I fully believe that a project manager’s level of motivation affects the team’s productivity and motivation level. If the project manager is very passionate about the project then it will rub onto the team and make them work harder. If…   Read more»

Project management techniques differ from company to company because it is due to availability of resources and past experiences. Larger companies will more resources to work with, and I’m sure they have gone through many projects and have learned from…   Read more»

I would prefer to be an engineer and then transition into a manager role once I’m more experienced and have more knowledge of how the industry I am working for works. I first want to be an engineer working in…   Read more»

I’m not too surprised by these results, but I thought fair pay would be higher than just 32%. Some people of talked to wanted as much pay as possible, but I guess it varies from person to person. For me,…   Read more»

I think Americans are putting in more time for a variety of reasons. Some could be because they are motivated to work on the project and are “workaholics”, others because deadlines are coming up and they need all the time…   Read more»

I guess for me the challenge and the reward is what motivates me to complete a project. The challenge aspect is important to me because it brings fun and excitement to the project. It engages me to research, brainstorm, ask…   Read more»

For a class project in my undergraduate studies, I had to research plastics for use in the product we were designing. Plastics we researched included polypropylene, mylar, polyethylene, etc. I learned a great deal about different kinds of plastic and…   Read more»

In my opinion using the same supplier for two different products doesn’t fully satisfy the dual source requirement. While yes it does provide an alternative product in case the primary one isn’t available for whatever reason, but the problem for…   Read more»

One of the project I worked required us to use specific captive bolts. The shoulder length, tread size, knob type, etc. all had to be a specific value. I researched companies for a while until I found one. That produced…   Read more»

From my experience working at my current company, during the closing phase we have a few tasks that need to be done. Close up any loose ends with our vendors, typically ensure that they have the most up to date…   Read more»

I’m with ks629 on this one. EV is only one part of the project and represents only one aspect of it. Any EV estimate whether under budget or over budget will need to be accompanied by something to back it…   Read more»

Increasing project risk should be avoided as much as possible. In the mini-sim example, decreasing the animal experiment time would be very bad. From these studies we will see how well the product performs and observe any negative reactions that…   Read more»

I agree with srg36 and hc255 view that they are important parts of a project but may not necessarily be the absolute most important. They are only one part of a large process when developing a project. Still, the items…   Read more»

During one project I was on at my company, the WBS wasn’t executed well. One particular mechanical engineering team was overloaded with many tasks, the other teams had a more reasonable workload. The reason for the overload of tasks was…   Read more»

One of the project I worked on at my company, we had to include anchoring brackets with a new server rack that we built up to show to our customer for their opinion and approval. We got a shipment from…   Read more»

As a PA with an uncooperative member of the team, I would try to get some one on one time with them to figure out the situation. As others have mentioned there could be an underlining reason why they are…   Read more»

I agree with all the points that everyone in this thread has mentioned so far. The planning phase will down the foundation of how you will tackle the project. A poorly executed planning phase may cause the project to fail,…   Read more»

On one of the project that I was a part of, there came about an issue with air dams not being compatible with our new server racks. Air dams are used to restrict air flow from underneath the rack and…   Read more»

I had experienced a change in PM once in my career, and the resulting events were similar to what jlw23 had mentioned. We had a get up to speed meeting with the new PM, which I attended with my team…   Read more»

At my current company, the design review meetings are overall pretty calm as we work together on establishing any potential changes based on feedback or simulation data. Sometimes the meetings involve having a conference call with the potential vendor to…   Read more»