Electronics Engineering Work-flow

When asked for a budget take your best estimate budget and double it.

When asked for a timeframe take your 'smooth sailing' timeframe and triple it.

This approach has proven to be remarkably accurate over the years.

"When asked for a budget take your best estimate budget and double it.

When asked for a timeframe take your 'smooth sailing' timeframe and triple it.

This approach has proven to be remarkably accurate over the years."

If only I could get away with this!

hahaha!

bill12780

Hi Anonymous you are realy a Hero.

Very good post. This Fourm must be proud of you as you have not only given very good guidence to youngman but to even oldies like me. Jhon.Kotter's books are enlighenting on the suject. I have already read few of them in past.They have helped me in building my professional life.

Suresh Sharma.

Thank you for your kind words, Suresh!

Milo and Hero!

WOW! Thank you so much for your time and effort!

Already I have new ideas and thoughts. I can tell that both of you have a VERY good handle on Project Management and Engineering Management.

I cant not thank you enough! I have printed these out and will refer back to them as I trudge through this.

Our company has hired a consultant (general management) the first thing he noticed was that most of the key positions were held by family members of the owners. AND that many decisions made by them were vetoed by their father.

So he recommended that we hire a CEO and that the owners retire from active participation in the day to day operations.

(like we can afford a CEO! I can get a DVM so I can take mine home! ....Sorry for bitching)

My manager is worried that the new CEO is going to come into our department and go "What the hell do you guys do here all day?"

I know that sounds bad. But we do get stuff done. The problem with "my" current process is that "I" am the only team member and there is nobody here that understands what I do and I have NO backup! (I have to order my own parts because the purchasing can't deal with it!) I was hired to replace a vendor that they have been using for 15 years! So the guy that managed that has a basic understanding but its slim at best.

I had already started to document the current work-flow but about half way through I realized that my current work-flow was basically My boss tells me what to do. I do it or get fired! We have no checks and balances here at all.

I have worked places before much more organized. But I guess I never realized the level, support, and time it takes to get to that point.

Thank you so much you to for the help! When/if I get to a point I have something short/sweet and to the point. Maybe I will send you a copy to look over. I would love to have you two critique the work and see if there is anything I can change add improve etc...

Thanks again...

Best to both of you!

bill12780

PS Milo....Your one funny dude....I laughed out loud at Beryllium Rivet! My co workers all looked at me like I was watching YouTube at work again! BUSTED! hahahah!

You're welcome.

I am with a trade association now with smaller family businesses (median sales $5 million) and know full well the ceo family succession authority lack of documented processes that you must be dealing with. If there is a trade association for your industry, you may find that they have some procedures already boilerplated up that you may find useful.

If you need to drop a line to me or another CR4 member, on something that you don't want to show up on google, you can always email to me (or other posters) by clicking on my name (or their name)at the top of the message.

I was impressed as well with the other postings. There are some talented and experienced folks on this forum.

milo 'beryllium don't rivet'

These are all great suggestions and I wish my company would pick one and do it, but...

What to do when your company is hopelessly mired in corporate politics?

When decisions made by the "parent" company screw you and you have to take the "quality" hits?

When marketing decides to take something to a show that hasn't even been discussed at the engineering level and comes back saying they won't buy it unless it's like this?

When certain personel are allowed to do things how ever they want regardless of corporate standards?

When every time you try to do something you think is appropriate, only to be told "that's not your responsibility."

When your boss plays a game of shades and shutters and doesn't inform you of the information he has when he asks your opinion, only to find out that your answer is wrong because of his "secret" knowledge?

What do you guys think? I'm at my wits end with this crap and I'd like to know...

should I quit? I like my job and the people I work with... but our management is crap...

should I say something? If history is to be a lesson, this would lead to dismissal because we have an "executive club" that is only interested in self-preservation, if you get my meaning.

I am constantly called on by prouduction, quality, sales, service, & purchasing for help, I try my best, but at the end of the day I can't get anything done and anytime I phrase an e-mail in such a way that it is not a question (to my boss) I am reprimanded for doing something "that's not my responsibility."

but at the same time... if I opt to do nothing... I eventually get reprimanded for "not taking care of my responsibility," and wind up having to do it anyways...

It's a terribly viscious cycle of Dilbertonian Management... what can I do?

God is great! he has made all humans same through out the world. I was always feeling that things are better in western countries as I belong to India. I have also experienced similar situations in corporate life and surprised to learn that world is same everywhere.

Well, it is human mind which always full with ego, superiority complex, jealousy, etc.Many a times you have a boss who is like a frog in the well doesn't know much about the outside world and keeps on trotting.Or you have a boss like a rhino who always comes attacking you,or a monkey who always plays mischief or a donkey who is lazy, or a dog who only barks. Wish you had a good boss.

Suresh Sharma.

Dear guest, These are issues in most organizations, it is sad to say.

I will share with you my personal internal compass, and one line of advice.

You can take it from there.

Compass:

1) Protect the customer from the organization and himself.

2) Serve the customer through Sales or Operations. (if you ain't helping make a sale or make product for dshipment, you are uneccessary)

3)Intelligently manage risk through facts and data.

4) Continuously improve the people and processes under your authority.

Advice:

You don't work for a 'company' you work for a man.

explanation: Either you two have mutual respect and he has your back and you have his, or not. There is no such thing as 'company loyalty' but when you have the support and respect of your manager, you can accomplish anything.

I worked to this compass and when the executives tried to get me to quit, then tried to eliminate my job, they found that they had a rebellion of customers, sales men, sales agents, and supervisors. Everyone knew who was getting it done for them.

If its stupid, I just made it a "B" priority and did "baby steps" while I worked on the "A" priority items according to my compass. But I made sure that they got progress reports... eventually they figured out that the stupid things were stupid and we hadn't wasted a lot of _______ on them, while the "A" items were ship shape.

Soon after, when company was bought out and reorganized and I reported to Exec. V.P., I got a Great boss who deputized me to act and commit sins rather than avoid sins, we accomplished many "impossible" things. (by this I mean it was forgiveable And preferrable to make mistakes in the course of accomplishing something (sins of commission) rather than the sin of doing nothing (sins of omission).

Literary closing:

"To thine own self be true" was Polonius' advice to his son Laertes in Hamlet.

To which I would add, "And to the customer also."

All else is bullshit.

milo

You should be constantly working on the next budget even planning for 2 budgets ahead.

Forcasting your needs for new equipment, replacement, repairs, employees turn over, systems upgrades. Well planning budgets and actual budgets. By doing this you aviod that last minuite rush for a budget and those forgotten items that no one was looking for.

Take your current budget and run with it into the next 3 quarters or yearly bases.

Demand from all department list of current items that need repair or replacement. This should be a bi-weekly event.

You always working on the next budget and planning the one beyond while checking how well the current budget is working. Are there any departments who are running short or have excess funds?

Planning and checking, planning and checking constantly.

Take a night classes in Accounting, Business Operations, and business math so you can evaluate how processes are performing.

Make sure you include stages for design for test, and, design for manufacture. If you've got a test engineer (department?): get their input; if you've got a production engineer (department?): get their input. Make sure you include enough prototypes for these guys to do their stuff (not just development models). Makes sure you allow the correct amount of time in the schedule for all the processes.

Above all when you produce you're plan: make sure you can justify all the steps and time constraints, and, don't let them tell you they need it quicker than the time you've proved you need. (Say OK: "Which step will we miss out or which step will we not do properly?")

When you've done it all once, and it took longer than you expected make sure you review the plan to figure out which steps took longer than expected; why, and, make sure you allow for them in the next plan.

Electronics engineering articles from eClicks.co.cc

Do you only work one prohect at a time?

We always were bidding other projects and setting up possible budgets incase we got the contracts.

Plus we went ober the current porjects budgets to see where we needed to imporve our estimates.

Bill,

I took a project management course and I'll check my notes later and provide more feedback.

Hi Bill,

I believe that presenting something you know nothing about will not only make you a complete idiot, which by your own admission you are not, but can cause a lot of damage to your reputation. Facing your boss or whomever is asking you to do the charts, and tell him I don't know how to do this, IS the way to go.

And if I read correctly between the lines, If they are looking for reasons to fire you, than just walk away from them. They are doing to you exactly what I recommended you not to do. Honesty have no price.

Just my 1 cent worth...

Wangito.