By Gary Hinkle
They’re selling features we haven’t even designed yet!—is a common complaint from engineers about marketing. Requirements are a moving target, thanks to marketing. They’re not well-defined. They’re growing and changing, yet deadlines and schedules are firm. While engineering is pointing fingers at marketing, marketing is pointing back. Engineers aren’t getting the importance…
By Gary Hinkle
A leading electronics company suffered a setback when a systems engineer was pushing his own ideas hard, all the while belittling the ideas of others. It was clear to everyone he thought highly of his own ideas and expertise and not much of everyone else’s.
By Gary Hinkle President Trump promises a more business-friendly government that should stimulate economic growth. Regardless of the actual economic growth in our future, here are three methods that will help your business increase profits if you depend on successful completion of projects to make money. These are relatively simple concepts, but they require in-depth…
By Gary Hinkle It’s ridiculous if you think about it – businesses invest billions of dollars per year on leadership development, yet we continue to have a shortage of true leaders in business. Not every business suffers from this shortage, but I know that within most organizations involved in technology development and manufacturing there are…
By Dorian Simpson Corporate innovators – engineers, marketers and sales professionals that desire to see their ideas come to life in an organization – face a wide range of obstacles when presenting new opportunities. Ultimately they must ask for support and funds in what I call the “executive inquisition.” In the process of preparing for…
By Gary Hinkle Managing engineering and other technical functions is mind-bogglingly difficult for many people in these roles. It’s more difficult than managing non-technical work because of the complexity involved and what’s at stake. The challenges related to managing technical work require special skills and suitable people who embrace the challenges. There is a severe…
By Susan de la Vergne What We Didn’t Learn in School The education systems that hatched us emphasized logical reasoning and memorization. That’s the way to maximize our brain potential! Courses are designed to use our cognitive intelligence, and once we successfully complete a lot of them (the courses, that is), we’re ready. That’s led…
The Art of Telling People What to Do – Advice for Project Leaders By Gary Hinkle When you were a kid, people told you what to do. Later in life, the same. We don’t like to be told what to do. When we think about delegation, it comes with this baggage: that being told what…
By Susan de la Vergne
Scenario 1) Mark, a software engineer in Silicon Valley, disliked his boss. “If only I worked for Ekan instead of Sean. Sean argues with me all the time. It’s like he doesn’t think I know what I’m doing.” So Mark manages to get transferred to Ekan, who has a reputation as a hands-off, high energy manager. But after Mark makes the move, he finds out Ekan has a short fuse, gets furious and comes unglued when a sev 1 problem hits the team, as it often does.
By Susan de la Vergne
Have you ever noticed how often we’re dissatisfied about how things are going or about what other people are doing? People are stupid / wrong / mean / impossible. Systems are slow. Traffic is a nightmare. Management doesn’t get it.
By Chris Sheesley
Anyone motivated to read this article already knows active listening skills through exposure to it in training and books. Yet, if you’re like most people, you find it strangely distasteful to be either the giver or receiver of active listening technique.
By Gary Hinkle
Toyota’s ongoing success is often attributed to their legendary quality and manufacturing systems. Another important element that doesn’t get as much attention is the role of Toyota’s Chief Engineers.
By Susan de la Vergne
The pressure is on to solve a problem. Richard has been sitting in a meeting for the last hour listening to ideas about how to solve it. He thinks they’re all wrong, and he’s sure he’s got a solution that’s quick, easy, and accurate.
By Gary Hinkle
Chris is an engineer at a leading scientific instrument company, and his career is stuck. He hasn’t been promoted in years. He’s an Engineer III, but he thinks he should be at least a IV (out of six levels altogether). He has more than ten years of experience, and he knows he’s made several significant technical contributions to the company’s products.
By Susan de la Vergne
You’re in the airport, about to board a five-hour flight across country. You stop at the paperback stand, looking for something to read. “I’d like to find something kinda boring, something formulaic, written using a template,” you say to yourself. “I’m looking for something that’s very predictable, no surprises, and the writer should use a lot of boilerplate language.
Engineering Momentum 