I comes as not surprise that I follow other bloggers. One of my favorites is a word press blog of Tisquirrel.  She has recently posted “It seems that I hate estimations. Really?” that I thought very telling. The trouble with Estimates The trials she describes happen very frequently. The truth is, estimates are just that […]

What is severity? We have been spending considerable time on risk in preparation for our up coming Piedmont Triad PMI Risk Management event.  Our last specific risk blog we discussed risk and probability.  That is only a part of the equation.  We are interested in probability, but we also need to know the severity.  Severity […]

Cell phones and Laptops, Tools – or the Distraction to Success Ever think your not getting the most out of your team due to distraction.  The greatest invention perhaps is the smart phone.  Now it is easy to check all of our email accounts, text message our friends, post on Facebook, blurt on Twitter, connect […]

Risk Reduction Via Outsourcing? Perhaps. Many times it seems that companies believe they minimize risks to their project simply by outsourcing. There is a kernel of truth in that approach with a caveat.  Consider the implications on the project if the outsourced work package is not delivered on time or at the right cost and […]

By Wally Stegall and Jon M Quigley Collecting and Reporting Material One approach to collecting and reporting material content is the International Material Data System (IMDS).  IMDS is a computer-based material data system used and funded primarily by automotive OEM’s (Original Equipment Manufacturer of cars, trucks, heavy vehicles, agricultural equipment, construction equipment, industrial equipment, military […]

What are we trying to accomplish with a communications plan?  Effective project management is the efficient achieving of an organization’s objectives.  To do that, we have to keep our project team informed and working toward the target.  That includes our project sponsor and other stakeholders.  Ultimately our plan should be able to quickly answer the […]

We have a running discussion with some project managers and line managers on the topic of responsibility.  The organization structure is matrix (weak) with seeming aspirations to strong matrix.  The project managers attempting to drive the project are frequently confronted with the line management saying – “it is our responsibility”, or “trust us to deliver”. […]

By Kim Robertson and  Jon M Quigley When you think of product design and development what comes first to mind? Is it an understanding of our business objectives (scope) followed by functional decomposition of requirements and allocating them to various systems and subsystems to achieve that objective? Is it design to manufacture with designers, facility […]

Our risk exposure starts at the beginning of the project. Even before the project is actually a project.  The simple act of scoping a project in the initiating phase already alludes to the risks to which we may be exposed. For example, the minute we decide that our project scope is going to include software, […]

We have mapped how long it takes to prepare the vehicle for testing using the histogram. We have used the Ishikawa diagram to generate ideas we wish to investigate as causing the time to be longer than we would like it to be. Our next step is to see if the ideas suggested in the […]