Those of us involved in DoD system development will be interested to know of the updated acquisition policy on HSI. Previously this was DoD Instruction 5000.02 Enclosure 7, then in developmental form as DoDI 5000.pr, and now released as DoDI 5000.95. You can find it here: https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/500095p.PDF
This release expands upon the role of HSI in acquisition. The prior version was a mere two pages while the new release is 8.5 pages of technical content (not including glossary, references, front matter, etc.). The objective of HSI remains the same: "optimize total system performance and total ownership costs, while ensuring that the system is designed, operated, and maintained to effectively provide the user with the ability to complete their mission". However, the previous version merely listed the domains of HSI without describing how that goal would be achieved; each domain was basically a silo under the HSI umbrella.
The new version adds significant detail on the expectations of the human systems integrator and HSI as a systems engineering specialty. It describes creating a comprehensive plan for the "management, coordination, collaboration, integration, and trade-space analysis among the seven HSI domains". It promotes integration of HSI concerns across both the engineering effort and the resulting system. This is essential for achieving overarching lifecycle objectives driven by each of the HSI domains.
MBSE is touched on only briefly and Agile processes not at all. I believe it's incumbent upon human system practitioners to better define how HSI fits within these approaches; if not in policy, than in guidance, best practices, and demonstrated successes. We must demonstrate to program leaders and the broader system engineering community the value that HSI brings regardless of development approach and that we can work effectively within each approach. Agile in particular is an enormous opportunity for HSI, particularly human factors engineering. Iterative stakeholder requirements discovery and validation is a core HFE capability that is required for Agile development.
Overall, this new policy is a large step forward for the practice of HSI and I look forward to its rapid adoption across the services.
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Benjamin Schwartz
Director of Human Engineering
Monterey Technologies
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