| Newsletter for Responsive Management |
Volume V, Number 1, "Fresh Set of Eyes" addresses how to most effectively define and initiate cost reduction projects. But more so, how to craft this change in emphasis into a welcomed process, rather than an uninvited management directive. A simple example illuminates the approach: a $10.00 electronic enclosure that was cost reduced to less than $1.00, and thereby initiated a low-cost design approach for future products.
Volume V, Number 2, "Product Realization" addresses the world of hurt a company feels when a new product fails to meet expectations: expectations of customers, investors and/or management. Product Realization is the process a company goes through to adequately design, manufacture and commercialize products that satisfy customers. Two startup companies are highlighted: one that failed to embrace the intent of Product Realization and had to be turned around, and one that began life with proper discipline.
Volume V, Number 3, "Microsoft Project - Double-edged Sword?" addresses the nemesis of project management - the schedule slip. It's all too easy to replan; a few quick keystrokes with Microsoft Project and a fresh clean project plan becomes available. It's more insightful, but perhaps more painful to ask the question: "How are we going to recover?" Gain insights that will drive project management skills up to a new level.
Volume V, Number 4, "When an Engineering Solution is not Customer Friendly" addresses the issue of adequacy of the technical specification. You may talk with customers, but do you place yourself in your customer's shoes? Does the specification consider the customer who is not as technically savvy or as proficient as the engineers who will be designing the product? We consider the case of "unintended acceleration" to highlight this pressing need.
Volume V, Number 5, "Slide Presentation Hell" provides a time-proven approach to creating powerful presentations. It eliminates the audience frustration that leads to the comment: "When I ask for the time, please don't tell me how to build a clock!"
Volume V, Number 6, "Practical Wisdom - Anticipating the Unexpected" suggests not all experiences count toward Practical Wisdom, such as years on the job or number of iterations of similar designs. Accomplishments that build Practical Wisdom might include cross-technology and mulit-market projects, and anticipating the unexpected. But if it was unexpected, how could it have been anticipated?
Take a moment from your busy schedule to download the newsletters, and then consider how the topics may apply to your company, or perhaps can help at a colleague's company. Then, feel free to contact me for further discussion.
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