Once upon a time There once was a company, with a systemic problem with concurrent engineering and change management. This was a complex organization, with many functional areas. Each functional area, had sub-function divisions. This type of organizational structure is often referred to as a functional organization with the associated hierarchy. These various functional areas […]
Have you seen these risks in your projects? The project that selects a scope that does not match the constraints (cost, quality and delivery). The project strategy that dooms the organization to cost over runs, surprises the organization with late delivery that would have been easily predicted. The ineffectual risk register (or non-existing). The team […]
We continue the exploration of the Poka Yoke post. In the last post we discovered in building the product (late iteration) we have found that building the product has some undue complexity. Upon further exploration we find that the design engineers suggested spending some time to Poka Yoke these devices. The project hierarchy decided to […]
I would like thank the Chapter Meeting of PMI Southwest Virginia for allowing me to present, the event was fun, the interaction and engagement (and the meal) were well worth the 5 hour drive. I have been thinking on the interactions from the presentation and I feel compelled to writing something that I think will […]
I have witnessed a recurring theme in projects that causes me to recall a scene from the 1970 movie Patton, with George C Scott. As this scene is depicted in the movie, Patton becomes enraged upon discovering that a column of American troops, tanks, and vehicles has been held up and exposed to enemy fire […]
by Jon M. Quigley and Kim L. Robertson Words have specific meanings across all industries sectors which allow us to decode what is said by another and come to some understanding. This is a very important activity, as without effective communication not much will happen in a collaborative setting. Waiver: After it is manufactured it […]
Gates in Project Management In conventional project management, also referred to as staged gate methodology, we will find gates. Each gate provides a way point or check point upon which subsequent work will build. Each gate has a targeted expected set of objectives to reach and to answer before moving on to subsequent work. Each […]
Imaginary Numbers = Lies Got you! I bet you were thinking this was going to be a complicated math post. It is not, but it is about metrics. Companies often employ measurement (at least they should) to determine the state of a variety of endeavors that are moving through the organization. For example, a project […]
by Shawn P. Quigley Evolution of Motivational Theories Since the beginning of man’s socialization people have been attempting to understand what motivates an individual or group to act in the manner they do. However, official theories of motivation did not start to develop until the early 1900’s. The first few theories of motivation viewed man […]
Not a Verification Problem I recently had a flash of a project from the past. The project had a fixed delivery date. The project was to deliver a system through iterative and incremental deliveries. Sounds pretty good right? An iterative and incremental delivery of sub systems and components to the verification group in a way […]