Dennis O’Donoghue is vice president of Commercial Flight Operations, Test and Validation for The Boeing Company. Dennis is responsible for getting the 787 Dreamliner through regulatory certification on time.
As if that weren't enough pressure, Boeing announced last month that it will fold all test procedures at Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Integrated Defense Systems into a new Boeing Test & Evaluation unit, to cut costs, with O’Donoghue at the helm. The new configurations will double the size of the test organization. To complicate things even further, Boeing will be conducting a record dozen certification programs at the same time, including the new 747-8, the P8-A Navy version of the 737, and other models and derivatives.
Some industry analysts, including the Puget Sound Business Journal, are skeptical of the move. O'Donoghue is not easily discouraged or dissuaded. He is adept at deploying new approaches in an organization that can be slow to change.
In 2006 Dennis began an overhaul of the test organization with an innovative combination of principles and methods, despite push back from old timers. The foundation is the same Lean principles used to streamline Boeing’s production lines. In addition, O’Donoghue applied their next generation Lean Plus approach using two whole system modeling tools.
The reorganization began with system dynamics modeling to first define the systemic structure that represents a resilient, robust and efficient operation. With that as the guidance system, O'Donoghue's team took people through a deep dive into value network analysis (VNA).
Dennis O’Donoghue
Several hundred people were engaged in a series of modeling and scenario workshops to define the roles and interactions required to support the many variables that impact the testing pathway of any given airplane. Then the group moved into the Lean tools to configure processes, workflow and compliance systems that would support the new organization.
What Dennis and his great team of innovators and implementers understand is that how you go about change is just as important as what you want to change. Having worked closely with the change team for the last two years, we enthusiastically put ourselves in the camp of believers and supporters.
The Flight Operations Test & Validation group has proven, at least to their colleagues at Boeing, skillfully applying this powerful combination of tools can bring change - and bring it quickly. With one daunting challenge already met and mastered I am convinced they will master these next challenges in stride. | 
