Managing Complex Technical Projects: A Systems Engineering Approach, Second Edition

Managing Complex Technical Projects: A Systems Engineering Approach, Second Edition delivers a disciplined framework for planning, executing, and delivering complex engineered systems in today's high-risk, high-interdependency environments. Modern technical programs in aerospace, transportation, energy, and communications demand tight coordination across global teams, compressed schedules, and rapidly changing technologies. Integrating project management and systems engineering into a single, coherent approach enables teams to deliver systems that meet performance requirements, schedule constraints, and cost targets.

Grounded in the complete system life cycle, practitioners discover how stakeholder needs are translated into functional and physical architectures, designs, and verification strategies across conceptual, preliminary, detailed design, and production phases. Dive deep into the core practices of systems engineering management, linking life- cycle planning, configuration control, and performance measurement with practical tools such as requirements traceability, system modeling, and risk-informed decision making. The text also examines contemporary development approaches, including waterfall, incremental, evolutionary, spiral, and Agile methods, and clarifies their implications for engineering management, assurance, and logistics.

Serving project managers, systems engineers, and advanced engineering students, this reference clarifies how systems engineering, project management, and business analysis intersect in large technical programs. By emphasizing disciplined integration and early risk control, it equips practitioners to manage complexity, control interdependencies, and avoid costly overruns and performance failures. The result is a practical foundation for delivering large-scale engineering systems with confidence in an increasingly complex project environment.

Ian Faulconbridge is the Director of Janus Capability Development Pty Ltd, trading as Magpie Applied Technology. With nearly 35 years of experience across defence, aerospace, maritime, and land systems, including service as an Engineering Officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, he specializes in practical, lifecycle-focused systems engineering for complex, large-scale programs. He holds multiple engineering degrees, an MBA, and is a Fellow of Engineers Australia, a Chartered Professional Engineer, and a Senior Member of IEEE. He has also held academic roles at several Australian universities and is the author of widely used systems engineering texts.