Essential Praxis
Mission, why we are here
Altran Praxis exists to successfully engineer embedded and critical systems.
Important thinking lies behind the phrase "to successfully engineer".
Successful engineering
Praxis defines engineering as the creative and practical application of science and mathematics to deliver a desired change in the real-world on time and to budget.
To be successful engineers we must therefore strive to:
- Listen to our clients - to discover the real-world change they desire.
- Be passionate about soundness and correctness - for precision and predictability.
- Be pragmatic - the real world is involved.
- Be innovative - we are here to help change the world, not hold it back.
- Deliver to time and budget - engineering is a business activity not an academic one.
Praxis has adopted the
Lean Systems Thinking paradigm to deliver this view of engineering, and adopted a set of
cultural principles that support it.
Vision and strategy
Praxis’ future growth and investment plans are directed by the following statements, each underpinned by a strategic action plan.
1. Global leader in desirable niches
As an expertise centre within Altran, we want to be recognised internationally as a leader in our chosen niche field. Four strategic themes are used to direct Praxis toward this goal:
- Market led – directing everything we do to ensure it is from the view of our clients.
- Internationalisation – being able to support our clients globally.
- Partnership – collaborating with others to enhance our offering and client service.
- Innovation management – investing to maintain and enhance our engineering lead.
2. World-class systems engineering capability
Our clients should expect world-class levels of engineering from us in all areas. The following strategic themes are used to direct Praxis toward this goal:
- Lean systems thinking – processes, methods and tools to deliver exactly the desired value, no more, no less and no waste.
- Strong practices – using knowledge management communities, we call "practices", to retain knowledge and encourage learning.
- Strong delivery – providing the tools, training and capability for repeated and quality delivery.
3. The best place to work in engineering
Praxis attracts some of the best engineers from around the world due to its specialist services and reputation.
We want to create the best place to work in engineering in all dimensions, including the working environment, recognition, personal development and, above all, providing challenging and leading-edge work for our staff. Praxis’ strategy in this area has two themes:
- Principle centred culture – using a set of cultural principles (see below), or values, to develop a great culture for our staff and our clients to work with.
- PeopleSpace™ – the Praxis integrated approach to people development and management covering topics such as career growth and training.
Cultural principles
The following cultural principles have been adopted by Praxis to help direct our day-to-day behaviour and decision making. Each aims to support the delivery of our vision of successful engineering and of creating the best place to work in engineering.
Supportive
Helping, advising and supporting our clients and each other. Seeking first to understand then to act.
Committed
Being passionate about delivery, striving to keep promises, and apologising if things go wrong.
Integrity
Behaving morally and ethically, being open, honest and straightforward. Easy and simple to work with.
Creative
Looking for new ideas, approaches or actions. Taking a different view. Being flexible and open to others views, experiences and skills.
Perfection (‘the controversial one’)
Striving to deliver exactly the value our clients desire, no more, no less and no waste. The optimal compromise.
The word "perfection" is often used incorrectly and confused with terms such as excellence and over-engineering. Engineering "perfection" is a much harder goal. It is about truly understanding all aspects of what our clients want and then delivering exactly what is desired, no more, no less and no waste.