There are several good posts here, many of which point out a combos with generally the same 3 knowledge areas, that being scope, risk, quality, or time, or some variation of that.  While I’ll say that I generally agree with…   Read more»

@anthonynjit agreed that the bottom up would be the ideal. However, it unfortunately is often not the case in the real world. In my company, for example, the top-down approach is usually what’s done. My company is able to do…   Read more»

As many are saying, this depends on costs associated with the project, as well as timeline. However, regardless, ‘supplier diversity’ should be done no matter the costs during the project. It’s less ‘suppler diversity’ and moreso, looking for alternative vendors…   Read more»

@mmd55 agreed, I also don’t agree with rushing timelines. You make a good point on things taking longer preventing a patient from receiving that potentially lifesaving medical device, however, I would argue that taking a longer time to ensure things…   Read more»

Going through this post, several people bring up good suggestions! Creating a project plan, setting meetings, and creating a WBS are all good tools to use to ensure that your project stays on task. One tool I didn’t see touched…   Read more»

An important note to consider is what position the manager is hiring for and whether that position is high level or not. Bringing in an outside hire to fill in a role that none at your current company are interested in…   Read more»

@sic23njit-edu agreed! To add to this, I think an important point to consider is to also look at what the company has done historically. Yes, we need to mitigate uncertainty and understand we can’t eliminate it completely, looking back at…   Read more»

@kelsipetrillo this is an interesting suggestion! While on the surface, this may be a way to help broach the topic with the team and address the issue, I see potential issue with rolling this out in the real world. A…   Read more»

The kind of problem that throws things out of schedule dictates the response. Before jumping to discussing the approach, one concept I feel is important to be aware of is the part of the PM’s role in a project. When…   Read more»

As a couple of posters have mentioned, reporting lessons learned is a great tool to use for helping develop individuals so that the next projects run even more smoothly! To add onto this point I’d like to share a fun…   Read more»

Honestly, your best tools will always be communication first and foremost, then accountability, accountability, accountability! As a PM you can only do so much. To a certain level, a team member has to manage themselves. There will always be other…   Read more»

This weeks videos on PM are really interesting. In my job (working as a process dev eng in a medical device manufacturing company) verification vs validation both in very loose terms mean ensuring that the customer spec is met–in other words…   Read more»

This is a fun one! Reading through the comments already posted, one thing I noticed that was missed is this: as the PM, you are often not in charge of hiring new members. You may not even have a say…   Read more»

Many of these comments hit the nail on the head with providing a checklist, previous meetings, and team buy-in as the first steps for ensuring that all approvals will be met and the project will be able to continue forward…   Read more»

This is a really good question and post to make. When working in the medical device industry, whether that be in the R&D sector, manufacturing, etc. each one of us will run into this question. There are a few fundamentals…   Read more»

As many others have mentioned, this would be considered a major change. If a product failed to meet the regulations needed by the country in which the product would be sold in, this is something that would most likely be…   Read more»

@dev-doshi completely agree. I work in a medical device manufacturer. And for us, the name of the game isn’t pure avoidance, but risk mitigation. By the time we start planning out the manufacture of a device, we’re looking more at…   Read more»

Similarly to what others have mentioned, in my job, the go-to is Microsoft Team’s messages and Outlook for sending emails and setting up emails. Teams allows for quick communication–messaging and even calls when its urgent. Outlook allows for setting up…   Read more»

Absolutely agree with many of the viewpoints here, meet about it, meet about it, meet about it! The team should have a final Lessons Learned meeting at the conclusion of a project, and the biggest issues highlighted. Everyone should bring…   Read more»

@dev-doshi Very valid input. However, to comment on one of your suggestions, in order to make the ‘nooks and crannies’ check easier, the team should be aligned and clear on what their roles and expectations are. The PM needs to…   Read more»