General work management
“What is everyone doing this week?”
Boards, lists and assignees. Quick to set up, but they don't track dependencies, cost or the design itself.
Critical-path scheduling
“When does this actually finish?”
Dependencies, float and baselines, in tools that have done this well for decades. Usually one planner runs it, and the engineers rarely see it.
Cost control and earned value
“Are we going to overrun?”
Control accounts, burdened rates and variance. Often run from the accounting system, so the numbers are a month old.
PLM and MBSE
“What is this made of?”
Parts, configurations, requirements and architecture. The master record of the design, but it can't tell you what a change costs.
Portfolio management
“Which program should we fund?”
Totals across many programs, for the people who decide where money goes. Good for the big picture, but too high-level for one engineering change.
The gap
“All of them, connected.”
Each kind of tool above does its own job well. Almost nothing connects them, and the hard questions, like what a slip costs, need all of them at once.