Lou Wheatcraft

Lou Wheatcraft

Lou is a senior instructor/consultant who educates organizations on the importance of writing good requirements and helps them implement Requirement Development and Management (RD&M) processes based on industry best practices.  Before joining Requirements Experts (RE), Lou had over 34 years experience in the aerospace industry, including 22 years in the United States Air Force. Note: On Aug 1, 2017, Requirements Experts became part of SeiLevel.

Lou has taught over 200 requirement seminars over the last 18 years since joining RE. Lou works with both government and industry clients to tailor training for their organizations, including medical device manufacturing companies, and provides just in time team training for specific projects.   As project manager of RE’s requirement development and management training for NASA’s Chief Engineer Office’s Academy of Program, Project, and Engineering Leadership (APPEL), Lou provides training at each of NASA’s Centers. Lou also served as a moderator for Villanova University’s Essentials of Business Analysis certification online course.

Lou has spoken at Project Management Institute (PMI) Chapter meetings, International Council of System Engineering (INCOSE) conferences and NASA’s PM Challenge and delivered tutorials to PMI and INCOSE chapters at multiple locations. Lou has had published and presented a multitude of papers on requirement RD&M topics for NASA’s PM Challenge, INCOSE, INCOSE INSIGHT Magazine, and Crosstalk Magazine.

Lou is a member of INCOSE, Chair of the INCOSE Requirements Working Group, a member of PMI, the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), the World Futures Society, and the National Honor Society of Pi Alpha Alpha.  Lou is one of the principle authors of the “INCOSE Guide for Writing Requirements.”

Lou has a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Oklahoma State University, an MA degree in Computer Information Systems from the University of Houston – Clear Lake, an MS degree in Environmental Management from the University of Houston – Clear Lake, and has completed the course work for an MS degree in Studies of the Future from the University of Houston – Clear Lake.

Lou was awarded the Silver Snoopy Award for engineering excellence and exceptional support of the manned space flight program and Space Shuttle astronauts.  He was nominated for the prestigious Rotary Stellar Award in recognition for his accomplishments in furthering the nation’s future activities in space. NASA honored Lou for his exceptional support to the Astronaut Office and Space Station Program by awarding him with the Public Service Medal.

Lou is the primary contributor to RE’s blog on requirements best practices. The blog can be assessed at: http://reqexperts.com/blog.

Publications by Lou

  • “Integrated Data as the Foundation of Systems Engineering”; Wheatcraft, L., Ryan, M., Svensson, C., Presented at INCOSE IS 2017, Adelaide, Australia, July 2017
  • “Developing A Systems Engineering Capability That Meets the Needs of Your Organization”; Wheatcraft, L., Ryan, M., Svensson, C., Presented at INCOSE IS 2017, Adelaide, Australia, July 2017
  • “On the Use of the Terms Verification and Validation”; Ryan, M., Wheatcraft, L., November 2016.
  • “On the Use of Attributes to Manage Requirements”; Wheatcraft, L., Ryan, M., Dick, J., Systems Engineering Journal, Volume 19, Issue 5, September 2016, pp. 448–458.
  • “Guide to Writing Requirements”, INCOSE-TP-2010-006-02.1, Prepared by the Requirement Working Group, INCOSE, 2017
  • “An Improved Taxonomy for Definitions Associated with a Requirement Expression”, Ryan, M., Wheatcraft, L, Dick, J, and Zinni, R., 2014. Systems Engineering/Test and Evaluation Conference SETE2014, Adelaide, Australia
  • “Resource Margins and Reserves”, Wheatcraft, L., August 2016
  • “Concept Maturity Levels”, Wheatcraft, L., August 2016
  • “Thinking Ahead to Verification and Validation” presented at NASA’s PM Challenge 2012, February 2012, Orlando, Florida
  • “Triple Your Chances of Project Success – Risk and Requirements” paper presented at INCOSE 2011, June 2011, Denver, Colorado and to be presented at NASA’s PM Challenge 2012, February 2012, Orlando, Florida
  • “Everything you wanted to know about interfaces, but were afraid to ask” paper presented at INCOSE 2010, July 2010, Chicago, Illinois
  • “Getting Started on the Right Foot – Developing Requirements for Constellation’s Next Generation Space Suit”presented at NASA’s PM Challenge 2010, February 2010, Galveston Island, Texas
  • “Everything in its Place: Levels, Allocation, and Traceability” presented at NASA’s PM Challenge 2008, February 2008, Daytona Beach, Florida
  • “Developing Requirements for Technology-Driven Products”, paper presented at the INCOSE 15th International Symposium 2005, Rochester, NY.
  • “Delivering Quality Products That Meet Customer Expectations”, CrossTalk, Vol.16 No.1 , January 2003.
  • “The Importance of Scope Definition Prior to Developing Space System Requirements”, INCOSE INSIGHT, Vol. 4 Issue 4, January 2002.