Having now spent a semester in the SDM core course, I have seen the importance of what I am learning in the curriculum and how beneficial it would be to continue that learning into the Master’s program.

After thinking about system design and project management on my own for years at a small startup, the class lectures and discussion have been exciting and inspiring to participate in. I often have more questions and discussion to offer than there is time for (just ask Professor Moser), and I have taken that as another signal that I would be well-served by more opportunities to learn in this environment within SDM and MIT. It’s one of the reasons I decided to come to campus for the second half of the semester: I wanted to make the most of the opportunity to learn from my peers, professors, and from the MIT environment as a whole.

Every meeting of the core class has required me to update my own mental models for systems thinking. Just this last Monday, we were discussing agile project management methodologies and, while I am quite familiar with agile overall, I was given a whole new duality with which to think about project management: time-boxed versus scope-boxed. Knowing how to balance and leverage the differences between time-boxing and scope-boxing is a new angle that I believe would help many organizations think more clearly about efficient project management. We did not have the time to discuss this specific duality at length during the class, and it is just one example of the types of ideas that trigger my desire to dive deeper and do more research within the SDM curriculum.

I am also excited to continue pursuing learning opportunities outside the classroom. I have been attending the system thinking workshops with Professor Crawley and the meetings of the Global Teamwork Lab with Professor Moser. These meetings have given me inspiration for possible future research topics. For example, AeroAstro PhD Candidate Kir Latyshev and I have had a couple discussions about the most basic fundamentals of systems that have inspired me to think more about how to apply category theory to the ideas of system architecture and design. Being able to study in the Master’s program would give me more avenues to turn these explorations into more formal research.

I had not predicted how much of the learning would also come from the other students in the cohort and the diversity of their backgrounds and experiences. Having worked in a small software company for most of my career, it has been extremely valuable to see how folks from the military, energy, aerospace, or the many other industries represented use and respond to the content we are discussing. Exposure to this breadth of experience has already taught me new ways to think about systems and organizations, and this new breadth of context will inform my future work. It would be very valuable to be able to expand that exposure to more classes and contexts.

Over the last year, I have grown more and more intent on starting my own venture. I have seen what SDM can offer to help me in this regard and have been gaining the confidence to push more towards those ambitions.

There is amazing research happening at MIT, and numerous resources for those wanting to start their own venture. I would be thrilled to have access to those resources to accelerate and refine my own projects. As I develop my ideas further, I am already hoping to apply to MIT Fuse and MIT DesignX incubators if I am able to be at MIT next year.

Overall, I see how valuable the SDM learning is in making me a better manager and executive in my future work, whether at a startup or at an established company. I believe the Master’s program would be a great opportunity to further pursue my learning and research, and amplify the quality and impact of my work.