Executive Workshop
Engineering Intelligence as an Organizational Capability
A 1-day executive workshop for the people who fund, govern, and champion MBSE adoption. Not the people who model.
9
Modules
1 Day
Facilitated Workshop
8-12
Participants per Cohort
60/40
Instruction / Working Session
The Gap
MBSE fails at the leadership level, not the engineering level
The SERC-INCOSE-NDIA Maturity Benchmark Survey ranked the top five barriers to MBSE adoption. Four of five are organizational: cultural resistance, lack of perceived value by leadership, lack of management support, and training gaps. The fifth is the learning curve, which is manageable when organizations actually invest in it.
The pattern is consistent. Leadership approves a budget without understanding what success looks like. Models get produced to satisfy a contract requirement. Engineering decisions continue the same way they always have. The contract is satisfied. Nothing changes.
This workshop exists because the people who control whether MBSE succeeds have no structured way to learn what it requires of them.
The Compliance Trap
Federal acquisition programs mandated MBSE for RMF compliance. Without organizational commitment to using models for actual decisions, the result was siloed, non-reusable models created to satisfy documentation requirements. No cross-program learning. No model reuse. Contract satisfied. Nothing changed.
Henderson et al. (2024), "MBSE Adoption Experiences," Systems Engineering (Wiley)
The Sponsorship Evidence
62% of transformation projects using a specific change methodology succeeded. 6% succeeded without one. A 10:1 ratio. Organizations with active executive sponsorship complete initiatives significantly faster, with adoption rates routinely 2x higher.
Prosci ADKAR Research; Kotter, Leading Change (1996)
Who This Is For
Decision makers who will never open a modeling tool
Program Executives
Write MBSE requirements into RFPs and contracts. DoDI 5000.97 mandates digital engineering for all new DoD programs. These leaders need to know the difference between a requirement that produces useful evidence and one that produces compliance artifacts.
Acquisition Officers
Assess contractor Model Based Acquisition posture. The FY2026 NDAA expanded digital twin authorities and alternative T&E pathways. They need to evaluate whether a contractor's modeling capability is real or performative.
VPs of Engineering
Deciding whether to commit to multi-year MBSE transformation. MBSE value builds through organizational maturity, not tool deployment. Year one looks different from year three. The investment is governance and change management, not software.
Policy Directors
Embed digital engineering mandates into acquisition guidance and organizational standards. NATO NAF v4, UK MOD PYRAMID, Australian Defence Force DE Strategy all represent model-based approaches at the policy level.
The Workshop
Nine modules. One cognitive progression.
The design follows a deliberate arc: establish relevance, build conceptual understanding, anchor in evidence, make it personal, show it in action, define the participant's role, practice, equip for action.
8:30 - 9:15 | 45 min
The Decision Problem
Opens with the problem every executive already lives: major engineering decisions made before system understanding is sufficient. Introduces institutional debt and cognitive debt as diagnostic frames.
- Identify where engineering decisions outpace engineering knowledge
- Distinguish between engineering execution failure and information architecture failure
- Recognize institutional debt and cognitive debt as organizational conditions
9:15 - 10:15 | 60 min
What MBSE Is (Executive View)
Clears misconceptions. MBSE is not a software category. It is an organizational discipline for structuring engineering knowledge so decisions get made within the right knowledge context.
- Explain what MBSE changes about organizational decision making
- Apply the knowledge-commitment timing principle to program governance
- Distinguish model-based evidence from document-based evidence
10:30 - 11:15 | 45 min
The Business Case
Evidence from named organizations and specific programs. Honest about the measurement gap. Why your organization needs its own metrics, not borrowed benchmarks.
- Understand documented ROI from defense and commercial programs
- Recognize the measurement gap and need for organizational metrics
- Evaluate evidence quality for MBSE value claims
11:15 - 12:00 | 45 min
Maturity Self-Assessment
INCOSE matrix translated into five executive-accessible dimensions. Individual scoring, small group discussion, whole-group debrief.
- Assess your organization across five maturity dimensions
- Identify governance, modeling rigor, infrastructure, workforce, and decision integration gaps
- Understand where executive sponsorship is required
12:45 - 1:45 | 60 min
Case Studies
Three decision-moment cases from defense acquisition, commercial systems integration, and regulatory certification. Each structured around the decision maker's role.
- See MBSE value through defense, commercial, and regulatory lenses
- Identify governance decisions that enabled value
- Map similar decision moments to your organization
1:45 - 2:30 | 45 min
The Champion's Role
Why MBSE initiatives fail at the leadership level. Active vs passive sponsorship. The compliance trap. Three questions for every program review.
- Distinguish active from passive sponsorship
- Apply three review questions to program governance
- Avoid the compliance trap
2:45 - 3:30 | 45 min
90-Day Champion Plan
The working session the day builds toward. Small groups draft a plan with five components. Your plan, not something we gave you.
- Draft current state, decision to enable, stakeholder map
- Propose governance changes and first 30-day milestone
- Leave with an actionable plan
3:30 - 4:00 | 30 min
Evaluating MBSE Partners
How to evaluate vendor proposals from a decision maker perspective. Red flags. Procurement requirements that demand organizational infrastructure, not just model artifacts.
- Identify red flags in vendor proposals
- Specify procurement requirements for organizational change
- Evaluate tool vs transformation focus
4:00 - 4:30 | 30 min
Closing and Commitments
Each participant states one specific 30-day commitment publicly. Key framework recap. Resources and next steps distributed.
- Make a public 30-day commitment
- Receive Executive Reference Card, Maturity Self-Assessment, 90-Day Plan
- Access next-steps guide and training pathways
Evidence
What organizations have documented
30%
Program non-recurring cost reduction
Lockheed Martin, UTC, Airbus, Embraer
55%
Development cost reduction vs traditional SE
INCOSE technical publications
10-100x
Cost difference: early vs late defect detection
Carroll, INCOSE (21 case studies)
62% vs 6%
Success rate with vs without change methodology
Prosci ADKAR research
200+
NASA JPL MIAMI initiative participants
2016-2020, Mars 2020, Europa Clipper, SMAP
Pricing
Scoped as a consulting engagement
The deliverable is organizational readiness, not individual skill development. Pricing reflects consulting engagement value, not training course economics.
Standard
$25K - $35K
8-12 participants. Cross-industry case studies.
- 1-day facilitated workshop
- Participant workbook (digital)
- Executive reference card
- Post-workshop summary
- Pre-workshop coordination call
Premium
$35K - $45K
Up to 15 participants. Industry-specific customization.
- Everything in Standard
- Industry-specific case studies
- On-site delivery
- Executive briefing add-on
- Extended cohort support
Enterprise
Negotiated
Multiple cohorts. Cumulative maturity tracking.
- Everything in Premium
- Multi-cohort scheduling
- Cross-cohort maturity tracking
- 10-15% volume discount
- Custom engagement structure
Your engineering team is building models. Who in your leadership can govern them?
If the answer is unclear, that is the gap this day addresses. Start with a 30-minute conversation.
Schedule a ConversationDefensEdge LLC | MBSE & Digital Engineering Advisory