Brent Johnstone is a Lockheed Martin Fellow and cost estimator at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company in Fort Worth, Texas. He has 37 years’ experience in the military aircraft industry, including 34 years as a cost estimator where he worked on the F-16, F-35 and Advanced Development programs. He is a member of the International Cost Estimating and Analysis Association (ICEAA) and served on the board of directors as regional director. He is a three-time best paper winner at the annual ICEAA workshop and has published multiple articles in the Journal of Cost Analysis and Parametrics. He has a Master of Science from Texas A&M University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin.
Maintaining the Pillars of Project Governance & Control in the Era of Business Intelligence, AI, & Real-Time Analytics
Are our established project governance frameworks built for yesterday’s challenges? As AI, real-time analytics, and BI tools become more and more intrinsic to project delivery, the concept of ‘single source of truth’ has never been more critical, or more complex. How do we trust the outputs of a ‘black box’ AI? How do we empower teams with live data without sacrificing deliberate control? How do we maintain control in an increasingly automated landscape?
Our panel of experts will ponder these questions and more as we take a closer look at the practical steps needed to evolve our governance models, embrace a digital future and strengthen the pillars of project governance.
You’ve been called into the boss’s office and asked to provide a cost estimate. What’s known about the project? Practically nothing, but the answer’s due next week. What do you do?
“Navigating Uncertainty: Strategies and Techniques for Estimating Large Development and Production Programs with Imperfect Data” presents a hypothetical development and production program and walks through the steps to produce a credible rough order of magnitude estimate with imperfect data. It demonstrates how to define the estimating problem, gather cost data even in unpromising circumstances, analyse data, and develop cost estimating relationships. It also makes side trips into related topics such as regression analysis, learning curves, and risk analysis.
“Estimating the Unknown” explores the challenges of predicting costs for next-generation technologies in large development/production programs, where imperfect historical analogies and limited data often hinder accurate estimation. As the industry continues to grapple with cost overruns, improving estimation techniques is crucial for success. This keynote address delves into the complexities of estimating innovative technologies, examining recent experience and common pitfalls to identify key strategies and lessons learned for enhancing future cost estimates and mitigating risk.
