Joakim Lilliesköld

Background

Joakim Lilliesköld is Associate Professor in Industrial Systems Engineering at the Department of Network and Systems Engineering with the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) Stockholm, Sweden.

He received his MSc degree in Electrical Engineering in 1998, and his PhD degree in 2006. His topic of research as a PhD-student was Project Management of complex systems. Between 2009 and 2016 he has was the program director of the Master of Science Program in Electrical Engineering and between 2011 and 2017 he was also the Director of First and Second Cycle Education at the School of Electrical Engineering meaning Joakim was responsible for education at the School of Electrical Engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology. The responsibility included 5 international masters programs (2-year) and 1 Master of Science Program (5-year – “civilingenjörsprogram”) and 1 Bachelor program (3-year – “högskoleingenjör”).

Joakim is also responsible for the courses Management of Projects (EH2720), Management of Projects (EH2760), Project Management and Business Development (EH2070), Project Course in Electrical Engineering (EH1010), Project Course in Electrical Engineering, part II (EH1020), Business Development and Quality Management (EH2030), Global Impact of Electrical Engineering (EH1110). In addition to that he supervises PhD students and master thesis projects. Joakim has written a number of academic publications in the field of project management and quality management, also he is the main author of a book in project management, Handbook for small projects that has been translated into three languages (Swedish, Danish and English) and a co-author of the books i) The System Anatomy - Enabling Agile Project Management, ii) Case Studies in Project, Program, and Organizational Project, iii) Tools for Complex Project, Enterprise Architecture

Publications and Resume

A list of Joakim's publications can be found here

Ph.D. Students

Present

Fredrik Liljeblad (Supervisor)
Dan Petterson (Supervisor)
Evelina Ericsson (Supervisor)

Past

Margus Välja (Assistant Supervisor)
Liv Gingnell (Supervisor)
Waldo Rocha Flores (Assistant Supervisor)
Mårten Simonsson (Assistant Supervisor)

Post docs - present

Charlotta Linse

Post docs - past

Ermal Hatemi

Research Interests

Joakim’s research profile is in Systems engineering management. Systems engineering management is a cross-disciplinary subject, that includes the development of theories and methods to manage the development of complex industrial systems; in particular, IT-systems within electric power and telecommunication.

Systems engineering management includes

1). Project Management, and

2). Integral parts of Business Development and Quality Management.

The focus of my research is on analytical methods and concepts that can be used on the corporate level to coordinate development activities and facilitate systems development into a more efficient process.

Project Management of Complex Industrial Systems

Even though the management of large projects has been researched for many years, most companies still find it challenging to run these types of projects. Among the challenges, is the specific yet basic need to create a shared understanding in a group of hundreds engineering specialists with their own ideas (biases) of how things actually work. Further, complex development projects are likely to change, especially those projects involved with new technologies that should be state of the art when they hit the market after several years of development time. Thus, there is a need for a tool that can be used to adapt to changes.

In my research, I evaluate and analyze different diagram systems that are used in different development projects. These diagrams function as a device to create a shared understanding of the project and enable those involved to maneuver the project through changes. The evaluation focuses on what the diagrams can express and how easy it is to understand their content. In terms of expressiveness, one of the three evaluated models: the Anatomy Model, answers the largest number of questions relevant for the total project manager. In terms of ease of use, the evaluation shows that the Anatomy did not only answer more questions relevant to the total project manager, but was also easier to maneuver through compared to the alternative models. A model like the anatomy provides the project manager with a simple tool that can be used to maneuver through changes and create a communal understanding. Such a simplified model addresses more questions that are relevant to the project manager and is easier to update than the traditional tools that are suggested in most literature. It is thus interesting to use in many types of projects, since it address challenges faced by any organization developing systems or products.

My research in Project Management, especially on System Anatomies has been included in two international books on managing complex projects, Tools for Complex Projects, by Remington K. and J. Pollack, Gower Publishing, 2007, and Case Studies in Project, Program, and Organizational Project Management by Milosevic D. Z., Patanakul P., and S. Srivannaboon, Wiley, 2010. Further, it also resulted in a book by Studentlitteratur 2011, System Anatomy - Enabling Agile Project Management where I also was the author of several chapters.

Among numerous presentations, I have also been invited to companies in Sweden, such as Saab, OMX, and Volvo Construction Equipment to introduce the concept from my research and coach them to get started. Further, I have been invited to present the result of my research in seminars by INCOSE, IEEE Engineering Management and other engineering organizations. My research also resulted in a 20-day program on Product Development and Innovation provided by Sandholm Associates, that I am responsible for. It has been given to companies like: GNK driveline, Husqvarna, Cargotec (earlier HIAB), and more.

In Quality Management

For most organizations, competiveness forces companies to strive to become increasingly efficient, doing things faster, better and cheaper. One way to improve an organization is to evaluate methods from the quality domain when applied in product development, especially in the context of complex system development. I currently focus on two methods, Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) and Lean Product Development (LPD). My approach in this research project is to look at how things can be improved for the organization as a whole, not only the project management side.

Measurement systems

Product development is one of the most strategically important processes for every organization as it stakes out the company’s direction for the years to come. Traditionally, product development has often been seen as an isolated part of an organization and has not been included in performance measurement initiatives. Arguing that too much structure and pressure might impede creativity and innovation, the performance evaluation of product development processes has been limited to a minimum of backward-looking financial metrics, but in order to create an effective and efficient organization that develops complex systems faster, cheaper and better, one has to create better measurement systems. In my research I include the measurement system into the concept from the quality domain, in order to look at how things can be improved for the organization as a whole. If one cannot measure an improvement, it is very difficult to know if one is getting better. If one do not measure its processes properly, it is difficult to know what to focus scarce resources on to become better.

Awards and recognition

Janne Carlssons stipendium for Academic Leadership 2017
KTH pedagogical price 2011