Change by Design: Engineering Transformation with Chad Jackson

The Hardware-Software Engineering Gap Nobody’s Closing | Lifecycle Insights


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Chad Jackson digs into the growing gap between hardware and software development in engineering organizations — and why the industry's biggest solution providers may be running out of time to close it.

Chad also reflects on his recent conversation with Anand Rangaramu of The Shyft Group, an automotive software supplier applying MBSE to software development rather than hardware. Anand's team works within a unique constraint — they receive the physical chassis from the OEM and own only the software layer — making their systems engineering challenges distinctly different from more hardware-centric guests like Laura Otero Hernandez and Brandon Ramsey. A key takeaway: the team is getting real value from MBSE, but primarily on the software side, which Chad sees as a common pattern of partial vision achievement across the industry.

The conversation also digs into what separates successful MBD/MBE programs from stalled ones: executive alignment, the ability to translate practitioner-level impact into business ROI, and the soft skills that change agents need but rarely talk about.

Finally, Chad puts out an open call to practitioners and leaders actively running MBD or MBE initiatives — if that's you, they want you on the show. The podcast is growing on both audio and YouTube, and there's a real opportunity to share your experience with a community facing the same challenges.

Topics covered:

  • The hardware/software integration gap — and why PLM and ALM solutions still don't truly connect
  • AI as the emerging "middleware" threatening to commoditize legacy engineering platforms
  • Anand Rangaramu's MBSE journey at The Shift Group: software-first systems engineering in automotive
  • Partial vs. full vision achievement in MBSE adoption
  • Change agent soft skills and executive communication
  • Upcoming MBSE and MBD research from Lifecycle Insights
  • How to get involved as a podcast guest
  • ...more
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    Change by Design: Engineering Transformation with Chad JacksonBy Chad Jackson