Recently, my husband and I enjoyed a late weekend lunch at one of our favorite Japanese restaurants. He usually orders a bento box with shrimp tempura while I prefer the grilled salmon. I always order hot green tea because… well, because green tea is a requirement with Japanese food! The
Engineering Management
An Idea Life Cycle for Innovation Success
Most of us have lots of ideas. Some of them are good, while others don’t pan out. Our idea span from improving technology and devices to better health care. Ideas are born to solve the great big, hairy problems of the world and other ideas are simple in nature to help us with our daily… Read More
Process Improvement Projects
Quality has two major thrusts: customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. In delivering and meeting customer needs, we must constantly strive to improve the product offering itself as well as enhancing accompanying services. Quality is inextricably linked with new product development (NPD) and with effective project management. There are several steps
Understanding Project Risk
New product development (NPD) projects are built with inherent risk. We don’t know if the markets will support the idea once it is commercialized. We don’t know if we can design the technology to work in a new application. We don’t know if competitors might flood the product category with
Brand Promises
I recently purchased three new pair of underwear at a well-known department store. Upon the first washing, the elastic had separate from the fabric on one pair. I was disappointed by I know that these things happen sometimes. Running the underwear through laundry a second time made it seem as
Project Cost Estimates
Every project requires an expenditure of resources, including time money, and people (human resources). Whether projects are conducted in-house by project management teams or outsourced to experts in the field, every engineering, product, and project manager needs to prepare a cost estimate and monitor the
Change Management in Projects – Part 3
All projects encounter change. In fact, by definition, projects are designed to create change. The expected outcome of any project is a new product, service, or business process that improves profit margins, market share, and customer satisfaction. On the other hand, change is not always easy. Studies show that most individuals can accommodate change in… Read More
Change Management in Projects (Part 2)
Change – most of us dread change. We are uncertain of the impact change will have on our lives and we often doubt the benefits of change. Yet, working in innovation, our organization goal is to create change. Frequently, as a new product or service is launched, hindsight minimizes the impact of the change. In… Read More
Managing Change in Projects: Three Tools
Why Change? Tired but true is the statement that we can be sure that change is the only constant. Managing projects for new product development (NPD) is the ultimate in change management. We are intentionally trying to create change in the marketplace by implementing a variety of technologies with new or improved brands and product… Read More
Three Characteristics of Leaders
Leaders in product and project management often arrive at their positions through demonstration of excellence in technical fields. Newly minted engineering managers sometimes struggle to translate engineering skills into management skills. Instead of struggling to learn management skills, project and engineering managers can simply practice three simple characteristics of great leaders: attitude, gratitude, and platitude…. Read More
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