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Life as an Engineer

Engineering Graduates – What you need to know about Life as an Engineer

By S. A. Siegel

You’re about to graduate college with an engineering degree from a prestigious institution.  So if asked what you are, will you say I’m an engineer?  My guidance to you is say engineer but think businessperson.  You are a businessperson first and foremost with an engineering skill set that you hope to sell to a prospective employer for a salary commensurate with what the market will bear for engineers.

You have already made a significant business decision.  You chose to make a substantial investment in pursuing a degree in engineering by paying for a costly education in that field.  You did so because you judged that you could sell yourself for a salary that would allow you to recover that investment (or pay off that loan) and still have plenty left over for a good financial life.

In short, you are a business named John or Jane Dough Inc.  You, like all businesses are about making money.  Think interesting work; think all you want to about the job you would like, but never forget it is always about the money. Your competitive peers, the mangers you’ll work for, and the corporate executives are all in it for the money.  Good rule of thumb – when someone says it’s not about the money, it’s about the money!

So, your prospective employer is looking to hire someone with an engineering degree and willing to pay a salary and benefits for that skill set.  That business could be hiring for several reasons:  They want lower cost folks – new grads make less than older engineers; They want folks with the latest technical and analytical abilities; They are losing engineers to retirement and need to strengthen their ‘technical bench’; They just won a new contract and need to staff up. There are other reasons; these are just a few of the reasons a company may be hiring.  Their hiring practice is a business decision.

If the company is willing to pay you, do you think they want to recover the costs they are laying out?  Of course they do.  So how is a company able to pay you a salary and benefits?  Generally speaking, companies are in the business of developing products or systems or services that they sell to customers.  That is where the money that they pay you comes from.  Remember?  In business, it is all about making money.

So you get the job.  How do you think you will be situated when you start work.  Will they say 1-2-3 go?  How will you know what to do?  Most likely you will be assigned to a project and a project team that is tasked to develop a technical capability most likely manifested in a product or system that they will sell to a customer or customers.  

You may be assigned a mentor and / or you will report to a team leader on the project.  You will be given an assignment to design or contribute to the design of some part of the product or system.  Let’s say the company is under contract to develop the product or system in question.  What do you think some of the constraints might be that you will encounter in addition to meeting the technical performance requirement that you’ve been assigned?  Do you think the reliability of the system will be a requirement and the end item must meet a specified mean time between failures – MTBF?  Do you think that fault isolation and simplicity of maintenance and repair might be part of the overall end item specification?  Do you think that the timeliness of development and produciblility of the end item might be part of the contractual obligation that the company has agreed to?  Do you think that more than one engineering skill will be required to develop the product and hence concurrent engineering will be required?  Do you think the company cares how much cost will be expended to meet their contractual obligation?  Do you think there are risks that might impact meeting technical performance, cost, and schedule constraints and that risk mitigation will be a key part of the development strategy?  The answer to all of these issues is of course yes and you will benefit by having been educated in these areas!

So someone does not say 1-2-3 go.  There is a structured planning phase that lays out the project and breaks down the tasks to be accomplished into what is known as the work breakdown structure or WBS of the project.  Each task is then time phased on a schedule – your effort will be included on this plan and your effort will be scheduled.  Since time is money, you will have a budget to get your task accomplished. 

Remember, you are a business in a business arrangement with your employer.  You will be best served if you have knowledge of some basics in project planning, tracking, and control, risk management and risk mitigation, and some financial understanding of how a project is monitored financially typically using a system known as the earned value management system – EVMS.

So check out the material on this site.  This is a web site that I set up for engineers to self teach these basics.  I included the topics that I believe are most important to help engineers be successful.  In addition to project planning, tracking and control basics, subjects include engineering lifecycle management (a discussion of what is important in each phase of a development project), high tech program and engineering management, and high tech proposal management, as well as leadership people skills, and people skills to manage situations where the leadership encountered may be a stress induced style of management.  I know you’ve heard stories about key leaders who are not so nice in the workplace.  There are managers who are dictatorial who manage by fear, intimidation, and abuse.  The people skills just referenced will serve you well if that style of management is encountered.  

Do you think there are politics in a company that employs you?  Do you think internal networking exists and that it is not always the best of the best that are elevated?  Yes again to both.  For peer ranking, which exists, it is important to be 2 for 2 in excellent ability and great attitude.  Only internal alliances – politics – often times dictate who gets the promotion.  So learn to be conscious of your alliances on the job.  Make your supervisor look good by doing your job with excellence.  That includes meeting cost and schedule objectives as well as achieving technical performance objectives.  Again – it is all about money.  CEOs get paid by elevating the company’s stock price.  Managers get paid by meeting cost and performance objectives that influence the profitability of the company and hence the stock price.  All this flows down to the project leaders and ultimately to you as a contributor to meeting objectives.  How well you are at doing this influences how far you will rise in the organization and remain employed in both good times as well as in not so good times. 

Folks, all info on this site is FREE!  There is no advertising or costs of any kind involved.  It is just me giving back.  All the documents can be easily copied / downloaded.  

Always keep in mind that you will be a business in competition with others like you who are equally a business also selling their technical skill sets.  Those with more of a business sense will have greater value to the company looking to hire someone.

Let’s talk about what ‘life as an engineer’ will be from a career perspective.  You will get a job but that job is not guaranteed.  You will be an ‘at will’ employee meaning just that – you can be let go at will.  Have you ever heard the term lay-off or RIF – Reduction in Force?  Layoffs happen.  Much of what I am guiding you to learn and how to think as a businessperson will help you navigate this possibility should it be encountered.

Here are some facts:  You will be working initially for a lower salary than those who have been with the company for let’s say 5 to 7 years longer than you.  Everyone’s continued employment is business health specific, meaning how healthy the business is financially, how their backlog of on-going work is and what their prospects for new and continued business is when looking into the out years.  No job is guaranteed.  Losing a major contract that was counted on, or a business down turn, or mismanagement in having hired too many people all contribute to a business having to have a reduction in its work force.  Folks – Engineers are commodities to the employer – to be bought (hired) or sold (laid-off) as the business needs dictate.  Understand this.  It is neither good nor bad; it just is.  Businesses often talk about loyalty to the business and want their employees to have that loyalty meaning don’t leave for better pastures.  Yet when the time comes for a RIF, loyalty is a one-way street.  Moreover, many times the most senior executives who preach loyalty often came from other companies themselves demonstrating their definition of loyalty.  So think loyalty but make sure it is loyalty to yourself.  It’s not personal; it’s business!

Key to what you can expect when managing your career which is akin to managing your business is to assure continued employment and the associated income by positioning yourself for a critical career fork in the road that you will encounter in 5-7 years after graduation.  Remember you are a business that is in a competition.  Just as you are highly trained upon graduation in the latest technologies and analytical abilities so too will the graduating class be in 5-7 yrs from now.  How will you compete with them?  They will be starting at a lower salary with excellent technical skills.

This is the career fork in the road that you will encounter.  You must make a choice of career direction to remain viable and valuable.  The choices are typically move into engineering management, move into program management, move into business development or stay technical.  Should you choose to stay technical, you must keep abreast of the latest skills that newer graduates bring to the table.  You will be more experienced with 5-7 years of real world technical issues that arise on the job and must be expert in the product technologies of the company’s products where you are employed.  You must become the go-to technical guru when some technical issue wets-the-bed.  

Regarding the other choices that are management related, I again encourage you to learn the basics that I put on this web site that I constructed just for you.  

Best of luck to you all in your chosen careers,

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Why Some Executives are Hard-Ass & How to Survive a Stressful Management Environment by Stuart Siegel

Work is Hard & Not Being in Control is Unsettling

Work is hard – that’s why it’s called work and not play. It is hard to work for someone else. Not being in control of your destiny and having your fate in the hands of someone else is unsettling. Know this – layoffs (reductions in force – RIFs) do occur. They are a reality. Some are due to ineptitude at the top by managers who fail to meet goals; others may be due to eco-political realities that were not planned for. Add to this a seemingly mean spirited management environment and the ‘not-in-control’ feeling worsens. However, not to worry, there are behavioral competencies / survival skills / what I call Siegel’s Rules (Part 1) How to Survive a Stressful Management Environment that can lessen the impact of this reality if and when encountered.

Management is Hard & ‘Toughness’ is often Learned the Hard Way

In addition, it is important to know this as well. Being in charge is hard. Management is hard. Whether it is in a corporate environment or as an owner of one’s business, being responsible for keeping a business viable is the task of management. So yes, managers reap the rewards of big salaries and incentive compensation (IC) for being successful in their role. Only they too work for someone else and they are all vulnerable to being fired (leaving to pursue other interests) when goals are not met.

In effect, Managers are responsible to see to it that all those who report to them do their jobs. How good they are at this determines their fate. In this context, Managers are essentially at the mercy of their employees. It’s one big two way street. I’ve seen employees spend all day on the phone with their outside interests and obviously failing to do their job while still getting paid by their employer. So the toughness of management has a basis in their experience in that (cynically – yes) ‘No good deed goes un-punished.’

Business is about Making Money; Management is about IC

In particular, it is essential to understand that ‘Business is about Making Money’ and that meeting business goals is the criteria for being rewarded. Hence, Senior Management is all about meeting goals to justify big salaries and large amounts of IC. It is important to understand that there are those who realize early on in their careers that there is a lot of money to be made in salary, incentive compensation, stock options, and company paid excursions at the executive level. They recognize instantly that there are only a few executive positions relative to the whole employee base and have as their only objective – do whatever it takes to become an executive and stay there.

Most folk believe success at work is about doing a good job, doing what is right for the business, and being a decent person in the process. In general this is true and that is their focus. On the other hand, the would-be or the existing executive is focused on getting very good at how to rise in the organization and developing skills that extend well beyond just doing a good job. They are good at assessing their competitors and have learned to be manipulative and know how to place blame if things go wrong and how to assure personal gain if things go well. Their actions are based on what is best for them. They are not to be underestimated. They are intelligent. Moreover, they are smart (there is a difference). They know how to survive and they know how to protect their turf, ruthlessly if necessary. They do this because they’ve learned that a company is run first and foremost for the senior executives of the company to get their IC.

Management by Fear, Intimidation & Abuse

As a result, to differentiate themselves from the pack and establish their dominance, there are managers who use Fear, Intimidation and Abuse to effect successful fear based employee performance to meet goals. Don’t take it personally. Although many managers are not so nice in the work place, some do pretend that they are good guys. But the really honest ones are proud of instilling fear. Those who manage by fear, intimidation and abuse do so because it has worked for them all their careers. Many years of rewarded behavior will not change. It may be disguised temporarily, but under stress it kicks in big time. Personally, I prefer the executive that is up front about being tough rather than the friendly guy that is a back stabber. Of course the really nice guy is preferred. However, he may never become the top dog and therefore is limited in his ability to be influential. He can only be effective to a point because he has to be careful not to jeopardize his own position. (Forgiveness is asked – he & she are interchangeable in this context – a she is equally capable of being either a ruthless or kind manager)

Be Alert to ‘Hard-Ass’ Management & Learn the Skills to Survive

Additionally, some Executives will fire people periodically just to stay sharp and send the message that they have that power and are ever vigilant and are willing to exercise their power to remain in power. Try not to give them a reason to single you out for this. Simply put, their hard-ass approach is how they’ve become comfortable with managing their employees to keep them from failing. As I’ve said, it’s all about money. If you want love, get a puppy.

A key survival skill is to see your role as performing to meet your goals, which in turn helps your boss and his boss and the senior executives get their annual bonuses and their next levels up the ladder. Thinking and succeeding with this in mind may let you become a chosen one some day.

Also, beware. Executives looking toward the next promotion treat their executive peers as adversaries. At times they’ll play the game called “I’m the bigger Kahuna and let me prove it to you”. Everything in their path is fair game to use to smash each other. That includes you. It may seem like a friendly game of tennis but be alert that you don’t become the ball. Understand it and stay away from them when you see it happening as best you can. It doesn’t matter whom you work for. Your own boss will use you with equal indifference to any impact on you as will his adversarial peer in their quest to obtain the next step up the ladder.

Don’t Take It Personally; Get Comfort; Get the List of 30 Key Survival Skills

So, don’t take management by abuse personally. You are one of dozens that receive the same treatment. Moreover, when your boss goes home at night you are the last person on his mind; so don’t assume that you are in trouble and have him on your mind.

I encourage you all to obtain the full list of 30 key survival skills for a harsh and stressful management environment. It can be of great value and comfort knowing how to survive if and when you encounter this style of management.

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The Core Principles for Achieving Better Relationships – Key Leadership People Skills for Better Relationships at Home & at Work by Stuart Siegel

Core Principles For Achieving Better Relationships

There are relationships that are unhealthy and not meant to be, often due to the indifference of or intransient nature of one of the participants.  When engaged in such a situation where the other person has no interest in committing to make a relationship work or worse makes it clear that in all things it is their way or the highway, then unfortunately the highway may be the only rational option.  The alternative might be the possibility of being a willing subjugate in potentially a controlling, manipulative or even an abusive relationship.  However, where it is clear that all are committed to wanting a good relationship, there is much that is actionable to make it a success.  Specifically, there are key people skills / behavioral competencies available for leadership to improve relationships at work and at home that I’ve found to be very effective. The basic premise as I’ve defined it – Rational Decency – is at the top of the list of core principles for achieving better relationships.

Rational Decency

It is encouraging to know that one can achieve personal insight and understanding of the drivers that instill gut reactions to situations. It is also encouraging to know that once becoming aware of one’s drivers that trigger gut reactions, one can override these reactions that tend to be harmful and allow what I call ‘Rational Decency’ to prevail as an effective behavioral alternative.

You Find What You Look For

You find what you look for – it is a choice. This concept is high on the list of core principles for achieving better relationships.  How you see things is a choice.  Learn to see that most people are well intentioned and refrain from attribution of ill intent when issues arise. If you chose to look for their inherent decency you will find it.  Of course we are also all fallible and if you chose to look for failings you will find them as well.  Consider your purpose and intent and the traits of others that will enable you to be effective.  What you look for is a choice. Understand that we all have our own set of values, attitudes, beliefs and experiences that can drive our actions.  Although we may have values that align with each other they rarely are identical and the ability to relate to the other’s drivers is key to understanding what their reaction will be to a style and content of communication.  Choose to be stronger in adversity as well as empathetic when relating to others.

Your Life is What You Make of It

Your life is what you make of it – use your brain and heart to override your gut.  Challenging yourself to become aware of your life, of your values, attitudes, beliefs and the experiences that forged them gives you the power to own the insight that they are the drivers of your gut reactions to inputs you receive from others.  By using your intellect and compassion to override your gut, you stop attributing ill intent to others  to affect you poorly, which is another of the key core principals for achieving better relationships.  With understanding comes accountability and responsibility and there is no need for excuses, no blaming of others for poor behavior and failing to display inherent decency toward others, particularly under duress.

Be An Ally When Interacting to Influence Others

When interacting to influence others it is not about whose facts and data and reasons are right and whose are wrong.  Facts and data and reasons are always in dispute. A person’s ‘drivers’ can be so strong that they will never be convinced by any method of exhorting them to change or act as you wish.  It is about being their ally and aligning yourself with their objectives so they can feel comfortable to respond in kind.  Displaying some humility, doubt and equivocation when communicating helps build bridges of common ground rather than arguing differences.

Treat Others As They Would Have You Treat Them

Avoiding any attribution of ill intent or any negative attribution of qualities is key to being effective when attempting to influence change or actions that you wish to take hold.  The Golden Rule ‘Treat others as you would have them treat you’ is as a minimum a good test of one’s reaction.  Better still is the Platinum Rule: ‘Treat others as they would have you treat them!’ – an excellent example of the core principles for achieving better relationships.

The past cannot be undone and a dumping session usually falls on deaf ears or instigates fruitless confrontation.  The goal of a complaint should be to influence future behavior – avoidance of actions or acting differently.  Remember that there are always two sides to differences so create a solution to your complaint in a win-win environment. 

Confidence in you is often just a measure of how you conduct yourself in the midst of turmoil.

Commit to Win-Win Solutions

Commit to ‘Rational Decency’ by assuring outcomes are not at the others expense.  Commit to find win-win solutions – a truly important paradigm of the core principles for achieving better relationships – and there will never be a reason to ever ‘fight’.  Assure outcomes are not at the others expense as you assure they are not at yours.  Work as hard as need be to make this a truism.  Being rational and being decent when attempting to resolve potentially contentious issues should be key behavioral competencies that everyone should embrace.  Bullying or being controlling or manipulative by anyone to get one’s way is anathema. Even compromise implies that both parties lose something in the exchange. Whereas, if both parties work hard, both can be ‘influenced’ to a new definition of an agreement where both feel it’s a win.

Avoid Attribution of Ill Intent

Express only what you feel and not attribution of the other’s intent. This is an insightful key to the core principles for achieving better relationships. Using the phrase ‘I feel’ or ‘It feels’ when expressing yourself about an issue avoids attribution of ill intent on the part of the recipient: ‘I know you do not realize that it feels like you are not concerned when you do that’ as opposed to ‘You are not concerned.’ Statements that presuppose the other’s position are not fair.  Let them express themselves as to their intent.  All you can do that is legitimate is say what they are doing or saying feels like to you.  The phrase ‘I feel’ or ‘it feels like’ diminishes the attribution of deliberate intent on the part of the other and enables the person to receive your issue as a request for help so you can ‘feel’ better.  It helps the person being complained to say ‘If I came across that way, that was not my intent’ which is an easier response than feeling pressure to admit any wrongdoing.  It reaches out to the best in the other and aids your goal, which is to be effective and not to just have a dumping session.

I’ve developed a list of 20 key behavioral competencies / people skills for better and more effective relationships for leadership at home and at work.  I encourage you to get the full list available from the main page on managementkeyskills.com

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Scrum – A Brief Introduction

Scrum – A Brief Introduction & Cursory Familiarization

Scrum – A brief introduction is presented simply to provide Engineers with a cursory familiarization of the Scrum process and its terminology because it may be encountered in the workplace. 

Scrum – An Alternative Management Process where the Team Leads Itself

Scrum (also a Rugby term) comes from an ‘Agile’ software development process that has been seen to be very effective in the software domain.  Its success has found its way into being applied to project development and not just software.  The fundamental basis of the Scrum process is that a ‘small’ (sometimes called ‘lean’ or ‘agile’) Team of cross-functional members, who have the skills to do the job, is empowered to lead itself with the responsibility to do the needed work.

Process Steps & A New Role for a Program Manager

Scrum – A brief introduction to Scrum and its defining key process steps are:

  • Project work is iteratively accomplished by the Team
  • The Team commits to take on ‘bursts of activity’ called ‘Sprints’ to produce prioritized product increments in ‘small’ periods of time
  • The overall work is broken down into prioritized activities called ‘Stories’ by the Product Owner (the new role of the Program Manager)
  • The Product Owner explains the Stories to the Team
  • The Team then estimates the complexity of each Story
  • The Team then determines which Story(s) they can commit to that defines what they will accomplish in a Sprint

Scrum – A Brief Introduction to SCRUM Terminology

In addition to Stories & Sprints, other terminologies associated with the process are:

  1. ‘Product Backlog’ – All the work to complete a project broken down into ‘Stories’ or narrative descriptions of manageable activities, prioritized by what is most important to the customer. 
  2. ‘Sprint Backlog’ – A pending amount of work (Stories) committed to be done in an agreed to time frame broken down further into tasks.
  3. ‘Product Increment’ – The output of each Sprint is a ‘Product Increment’.
  4. ‘Burn-down’ – The rate of completion of Sprints is the Burn-down of the effort. 
  5. ‘Scrummaster’ – An independent person assigned to help remove obstacles and distractions so the Team remains focused on meeting its Sprint goal.
  6. ‘Scrum Board’ – Literally a physical board whereby the Team often tracks and coordinates the Sprints on a daily basis by posting the Stories to the board and posting what was completed recently, what is to be completed next, and issues impacting work completion.

Sprint Completion & Reviews

Ultimately upon Sprint completions there are reviews with Stakeholders to describe, assess, and obtain feedback on what was delivered. 

This is a Scalable Process

Note: This is a Scalable Process:  Large projects can be subdivided into the sum of smaller activities each with small Teams so that the above process can be applied. 

The preceding is an excerpt from the high tech management guide.

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Learn Root Cause Analysis – A Must for Engineers

Learn the 5 Why Root Cause Analysis Process

Unknown-Unknowns Can De-Rail a Program. At times during a high tech development program, unknown-unknowns can occur that impact the program’s ability to meet cost, schedule, or performance objectives.  Early warnings that something is amiss are often discerned from the alerts provided by unacceptable in-process drops in either the program’s cost performance index(CPI) or its schedule performance index(SPI).  (These indices are discussed in detail in the Program Management Tutorial.) Engineers must learn the 5 Why Root Cause Analysis Process (discussed further herein) to ascertain the fundamental cause(s) of an issue resulting in a failing to assure that fixes are not just band-aids.

Get to the Root Cause for a Real Fix & Not a Band-aid

Determining the root cause of the issue causing the CPI/SPI drop in a timely fashion is essential so that corrective / preventive actions can be implemented.  This is necessary to preclude further occurrences of the issues and further erosion of these important indices.  After a set back, it is key to develop & implement recovery plans to get the program back on track.  Therefore, getting to the real cause or causes and not just the symptoms of the problem is crucial to assure that the fixes implemented are not just ‘band-aids’ but are truly adequate to prevent reoccurrences.  Therefore, it is important for engineers and managers to learn root cause analysis & the 5 why process. It is a management process that is key to program success.

5 Why? – An Effective Causal Analysis Process

Root cause analysis & the ‘5-Why?’ process is a very effective and simplistic practice to apply and learn root cause analysis. It facilitates the ability to get to the real cause(s) of an issue easily.

Why this practice is called the ‘5-Why?’ process

The basis of root cause analysis & the 5 why process is embedded in the following scenario: If the question is asked why an issue is occurring or has occurred, usually the 1st answer to why an issue is occurring is generally just a symptom of the issue and not the ‘root cause’.  For example: ‘Why is there blood on your shirt?’  ‘I cut my hand’ is a symptom and basing it on a fix such as ‘putting on a ‘band-aid’ will not prevent getting cut again.  Asking Why? a 2nd time i.e. asking why the 1st answer is occurring gets closer but is usually a symptom as well.  ‘Why did you get cut?’  ‘The tool I used had a sharp edge that cut me’ is also a symptom.  Asking Why? 3-5 times more as to why each of the previous answers are occurring gets to the root cause or primary causes with a much higher probability.  Implementing corrective / preventive actions at this level will tend to fix the systemic issues which are at the core of the problem.  So continuing with the example, ‘Why did it cut you?’  ‘I used it for the 1sttime and did not get trained yet’.  This is clearly a more primary cause. ‘I also forgot to wear gloves.’ is another primary cause and ‘The tool I used wasn’t the correct one for the job.’ is also a primary cause.  Fixing these causes will have a meaningful effect on preventing cuts.  Learning root cause analysis & the 5 why process will in effect be learning a powerful yet simple root cause analysis technique.

Why Asking More than 5 times is Counterproductive

Note: Asking ‘Why?’ too many times can get meaningless results in terms of implementing corrective / preventive actions.  For example, ultimately if you ask ‘Why?’ enough times you’ll get the result that the ‘Big Bang’ is the root cause of all the previous answers.  Asking about 5 times has been found to be reasonable and effective in applying root cause analysis & the 5 why process.

Categorizing The Issues

A key part of root cause analysis & the 5 why process involves categorizing the issues. Categorizing enables the analysis, and from the example about getting cut, we see that there are 4 categories of causality issues:

  1. ‘People’ issues (staff may lack the needed training or expertise to do the job)
    • In this case the person doing the job was not experienced or trained
  2. ‘Tools’ issues (tools may be unreliable, defective, or difficult to use)
    • In this case tools were not marked to assure the correct one was selected 
  3. ‘Input / Requirements’ issues (input or requirements may be incomplete, ambiguous, or incorrect)
    • In this case the job needing a tool did not specify the required tool needed
  4. ‘Methods / Process’ issues (methods may be incomplete, ambiguous, wrong, or not followed)
    • In this case there were no ‘how-to-use’ procedures in place 

State the Problem Accurately & Determine the Systemic Issues

Before the root cause analysis & 5 why process can begin, a clear and accurate ‘Statement of the Problem’ must be established.  Moreover, data regarding the problem must be obtained and analyzed to determine the systemic issues impacting the problem. Once the stated problem is agreed to, the ‘5 Why?’ causal analysis can begin.

Fishbone Diagram / Bulletized Template

Diagramming the ‘5-Why?’ causal analysis procedure using a ‘Fishbone / Ishikawa’ diagram (shown in the high tech management guide) (The diagram looking like a fishbone was developed by Haoru Ishikawa in 1968.) helps in visualizing the process.  

An alternative template (bulletized not fish bone) is advantageous in that it uses the ‘5-Why?’ method directly for each category without the need to diagram it. (also shown in the high tech management guide).  Using the ‘5-Why?’ categorizing and issues drill-down approach yields several primary causes (the lowest indented answers to each of the “Why’s” for each issue. Implementing corrective / preventive actions at this level will tend to resolve the systemic issues which are at the core of the problem to preclude repetition as opposed to just ‘band-aiding’ the symptoms.

Process Summary 

  • Develop a Statement of the Problem
  • Obtain and analyze data to determine the systemic issues impacting the undesirable outcomes
  • Partition the assessment in to 4 principal causal categories:
    1. Methods / Process (methods may be incomplete, ambiguous, wrong, or not followed)Tools (tools may be unreliable, defective, or difficult to use)
    2. Tools (tools may be unreliable, defective, or difficult to use)
    3. People (staff may lack the needed training or expertise to do the job)
    4. Input / Requirements (input or requirements may be incomplete, ambiguous, or incorrect)
  • Identify the principal cause(s) using a cause-and-effect (Fishbone / Ishikawa) diagram or use the ‘5-Why?’ method directly using a bulletized template without the need to diagram it



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Engineers – Learn Risk Management Basics

Risk Management Basics – Technology Development Has Risk

A Program Manager is responsible to meet all contractual obligations on a project. The customer expects that all performance specifications will be met and that all deliveries as stated in the contract will be met on time.  The company’s management expects that this will be accomplished within the agreed to cost quoted to the customer.  It is reasonable to expect that there are going to be some risks associated with the development of technology.  Consequently, it is important for engineers to learn high tech risk management basics.

Plan For Risk & Plan to Mitigate Risk

It is important for engineers to learn high tech risk management basics primarily because risks translate to the possibility that some of the specifications may not be met.  The areas of technical concern need to be revealed and plans for reducing these risks must be thought out – by engineers.  In addition, some of the delivery milestones may not be met unless some actions are taken to identify and mitigates these risks and/or to have contingency plans if some of the risks materialize.  Therefore, during the cost estimating phase of the project, before a quote is submitted, the risks to the project have to be identified and quantified so that a reasonable contingency fund is included in the estimate. This ‘reserve set-aside’ covers the mitigation activities and also covers the cost associated with a reasonable amount of risks that will materialize including their contingency plans so that overall contractual commitments are still met.

Opportunities Can Offset Risk

There may be opportunities as well that if realized will help offset the risks and these also require identification and quantification even though typically the risks tend to out weigh the opportunities.  The reason we do not estimate conservatively to cover all conceivable risks and have many opportunities on a project is usually due to competition, customer budget constraints, and the fact that new technical development is inherently risky.  Nonetheless, opportunity management and opportunity realization is a key part of high tech risk management basics.

Risk vs. Opportunity – Depends What was Assumed in the Baseline

It is interesting to understand that sometimes the same item can be either a risk or an opportunity.  It depends on what was assumed in the baseline.  If a $100,000 package of money that is in the middle of a highly trafficked highway is part of the estimate to complete the project then getting the money is a risk.  If the cost to complete the project did not depend on this money then it represents an opportunity albeit the opportunity is risky and the realization cost may not be worth the effort.  Understanding the importance of the baseline assumptions is crucial to learning high tech risk management basics.

Risk Identification, Quantification, & a Financial Reserve ‘Set-Aside’

The process to identify and quantify risks encompasses an assessment of the likelihood of occurrence of each risk identified, and an assessment of the associated impact to the program for each risk should it occur.  A matrix is established that categorizes each as one of the following: 

  • It’s going to happen and is impactful so put the full value (100%) of the impact into the baseline as a reserve including the cost of any contingency plan
  • It is highly likely although not a certainty that it will happen and is impactful so put a factored amount (75%) into the baseline as a reserve and budget the cost to mitigate the risk / realize the opportunity
  • It may happen and is somewhat impactful so put a reduced factored amount (50%) of the impact into the baseline as a reserve and budget the cost to mitigate the risk / realize the opportunity
  • It probably won’t happen and is not very impactful but just in case put some minimal factored amount (25%) of the impact into the baseline as a reserve and keep an eye on it

Typically the reserve included in the baseline estimate is the sum of the factored risks minus the sum of the factored opportunities.  The baseline also includes all mitigation and realization costs.  

This thinking is fundamental to the process of high tech risk management basics.  There is a structured methodology to conduct the likelihood of occurrence and impact analyses for each Risk & Opportunity and is included and discussed more thoroughly on this site in the high tech management guide.

Risk Mitigation / Risk Burn-Down & Opportunity Realization

Enacting a plan to Mitigate, or ‘Burn-down’, the major risks on a program is essential to reducing the likelihood and impact of their occurrences and it is important to enact a realization plan as well to make opportunities happen.  Both activities form an integral part of the overall program plan to offset and reduce risk and thereby meet contractual and budget commitments. Risk mitigation is fundamental to high tech risk management basics.

7 Example / Generic Mitigation Plans

The following seven example activities are listed as an aid to stimulate thought in developing mitigation and realization plans.  Typically if implemented they generally reduce risk and/or lead to opportunities when engaged in applying high tech risk management basics:

1. Perform Analyses

2. Conduct Requirements Review with Customers

3. Multiple Sourcing Vendors

4. Early Testing

5. Selective Prototyping

6. Modeling / Simulation

7. Formulating a ‘Tiger Team’ to focus on key areas of concern.  

Assessing Risk Burn-Down Progress

Ultimately, the goal of high tech risk management basics is to make what were identified as risks no longer risky.  As such, each Mitigation / Realization (M/R) task in a M/R plan is intended to improve upon the situation. The expected improvement in risk or opportunity factor (an improvement of 5%, 19% etc.) is a judgment without the need for formal likelihood vs. impact quantification. By definition, if the interim event is successful it is assumed that the actual improvement has been achieved.  For example, if an analysis is performed relative to a performance risk with favorable results the improvement may be judged to be a few percent reduction in the risk factor; if modeling or simulation is then performed on the risk area and the outcome is judged to be successful the risk is reduced further by a percentage deemed appropriate based on experience; and if selective prototyping is then performed on the risk area and its outcome is successful the risk is burned-down even further possibly mitigating it completely.  

A similar argument can be made for assessing the success when enacting opportunity realization plans.  

Risk Handling Approaches

Note: Mitigation is not the only way to handle risks.  High tech risk management basics include other options. Transferring the risk is an option.  For example, if meeting a requirement via a hardware design is risky, performing the task in software may not be risky.  Moreover, if the cost benefit trade-off to mitigate a risk is not sound, i.e. spending $50,000 to mitigate a $60,000 risk would not be sound, then Absorbing the risk may be the best strategy.

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Engineers – Learn Engineering Lifecycle Management

Engineering Lifecycle Management – Managing the Phases of a High Tech Development Program

Engineering Life Cycle Management is a ‘must-learn’ skill for Engineers to be Program Management / Engineering Management Capable.

A Technical Project’s ‘Lifecycle’ is its phased activity from its birth as a new business opportunity through its maturity from concept & development to production, deployment, and support.  Understanding these phases and the critical elements of each phase is pivotal to successful program management.  For Engineers to be successful in their careers they must learn engineering lifecycle management.

The life cycle phases of a development project can be broken down as follows:

  1. Contract Award
  2. System Design
  3. Preliminary Design
  4. Final Design
  5. Buy, Build, & Low Level Test
  6. Assembly 
  7. Integration & Test, Qualification, Verification, & Validation
  8. Transition-to-Production

Engineers Are Inherently High Potential Candidates For Leadership

Engineers with a High Tech education, who learn Program Management skills early, in my view, will inherently be Program Management (PM) & Engineering Management (EM) capable of managing high tech programs.  But, first they must learn engineering lifecycle management. That is where their technical ability and their program and engineering management skills will be applied.

Key Traits for PM & EM Success

In my view there are a few but important key traits that a PM & EM in charge of a technical project should embody to be successful when they engage in engineering lifecycle management:

  • Experience and education in technology preferably in one of the technologies that comprise a measurable portion of the project being managed – Avoids complete dependency on other technical personnel for assessing and guidance on steps to take in understanding issues.
  • Knowing what questions to be asking and assessing the answers to regarding issues in-process during each phase of a project’s lifecycle.  (The checklists in the high tech management guide on this site make this easy)
  • Tenacity and the avoidance of intellectual laziness – knowing what is needed to be done, no matter how intrusive to the status quo, and initiating the action to do it.
  • Knowing it is their role to make a decision particularly in the midst of conflicting opinions.

Overarching Role of a Program Manager

To understand what Program Management entails, it is key to understand the role of a Program Manager.  The Program Manager of a project is the single point authority responsible for the successful execution of the project inclusive of cost, schedule, performance, work statement commitments, and terms and conditions in accordance with a contract.  For Engineers to be Program Managers they have to think business, learn basic PM skills, and then must learn engineering lifecycle management.  

The Program Manager – A Business Leader who Leads the Team

An insightful way to see this is to view a project as a business unto itself with a customer and a contract that articulates the project requirements in detail.  In this context, the Program Manager is essentially the ‘president’ of that project / business with full authority for its conduct.  

It is the responsibility of the Program Manager to ‘Manage’ the execution of the contract.  The PM plans the activities needed to meet contractual cost, schedule, performance, and delivery commitments.  It is the responsibility of the PM to obtain the needed manpower resources from the functional groups within the company (e.g. engineering, finance, etc.) thereby standing-up the program team that will do the work.  

Thereafter, the PM leads the team, assigns budgets, initiates work, conducts essential periodic reviews to manage the progress of the project, and makes important decisions as variances from plan arise as they always do.  Moreover, the PM is the face of the company to the customer as well as the face of the project to senior company management.  Engineers – knowing the role of a PM and realizing the level of authority that a PM has is key to remember when you learn engineering lifecycle management.

Lifecycle Management – A Synoptic Overview

A synoptic overview of the phased activity associated with a high tech development program follows to let Engineers know what their life on-the-job will look like.  It is provided to let them see what is expected of them on programs they may someday lead or most definitely will contribute to.  It constitutes the key phased activity to help them learn engineering lifecycle management.

Start of Work

Start of work is the 1st step you encounter when you learn engineering lifecycle management. Following contract award, program documents (i.e. specifications, statement of work, etc.) are reviewed and updated to reflect any negotiated changes. Once updates are agreed to, the program manager plans the project by breaking down the tasks into manageable activities, time phases and resource loads them, stands up the team that is tasked to do the work, distributes budgets, and authorizes work.  The technical activity is the essential activity in a development program and typically is in sync with the following: 

System Design

The system architecture is critical because its selection determines all that follows in a development program. This step is the most important to focus on when you learn engineering lifecycle management. It is a complex but key process that is established to assure its selection is optimum for things like Design for Manufacturability, Design for Integration & Test, Concurrent Engineering, Programmatics of Cost & Schedule realism, Risk and areas for selective prototyping, etc. Once established, the system is then definitized in detail.  System concepts are established relative to safety, human factors, commonality, built-in test, design for manufacturability, etc., and design guidelines are set forth.  Risk areas are clearly identified and special activities to resolve potential problems at an early stage are set into motion.  This includes analyses, selective prototyping, unique mockups, and any special tests deemed necessary to mitigate risk.  System documentation e.g. block diagrams, interface control documents (ICDs), system partitioning and a family tree, and lower level specifications are generated so that the detailed design activity can be initiated.  Major subcontract specifications are updated so that associated supplier activity is started. Technical work is broken down and parceled out in a logical fashion to bring the final product together as a system.

Detailed Design & Engineering Work Packages

There is a logical flow of activity to understand when you learn engineering lifecycle management. As such, the detailed design steps follow the system design. Family trees and the contract Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) define the equipment and the activities that must be performed to provide all deliverables in accordance with end item performance specifications and the contractual Statement of Work (SOW).  The design activities are broken down to the lowest practical level of control namely the subassembly or printed circuit card level.  Work packages are established such that each engineer covering analog, digital, software, mechanical, reliability, maintainability, safety, etc. have well-defined tasks to accomplish.  The work packages include a required timeframe, budget and completion criteria as well as a clear understanding of the interdependencies of who needs what from whom and when.

Design Documentation – Defines the Design & Paces The Project

An important output of the detailed design phase is a complete set of documentation that defines the hardware for production so that the end product meets performance specifications within budgetary constraints.  With this in mind, the design proceeds to address all of the detailed concerns of the engineering functional and environmental performance requirements.  This includes concurrent engineering inputs regarding reliability, maintainability, safety, human factors, producibility, testability, supportability, affordability i.e. designing to a target unit production cost (DTUPC), etc.  Often, the pacing of activity is event driven by scheduled documentation requirements.  Plans, specifications, procedures, analyses, test reports, and other data items are prepared as required, updated as necessary, and managed in accordance with a data management plan.  Detailed electrical and mechanical drawings including schematics, parts lists, assembly drawings, and detailed layouts are prepared by the design and drafting group with support from engineering. Documentation constitutes a measurable definition of completion. This point cannot be overstated when you learn engineering lifecycle management. Being able to measure completion of a task is key for an engineer to understand. Releasing a design document is such a device.

Preliminary & Final Design Phases – Leading to Configuration Control

The detailed design activity is a 2-step process: a preliminary design phase followed by a final design phase where each phase culminates in both internal and customer design reviews.  During the design activity depending on design maturity, the design packages are released in various stages for purchasing, fabrication, and assembly. At the conclusion of the final design phase and its critical design review (CDR), the designs come under configuration control.  Beyond this point in the program, design activity is affected by changes, which are instituted via formal engineering change control. Typically changes are brought about by problems with drawings and / or design deficiencies uncovered during manufacturing and integration and test of the hardware & software.  However, design improvements and change proposals brought about by value engineering or design performance enhancements also can be initiated and controlled by the formal change process.

Needed Tools & Test Equipment

As the program matures, and in conjunction with the program test needs, greater insight is gained into defining characteristics and required quantities of the in-house tools, test fixtures, and test equipment to support the engineering development, manufacturing, and test requirements of the program.  The design of tools, fixtures, and test equipment, which include environmental test sets, system testers, and subassembly testers, proceeds as a parallel design activity with all inherent controls and procedures described previously for the prime item equipment development.

Procurement & Fabrication – Make / Buy Decisions

Subsequent to design finalization, the steps to prove out the design veracity are significant to follow when you learn engineering lifecycle management. They include the buy, build, and test phases of a program. So for example, major make-or-buy decisions are usually made early on.  They are typically long-lead activities & items.  These decisions are established based on practical considerations of availability of in-house expertise, risk, schedule constraints, competitive pricing, and historical experience.  The result is that major subcontracts are let at the outset of the program under the auspices of a subcontracts administration group.  Subcontract specifications, statements of work, and in progress monitoring criteria such as performance, schedule, cost, and data reporting form the basis of subcontract control.  Additionally, other long lead items are identified early and action initiated and commitments monitored.

Parts Lists & Composite Bills of Material

Don’t underestimate the impact of parts selection to a projects success when you learn engineering lifecycle management. Apart from the special activities discussed above, the basic material acquisition process stems from the detailed parts list generated during the design process.  During the design process part selection is evaluated with respect to specification and quality requirements, standardization, and multiple sourcing considerations.  Specification and source control drawings are prepared.  Nonstandard parts are identified, and formal request procedures are followed.  Having established acceptable parts lists, composite bills of material are prepared.  Individual quantities are increased to reflect anticipated shrinkage due to the build and test cycles as well as increases based on any negotiated spares needs.  Purchase requisitions are then prepared and purchase orders are placed with the most cost competitive and schedule acceptable qualified vendors.  Internal shop orders are released for items that are being made in-house. 

Receiving Material & Actions

As material is received, it is inspected and / or tested for acceptance and stocked in kit packages for assembly.  Defective material is reviewed for disposition and is either rejected as beyond repair, returned to vendor, or repaired in-house.  Material expediting is utilized to track scheduled material requirements as they pertain to assembly schedules.  Potential problems such as kit shortages are identified early and corrective action taken.

The Build Cycle

The build cycle is initiated by a design release for manufacturing and the prototype products undergo full quality assurance (QA) inspections prior to issuance to engineering for Integration and Test (I&T). The assembly activity for the program is inclusive of building breadboards, mockups, brassboards, engineering development models, prototypes, pre-production units, and ultimately production units. This applies to the prime hardware as well as to tools, test fixtures, test equipment, and spares.

Preparing for Transition to Production

Brassboards and the 1stprototype equipments are typically built under engineering control by engineering prototype technician personnel who can work directly from engineering drawings and do not require detailed methodization. Engineering maintains control over the first systems to prove out the basic design, make changes, and update drawings.  Manufacturing engages to build the next lot of deliverables or pre-production systems to a cleaner drawing package and to improve upon planned manufacturing procedures in preparation for full-scale production.  This approach helps have a smooth transition to production. 

Integration & Test (I&T)

Major assembly and system tests of the initial equipments are typically performed utilizing the overall subsystem and interconnect cabling as a ‘hot bench test-bed” in conjunction with special purpose system testers that are developed to support assembly test, system acceptance tests, environmental test, reliability demonstration test, etc. Note: Testing of the testers also forms a part of the integration and test phase of the program.

Comprehensive Testing Concludes the Development

The test program is an integrated activity covering all aspects of engineering evaluations as well as in-process subassembly, assembly, and system level test.  Test equipment requirements, capital requirements such as test chambers and the use of outside testing laboratories, are all planned into the program.   Engineering evaluations are conducted on mockups, breadboards replicating special areas of concern, as well as installation checks. Safety tests, human factors tests, environmental tests, electromagnetic interference tests, functional and physical configuration audits (FCA/PCA), field tests all form an integral part of the test program.  These activities are scheduled to permit changes that result from them to be introduced into the system and revalidated in a timely manner to meet the overall schedule. 

Finally, successful completion of Verifying & Validating that the system meets its contractual performance requirements concludes the developmental lifecycle cycle of a technical developmental program and establishes the end item’s production readiness and enables its transition to production.  

Developmental Phase Specific Check Lists

As an aid in helping a program manager manage this activity, phase specific checklists are included in this guide for completeness.  They are phrased as questions that need answering to in each phase.  It is key that a PM knows what questions to ask of the team and thereby invoke actions to assure positive outcomes.  The checklists are key to applying what is learned to assure Engineers learn engineering lifecycle management and succeed when applying it.  These important checklists are contained in the guide to managing high tech programs.

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Engineers – Take the 1st Step & Learn Program Management Basics

Program Management Basics Simplified – Learn Program Planning, Tracking, & Control Processes

Using a simplistic example of ‘Re-Modeling a Bathroom’ you can access an easy to learn and made simple Tutorial.  Click this Tutorial now or read on and wait until the end. This Tutorial will illustrate key program management processes. These practices are scalable and are applicable to much larger projects that you will encounter as Engineers. The Tutorial is presented in power point format for simplicity and compactness of narration. As such it has been made sufficiently clear for self-teaching to learn program management basics simplified.

Keeping it Simple

There are many textbooks, papers and the like that address Program Management.  Often Program Management is treated as a subset of Management Science and can be very comprehensive as part of a college course in the subject. Oftentimes the material discussed elsewhere is analytical inclusive of linear programming and from my perspective is treated in detail that is more than is needed to actually manage most technical projects encountered in the real world. Nonetheless, Engineers, it is important to 1st learn program management basics as prerequisite to a more comprehensive treatment you’ll be exposed to during your career. The Tutorial makes learning these core principles simple.

The Essentials of Program Management

There are 5 core practices that a program manager in charge of a program must be skilled in as well as Engineers contributing to the work being performed. They include the following:

1 – Breaking down the scope of the work to be performed into manageable tasks producing the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) of the program

2 – Developing and tracking an Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) that is formatted into a ‘Waterfall’ / Gantt view (developed by Henry Gantt in 1910) that time phases and resource loads the tasks to be performed on the project and provides insight into the critical path(s) of the project

3 – Producing a Network Flow Diagram / PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) view that is key to visualize the Work Flow and the Interactions & Interdependencies on the project.

4 – Evaluating Cost and Schedule performance and variances to plan utilizing the Earned Value Management System (EVMS) technique

5 – Applying Risk Management to quantify and Mitigate / Burn-Down risks associated with a project

So get started and learn program management basics simplified. The Tutorial will teach you more about these 5 core practices and how to apply them when engaged in the management of a program. Link now to this Tutorial and its Synoptic Overview. See the benefit that this Tutorial will provide you with. Learning these practices sooner rather than later will help you gain a competitive career advantage.

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Engineers – What You Need to Know & Be Prepared For

The Issue

We graduate skilled engineers who compete immediately and successfully with their peers who have been working as engineers for years.  Only, the next generation of graduates will enter the job market for less money with even more skills armed with the latest technology than those of the prior class.  Moreover, business circumstances downstream may dictate a reduction in force – layoffs. Oftentimes, it is the higher paid generation that is impacted.  Engineers – What you need to know & be prepared for is this reality.

The Options

So, how do the earlier engineering graduates prepare themselves for these eventualities and compete?  Typically, Engineers – what you need to know & be prepared for is that, with a high probability, they tend to gravitate into engineering management, program management, or business development.  For this strategy to be effective, Program & Engineering Management Learning for Engineers is essential.  Consequently, sooner or later, Engineers must acquire the skills offered on this site and sooner is better than later.

An Important Mindset Change For Career Success

To help be prepared for this critical career fork-in-the-road that engineers will encounter, they must see themselves first and foremost as businesspersons and as a personal business augmented by their engineering skills.  This is a change in mindset that is important to help their relationship with their employer make more sense and improve their opportunities for career options.

Even Staying Technical Requires Management Skills

Even the alternative which is to stay technical and work to keep current and become expert in having company product specific ‘tribal’ knowledge will require management skills. This is just a reality that is hard to escape. Being expert in a technology will most likely result in being in charge of a group of engineers or being directed to assume a lead role in technical management. Engineers – what you need to know & be prepared for is that a management role for a skilled engineer is inevitable. Moreover, it is important to accept that turning it down is seen as rejecting a promotion and that will ruin a career and any opportunity for advancement.

What is Needed to Succeed

Toward this end, Engineers must acquire expertise that is inclusive of a business perspective covering key program management expectations of cost and schedule constraints. They must learn the skills necessary to help manage their efforts and treat these constraints as equal in importance to technical performance. These skills must augment their technical abilities and must be applied at each stage in the lifecycle of a high tech development program.

In addition, Engineers should understand that in business there are internal politics of the organization and competing goals of their managers. Consequently, it is an imperative to learn important people skills to help navigate this truism.

What is Broken

The reality of all this circles back to a need for education in understanding business and program & engineering management learning for engineers coupled with learning the necessary people skills to survive and to some day lead.  This part of the Engineering education is important and it is broken.  My intent is to help fix it.

The Fix

The material on this site offers access to educational specific topics essential for expertise in Business Management, Program Management, Risk Management, Engineering Management, Business Development & Proposal Management, and Leadership.  The guides have been structured to be sufficient for self-teaching and are made simple, concise, effective, and readily applicable to real world management efforts.  Moreover, they are useful for those seeking to become Program Management Professionals as well as being an important adjunct to the education of Business and Engineering majors for success.