Project Activities and Three Main Roles
In the previous section, we focused on the system of interest, while the other systems were treated as auxiliary. However, this does not mean that in project activities we only create or develop that system. In almost any activity or project, employees[1] may be part of teams for various subprojects and act as creators of a wide range of systems (our systems and creation systems). For example, Team #1 creates a car engine, while another Team #2 works on developing the skills of Team #1 members. Team #3 works on the car assembly line, and Team #4 is responsible for creating and developing that assembly line. All four teams consist of employees from the automotive corporation, and the same person can be a member of several teams.
To make sense of a project or all the teams and their subprojects within an extended enterprise, we need to:
- use the simplified meta-meta-model "3x3 Table. Areas of Interest" to examine the project for creating the system of interest, in which various roles and systems are interconnected;
- additionally introduce the concepts of "areas of interest," "creation chains," and "system levels."
The "3x3 Table. Areas of Interest" presented below (hereafter referred to as the 3x3 Table) shows the relationship between the areas of interest of the three main roles (subject areas of roles) and the areas of interest of the three main systems. This tabular representation is a distinct thinking technique that offers a way to segment the activities of an enterprise (organization). In systems engineering, you will be introduced to another way of looking at the creation and development of systems, as well as different names for roles in cases involving the enterprise, client base, individuals, and so on.
Within each area of interest of the systems, there are interests of all the main roles—entrepreneur, engineer, and manager. These interests are represented by the corresponding roles. The rows of the 3x3 Table are the areas of interest of the three main systems, and the columns are the areas of interest of the three main roles. Each cell is simply an area of interest.
Each cell of the 3x3 Table represents the subject of interest of a particular role in relation to a particular system. That is, a role is interested in only those aspects of the system that pertain to it. For example, an entrepreneur interested in the system of interest and everything related to it is called a visionary. In the same way, you can interpret all other cells of the 3x3 Table.
| 3x3 Table | |||
| Areas of Interest / Roles | 1. Entrepreneur | 2. Engineer | 3. Manager |
| 1. Area of Interest of the Supersystem | 1.1. Role: Promoter (educator, marketer, salesperson). Methods: education, marketing, sales. Work artifacts: target audience or client base, client (buyer), as well as their descriptions (documentation) in the form of business models, mission, vision, etc. | 1.2. Role: Product owner. Methods: use case and other practices for system use scenarios. Work artifacts: usage concept, use cases. | 1.3. Role: Environment relations manager, including PR, GR, brand managers. Methods: communications management and public relations, branding, social connections, etc., accounting for external roles. Work artifacts: loyal environment, publications and press releases, financial statements, and tax returns. |
| 2. Area of Interest of the System of Interest | 2.1. Role: Visionary of the system of interest. Methods: defining the system of interest, assessing demand for the system of interest. Work artifacts: name of the system of interest, value of the system of interest, potential for profit and entrepreneurial hypothesis; cash flow calculations, etc. | 2.2. Role: Engineer of the system of interest, including Developer, Architect. Methods: systems engineering and applied engineering. Work artifacts: implementation of the system of interest and documentation describing it, including the system concept, architectural documentation. | 2.3. Role: Operations manager. Methods: operations management, logistics (components for the system of interest and delivery of the system of interest to clients). Work artifacts: systems of interest produced and delivered to clients, payments received, as well as intermediate work artifacts according to the work plan. |
| 3. Area of Interest of the Creation Systems | 3.1. Role: Entrepreneur. Methods: strategy development and investment. Work artifacts: investor and investments, company valuation, strategy, investment returns, IPO, etc. | 3.2. Role: Development organizer, including DevOps, development platform technologist, method manager. Methods: practice management, DevOps. Work artifacts: selected and implemented practices in the team, development platform for the system of interest. | 3.3. Role: Administrator, including IT administrator, HR, financial officer, accountant, logistician, leader. Methods: administration and accounting, leadership. Work artifacts: agents ready and able to perform required roles, necessary resources, and tools ready (in working order) for use, management reporting. |
Let's examine the concept of "areas of interest" in the next subsection.
Here, we are referring to people as agents or as performers of roles. ↩︎