About

Steven Eppinger is Professor of Management Science and Innovation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, where he holds the General Motors Leaders for Global Operations Chair. His teaching spans interdisciplinary courses both online and on campus, focusing on product design and innovation, engineering project management, and product management. He has developed an interdisciplinary product development course that involves collaboration among graduate students from engineering, management, and industrial design programs. Eppinger is coauthor of the widely used textbook 'Product Design and Development,' now in its eighth edition, which has been translated into several languages and adopted by numerous universities worldwide. His research is applied to improving complex technical project management, with recent work emphasizing the application of agile software development methods across various industries. His prior research underpins the book 'Design Structure Matrix Methods and Applications.' Eppinger's scholarly contributions span project management, systems engineering, product development, and product management, making him one of the most widely cited scholars in engineering design and technical management disciplines. He has served in leadership roles at MIT, including Deputy Dean of the Sloan School and chairing several interdisciplinary master's programs. Eppinger received his SB, SM, and ScD degrees from MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering before joining the faculty in 1988. His numerous awards include the MIT Graduate Student Council Teaching Award, the MIT Sloan Award for Innovation and Excellence in Management Education, and fellowships and honors from various professional societies.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Engineering
• Software engineering
• Process management
• Engineering management
• Business
• Systems engineering
• Knowledge management
• Operating system
• Management science
• Economics
• Psychology
• Mathematics
• Management
• Finance

Selected publications

• Faster and Faster: Automating the Hardware Engineering Process

  2024-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Organizations today face pressure to bring products to market faster, at lower cost, and with increased quality. One approach to achieving this goal is the automation of engineering workflow activities. This paper studies an organization that has successfully adopted automation within its engineering workflow. Using a field study approach, we document the tasks this organization has automated, the impact of automating those tasks, and the organization’s process for selecting tasks to automate. We also discuss how other organizations might consider applying automation within their processes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Translating agile management practices into a traditional industry context

  Journal of Product Innovation Management · 2024-10-20 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract This study explores the translation of agile management practices (agile) into a traditional industry context. Using a case study of agile adoption in a development project in a large traditional company of the aerospace and defense industry, this research investigates how the translation process unfolds by studying how both idea and context are adapted to create shared meaning. This research makes two main contributions. First, this research introduces translation theory to the innovation management literature and details its applicability in explaining variations in outcomes of applying management practices in new organizational contexts. Our research suggests that this constitutes a complementary theoretical lens to diffusion theory, enabling the explanation of the process to create shared meaning when idea and recipient context have a low level of compatibility. Second, this research shows the process of translating agile into a traditional context through a non‐linear joint creation of meaning. The process was shaped largely by the experience and resolution of project‐external (i.e., with the surrounding organization) and project‐internal conflicts, which in turn motivated the idea or context to adapt. The study identifies two central concepts, namely isolation, and shielding, which determine how the translation process unfolds and how meaning is created. Managerial implications based on these contributions are presented and discussed.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• ADJUSTING SCALED AGILE FOR SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

  Proceedings of the Design Society · 2023-06-19 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Scaled agile development of large systems has primarily followed the approach used in traditional systems engineering – system decomposition and static teams assigned to subsystems. However, this arrangement may result in an inefficient allocation of resources and uneven progress. This paper presents an alternative approach in which problem-based decomposition replaces system-architecture-based decomposition, and resources are flexibly allocated to problems for each sprint using ad hoc teams. Using a field study approach, we examine a mechatronic system development project utilizing these agile adjustments and discuss situations in which these methods may be successfully utilized in other projects and organizations.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• DS 121: Proceedings of the 24th International DSM Conference (DSM 2022), Eindhoven, The Netherlands, October, 11 - 13, 2022

  2022-10-11 · 2 citations

  paratextOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Guidance on Application of Agile in Combined Hardware and Software Development Projects

  Proceedings of the Design Society · 2022 · 9 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Software engineering
  • Computer Science

  Abstract Agile has its roots in software, improving the pace and quality of development projects. The application of Agile to hardware is less mature, and anecdotal evidence suggests there are specific challenges in this space. Based upon qualitative interviews with organizations working simultaneously across hardware and software applications, this paper presents three key challenges we identified. We also document several useful adjustments to Agile practice which provide a toolset that teams can use to more successfully apply Agile to hardware projects.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Improving Scaled Agile with Multi-Domain Matrix

  2021 · 5 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Computer Science
  • Process management

  Scaled agile projects require coordination of work dependencies across groups of teams called Agile Release Trains (ARTs). ARTs work on developing and delivering bundles of product features called Capabilities. Coordination can be especially complex when dependencies cut across organizational levels and product domains. We develop a field study involving Multi-Domain Matrix (MDM) mapping of dependencies across multiple ARTs and product capabilities. Our analysis finds that organizational dependencies (within a single team or an ART) associated with features that lead up to a single capability typically get tracked through periodic Program Increment (PI) planning processes. Product capabilities that depend directly on other capabilities are visible through customer delivery processes. However, some dependencies that link organizational and product capability domains may be episodic and may not be addressed through PI planning. MDM analysis can be used to both formalize PI coordination and to create dedicated problem-solving groups to improve such episodic coordination.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Enhancing Visibility in Agile Program Increment DSMs

  2020-01-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Program Increments (PIs) are sequences of consecutive sprints during SAFe implementation of agile developments. SAFe work is planned at two levels of granularity: (i) stories, which create tasks (within a sprint team) and account for task interactions at a fine level of granularity; and (ii) features (often decomposed into stories), which account for interactions at a coarser level of granularity. A common practice in PI planning, involving 10-15 teams, is to suppress interactions at the story level and focus on interactions at the feature level instead. We create two DSMs for a PI planning process – one based on story interactions, and another based on feature interactions. We find a nearly 9X increase in interactions at the finer level, i.e. more granular interaction, compared to a DSM based on coarser level interaction data. We discuss theory and practice implications for using more granular DSMs during PI Planning and oversight processes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Technology readiness levels: Shortcomings and improvement opportunities

  Systems Engineering · 2020 · 155 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Engineering management
  • Engineering

  Abstract The technology readiness level (TRL) scale was developed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the 1970s as a standardized technology maturity assessment tool for use in complex system development. Today, TRL assessments are used to make multimillion‐dollar decisions at NASA and beyond, yet anecdotal evidence suggests that there are challenges associated with TRL use in practice. In this paper, we systematically uncover the practitioners' view, first via 19 interviews with employees from seven organizations. We identify 15 challenges of TRL implementations in three categories: system complexity, planning and review, and validity of assessment. Next, we prioritize these challenges via a survey of TRL practitioners, using a best‐worst choice experiment. Finally, we identify best practices and proposed extensions to address the challenges. We find that system complexity challenges are most critical to TRL users, despite being addressed in the literature. We posit that addressing these opportunities could result in substantial improvements to decision processes and outcomes in complex engineering projects.

  PublisherDOI

• The Structure of Devops in Product-Service System Development

  Proceedings of the ... International Conference on Engineering Design · 2019-07-01 · 8 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Abstract We study a DevOps software development process for a Product-Service System (PSS) using a design structure matrix (DSM) representation. We find unique features such as nested, planned iterations at differing rates which are not evident in conventional engineering development projects. We describe the impact of integrating ongoing operations into a development process and identify some of the enablers that lead to adoption of a DevOps process. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings and raise questions for further research.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Application of Agile in Product-Service System Development

  Technical University of Denmark, DTU Orbit (Technical University of Denmark, DTU) · 2019-12-19

  reportOpen accessSenior author

  The aim of this report is to provide insights into the uncertainty faced by manufacturers when developing Product-Service Systems (PSS), and how to navigate this uncertainty better through agile management practices. PSS are compound offerings comprising of an artefact (the tangible or intangible product), and supporting engineering services. To provide these insights, this report describes the results of a study undertaken in the American aerospace and defence industry. An in-depth case study of a large-scale PSS development program, provides insights about the emergence of five uncertainty types: technical, environmental, resource, relational and organizational uncertainty. Moreover, the application of the agile method SAFe during the development provides insight about the changed ability of uncertainty management. The deductive analysis of the case study has confirmed the presence of all five uncertainty types. In particular, the organizational uncertainty was perceived as most challenging, and formed the root-cause for many other uncertainty types. All case results were compared with the findings of a benchmark study undertaken in the Nordic manufacturing industry about PSS development and found to be coherent. This points strongly towards the general relevance of the five uncertainty types, particularly the organizational uncertainty in PSS development. The application of agile management practices has shown high success in the management of uncertainty. Specifically, agile provided the program with the ability to quickly identify, communicate, and resolve uncertainty. The inductive analysis has revealed the concepts of adoption and adaption of agile. The adoption of agile gave rise to initial uncertainty through the challenges of learning the novel structures, processes, roles, and governance of agile in contrast to the traditional plan-based approach. This uncertainty decreased over time as the learning curve increased. The adaption of agile gave rise to uncertainty through the need for modification of the agile method to the specific characteristics of the local case setting. This uncertainty varied across the levels (or hierarchies) of the program, where the most uncertainty was perceived in the levels most directly interfacing with the plan-based surrounding organization. The case company has successfully managed the adoption of agile and the navigation of the uncertain setting trough the use of agile management practices. Potential for improvement is given in the adaption of agile. The program would benefit among other from a clear Definition of Done, a continuous focus on agile training, the use of the architectural runway, structured stakeholder management, and a more disciplined implementation of agile. Concluding, the case study has shown that the development of PSS is non-trivial and gives rise to five uncertainty types. The most challenging uncertainty is represented by the organizational uncertainty type. The use of agile management practices has shown strong success in the management of all five uncertainty types. Yet, while agile is able to reduce uncertainty, if the method is induced within a plan-based environment, the adoption and adaption of agile give rise to additional uncertainty.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Daniel E. Whitney

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  23 shared

• Nitin Joglekar

  Boston University

  20 shared

• Tyson R. Browning

  Texas Christian University

  18 shared

• Craig M. Rowles

  NEI Corporation (United States)

  16 shared

• Manuel E. Sosa

  11 shared

• Alison Olechowski

  11 shared

• Andhikaputra Rahardjo

  10 shared

• Katja Hölttä‐Otto

  10 shared

Awards & honors

• 2024 OMEGA RHO Distinguished Lecture
• Design Society Fellow (2023)
• Runner Up for the POMS Wickham Skinner Award for Best Paper…
• 2015 Distinguished Speaker Award from INFORMS Technology, In…
• PICMET Medal of Excellence Award