The two survey answers seem unrelated to me. I say this because you can love your job without being praised. Everyone wants to feel appreciated and receive recognition, but if you truly love what you’re doing do you really need to be praised for everything that you do? Obviously one needs recognition in order to move up in their career path,…[Read more]

I am a little surprised that percentage for benefits, meaningful work, and being recognized are the lowest. One of the most famous saying is “do a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”. Which I would imagine would coincide with meaningful work, but I suppose that being challenged or excited by your work is more of the same towards…[Read more]

No one has all of the answers, and most people are learning as they go along. In the mini-sims I always tried to gather up as much information as I can and make a sort of informed “gut” decision. It is always good to communicate with the people you are working with as they may know something that you do not. For example Mini-sim 2 had two possible…[Read more]

I believe for myself personally I would need improvement in the risk management portion of project management. It seems as though it is something that may come with experience. One can obviously count for all of the expected risks, but it is the unexpected that comes with having experience. It is very hard to expect to unexpected until it has…[Read more]

In almost all cases it is the project manager’s sole responsibility to make sure that everyone is talking regardless of organization. The title the person hold is “project manager” meaning that they must manage what is going on within the project. This includes the tasks that are required, and the people working on the project. A team sport is a…[Read more]

Using the minisim as an example. The product that was being made required a specific amount of friction in order for the product to work. Specifications should most certainly be followed to a t when a final product is being worked on. Deviations of specifications can cause many issues in a product or even failure; which is not a desired outcome…[Read more]

Reactive management is most certainly not a bad thing if it required. Hopefully, it will not be required as a good PM should be able to account for any delays or foreseeable issues. Usually reactive management is characterized by a lack of proper planning. Reactive management is also referred to as “firefighting”; which means that the manager has…[Read more]

EV, SV, and CV are mainly used as estimates so that the PM and stake holders can know where the project is at, and how it is doing. These values allow the PM to adjust, and make changes so that the project can be successful. As Jdc stated previously, Earned Value is dependent upon the percentage of work completed multiplied by the original budget…[Read more]

If I had to choose between the two possible cases I myself would go with scenario 2. It is better to be behind schedule but under budget, than ahead of schedule and over budget. I say this because you can always work harder or get more people to work on the project if you have the money to spare, rather than being behind schedule and over the…[Read more]

I believe by growth you mean scope creep. Scope creep generally refers to changes or uncontrolled growth in a project’s scope. This can involve poor change control, lack of initial identification of tasks in the project, etc. I do not believe that there is any actual way of controlling scope creep as it is bound to happen, especially to large…[Read more]

When determining a schedule human factors should already be taken into account. I believe that a good project manager should already have sick days, and vacations accounted for. The most dangerous waste of resources would obviously be what cannot be accounted for, and was just previously mentioned, sick days. Vacations can be planned, and should…[Read more]

Both variance types are crucial when trying to stay within the scope of the project. Schedule variance is calculated by subtracting the planned value out from the earned value (EV-PV). Schedule variance gives the PM an idea of where they are at in the project; which is necessary because it will allow them to know whether the project needs to be…[Read more]

I do not have experience with industrial projects, however I have been on a surgical research team. While on this team we went over the DDP of the project, and covered all tasks required. While working on our project it was crucial to complete each task before moving onto the next. There were many steps in the project the first being the…[Read more]

manolo the issue with what you are asking is that ISO are regulations that must be required. Different devices need these regulations or else they will run into issues with the FDA. The FDA could then stop these companies from selling the product. If for example Philips made an electric toothbrush that needed to have insulation regulations…[Read more]

No, personally I do not believe it is ever okay to shorten time frames if it means risk will be increased. In the simulation there was an option to shorten testing, and it was all luck that the FDA over looked the testing periods. Realistically, if the FDA was doing their job properly then they would have questioned the periods of observation. A…[Read more]

As most responses in this thread indicate, talking to the vendor directly to let them know the issue would be the simplest way of dealing with any problems in regards to the product they are providing. In the original example given where there is an unusual amount of defects in the packaging, the best course of action would be to call the vendor,…[Read more]

Like previous posts have mentioned, having a full scope of the project is key to completing the project in the proper time frame. Risk analysis is involved in multiple areas of a project, and runs directly parallel with the design controls. The best way to avoid risks is simply for the PM to hold an initial meeting with the team in order to come…[Read more]

@ manolo, I am curious as to what you mean by “overcommunication”. I agree with you that being pestered by someone constantly can become quite a nuisance, however, I would only say that this would extend to coworkers or subordinates. In regards to a project manager, or any other higher up, there cannot be enough communication. Usually, a higher…[Read more]