The Organization Organizations, or most successful organizations, are not static.  To remain an ongoing concern the organization will need to adapt to identified opportunities.  This will require growing the talent base, either organically, that is from within, or by finding talent external to the organization.  From an external perspective, how do we know the right […]

  Career Change Recently we had a question come to us about how a person transition from one industry or a specific job title to another industry or another area of the company that requires different skills from what we presently have.  Perhaps as a way to avoid becoming stale, we may want to explore […]

Firefighting Hiding things is not a long term strategy We have recently written an article at our Assembly Mag column, Ps and Qs column on the metaphorical firefighter and things we do that encourages this behavior.  There are many variants of this specific failure mode.  To be clear, we are referring to valuing the heavy […]

Most of what we write is about technical, business, product development, and project management topics. I have no idea why I am writing this, or what to do with it when completed -if anything. Additionally, I am a little emotionally raw for reasons that will become apparent. Perhaps the writing will help me come to grips with this […]

Reviews of all kinds If you have been in product development for any time, you may have been involved in design reviews, walk-throughs, specification reviews, product reviews, audits and other forms. Recently I was a part of a customer presentation.  The presentation was developed to introduce the customer to a new product design that the […]

The Confluence: Configuration Management, Change Management, and Project Management Like Puzzle Pieces Configuration management, change management and project management are all connected.  Missing one or more of these in product development can mean exceeding the project budget and schedule at best, and at worst, the launching of a product that is more like a torpedo […]

By Shawn P Quigley and Jon M Quigley Change Dynamics Change is a function of tension created by the difference between the current condition and the desired state. It can only occur when this tension contains sufficient energy to overcome external forces. These external forces could be something as simple as the current condition being […]

More than one way There is not silver bullet or one way to do most things.  The best approach will depend upon the amount of time, talent, tools available, and potential risks associated with the work and level of risk aversion of those undertaking the effort.  The example below, is typical for developing embedded automotive […]

Mere Scrap of Information – The Route to the Product I am a guy, and grew up in the 70’s.  My dad was a Vietnam Vet serving in the 7th Special Forces Group.  I grew up watching action movies.  My favorite actor of that era was Clint Eastwood, and one of my favorite movies Fist Full […]

The Olden Days by Jon M Quigley I recently had a phone call with a person I met on LinkedIn. Actually, I have been having calls with them over the weeks, to talk about product development, especially the way it was in the olden days.  Over the course of few discussions we began chatting about […]