The hiring process is one of the most important parts of retention. A good fit does not always mean the one person with the highest qualifications on paper.  Suitability for the position has to be analyzed. A couple of extra…   Read more»

My aim is to be a scientist. But I think that it is totally wrong to believe that only managers will require managerial skills. Scientists also will have to lead laboratories, meet deadlines and take up projects. Good management of…   Read more»

I personally believe that I am acceptably organized. But I am very novice when it comes to social interactions. Throughout my studies and career, I have always been on the technical end and did not have many opportunities to interact…   Read more»

What motivates me the most is to see people believe in me. I know that this is not as good as self-motivation, but still, that is what has worked for me so far. I sometimes find it hard to work…   Read more»

It is known from numerous studies that only a small percentage of new hires fail to succeed due to a lack of knowledge or technical skills. At the same time, several studies exist that show that higher performers tend to…   Read more»

I think we are biased towards thinking of one thing at a time. In college, we focus on one field of study and we spend a whole lot of time thinking only of that particular thing. So, I think all…   Read more»

Reactive management can happen due to a crisis or unexpected situation arising in the company. But a habitual reactive management style is not that good. Reactive management tends to result sometimes in poor quality also you may miss to identify…   Read more»

The risk management plan becomes a very important part of such situations. Having a substitute member trained on essential skills performed by a key player in the team is important. Also having appropriate contingency plans helps. Having identified each team…   Read more»

Six sigma is very popular as it reduces waste by minimizing variations in processes. In a bell curve distribution, 6 sigma ultimately means 3.4 defects for every one million opportunities, or in other words 99.99966% success.  Similarly, another method of…   Read more»

This is my first class with Dr. Simon. I had taken a course in project management and another course in production planning and control from my home school in Sri Lanka. But this the very first time that I am…   Read more»

As many have already described the steps that happen during the closing phase I would like to discuss the importance of the closing phase in a project. At first, the project closure might seem like an obvious and effortless phase…   Read more»

Risk management and agile project management are two things that come to my mind when thinking of cost overruns. In most cases, cost overruns occur due to unexpected expenditures which most of the time are resulting from unassessed risks in…   Read more»

To add to the discussion on Gantt charts I would like to discuss a little about the history. Henry Laurence Gantt who was an American mechanical engineer is credited with the invention of the Gantt chart. It was introduced by…   Read more»

If the change involves the device or the manufacturing of the device, the technical aspects of the change have to be reviewed. The most important factor will be making sure that patient health and safety will not be impacted in…   Read more»

It is very important to understand the product ecosystem. The tests have to start to be designed as product specs are being developed. The tests have to be treated like a subproject. While defining the acceptance criteria ensuring there is…   Read more»

Sometimes milestones are missed when there is project scope change, in this case, it is vital to start realizing that the defined scope should be reclarified and roles and responsibilities should be reiterated to make sure that there is no…   Read more»

A good starting point might be to check whether your test conditions are just too strict, what if over-verification is performed. I think that it is always valid to ask yourself after a test failure whether that test was absolutely…   Read more»

Understanding the requirements and establishing a robust project definition is paramount for the success of the project. Spending more time on the initiation and planning phases is a long time investment and should be encouraged by the PM and high-level…   Read more»

Earned Value Management highly depends on quantitative project planning. This is not practical for some novel and agile projects. Some modern projects which are always open to change utilize methods such as scrum or agileEVM. EVM also has other limitations…   Read more»

In addition to fault tree analysis and FMECA which are widely used, revealing severe hazard potential as early as possible is very important. Preliminary hazard analysis conducted as early as in the conceptual design stage could help save time and…   Read more»