Fellows spotlight

Jo currently supports the Submarine Delivery Agency through the development and maintenance of the Whole Boat Obsolescence Management Strategy and Plan, ensuring obsolescence considerations are embedded across the submarine lifecycle. 

Managing obsolescence across complex assets

Obsolescence is an increasing challenge for complex, long-life assets, driven by rising system complexity, regulatory change and the widespread use of commercial off-the-shelf digital technologies. Jo’s work is grounded in the belief that obsolescence must be managed proactively and strategically, rather than reactively. By applying structured, evidence-based approaches, she helps customers reduce sustainment burden, improve availability and ensure assets continue to deliver capability throughout their operational life.

A key feature of Jo’s work is the development of 10-year costed obsolescence resolution and technical refresh plans, which enable senior decision-makers to understand future risk, plan investment and align obsolescence activity with wider capability upgrades. This approach also identifies opportunities to converge systems across fleets - reducing duplication, minimising risk and lowering whole-life cost.

A growing and evolving discipline

Jo anticipates continued growth in the importance of obsolescence management as the pace of technological change accelerates. Influencing design to improve obsolescence resilience is becoming increasingly critical, particularly as digital components and supply chains evolve more rapidly than traditional platforms. While practices for managing obsolescence post-design are well established, Jo sees significant opportunity to strengthen how obsolescence considerations are embedded earlier in the design lifecycle - where the greatest long-term benefit can be realised.

Supporting our customers

Jo supports customers by helping them take a step change in how obsolescence is managed - moving beyond compliance toward strategic, outcome-focused solutions. Her work combines technical oversight, governance, mentoring and assurance, ensuring consistent and effective application of obsolescence management practices across customers, suppliers and internal teams. A strong advocate for knowledge sharing, she plays a key role in growing obsolescence capability within BMT and across the wider defence community.

"Effective obsolescence management isn’t just about reacting to problems - it’s about influencing design early so we reduce cost, risk and burden over the life of the asset."

Fellowship focus: influencing design and measuring effectiveness

Jo’s Fellowship research focuses on enhancing obsolescence management in two critical areas. The first explores new methodologies for influencing design to improve obsolescence resilience, working collaboratively with BMT ship designers to embed obsolescence thinking earlier and more effectively. The second focuses on developing improved performance reporting for senior leaders - addressing a recognised gap in IEC 62402 by enabling clearer visibility of the effectiveness and value of planned obsolescence activities.

The design-influence research projects are nearing completion, while the performance reporting work is now underway.

Collaboration and progress

Jo collaborates closely with our design teams, customers and industry partners, ensuring her research is both credible and applicable in real programme environments. She is also a working group convener and UK expert maintaining IEC 62402 Obsolescence Management under IEC Technical Committee 56 (Dependability), and co-chairs the Joint Obsolescence Management Working Group - placing her at the centre of international best practice development.

Why Jo values the Fellowship

Obsolescence challenges are increasing, and Jo believes BMT must continually evolve its practices to meet customer needs. The Fellowship gives her the space to do exactly that - advancing the discipline, strengthening our capability, and supporting the development of the talented people within it. For Jo, the Fellowship is both an opportunity to lead change and a responsibility to ensure obsolescence management delivers real, lasting value for the assets society depends on.

Principal Consultant and Capability Lead for Obsolescence

Want to learn more about Jo's role or the obsolescence management solutions we offer? Connect with her on LinkedIn.