) with definitions, examples, and exit criteria for each level. Use for the R&D portfolio analysis step — TRL assessment is the standard framework for evaluating the maturity of technologies in an R&D portfolio.

Free MIT lecture notes and case studies on engineering management topics: system safety, project management, technology strategy, and organisational factors in engineering failures. Use for the management case study step — MIT OpenCourseWare has structured analyses of real engineering failures (Challenger, Deepwater Horizon, Toyota unintended acceleration).