A force field analysis is a decision making tool which clarifies the advantages and disadvantages of making a decision. It is an important tool for project managers and executives, and basically anyone who needs to get a firm grasp of the underlying issues before making a big decision. It's pretty basic. In fact, it's so simple you might wonder why it has a … [Read more...]
Six Sigma is the latest buzzword in project quality management circles. If you're not quite sure what it all means, or what the result is, here are 10 facts about Six Sigma: Six Sigma can be implemented in individual business units, rather than the whole firm. Ideally Six Sigma is company wide and integrated into existing systems. The quantitative, metric driven … [Read more...]
Six Sigma is a program to increase product quality in a production process. It is ideally suited to manufacturing processes which produce high volumes of products, but the concepts are relevant to any industry. Even in our engineering consulting firm, Six Sigma concepts are quite valuable to assessing and improving the quality of reports and data that is submitted to … [Read more...]
In any company, quality management is essential to ensure a good product or service to the customer/client. For engineers, in particular, quality is at the top of the list. But you'd be surprised how many poor project quality practices I've seen. Does your organization display any of these? Dependence on inspection and rework Reliance on trial and error Rewarding … [Read more...]
If you're a manager interested in increasing the bottom line, you can't afford not to investigate Six Sigma. The benefits are indisputable, as witnessed by the infamous Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, who claimed Six Sigma was directly responsible for $1 billion in yearly savings. But should you implement Six Sigma? Here are six things you should expect from … [Read more...]
Six Sigma is a technique used to reduce defects in the manufacturing process. Although it was originally developed for the manufacturing industry, it can be used to improve any business process by using data and statistical analysis to reduce mistakes, rework, and waste. I've found that my six sigma certification (black belt) has helped me to reduce quality issues at the … [Read more...]
Six Sigma is a hot buzzword these days, but what is it and how does it really work? In this article I will give you a quick overview and get you grounded in the basics. In reality it takes a week long intensive course to get all the concepts, and requires several months of hands on experience if you want to become a green or black belt. Therefore, this is definitely a … [Read more...]
In the engineering business, project quality is important. I've seen many projects that did everything right, but derailed based on one single issue the project team overlooked. Don't let that happen to you. The Project Management Institute (PMI) identifies project quality planning as the first of three steps to effective project quality management. In this post, I … [Read more...]
For engineering projects, document control is a big deal. Nobody has time to rework a design or report because a reviewer received the wrong copy, or document versioning wasn't kept up to date. At Roseke Engineering, besides using ProjectEngineer to manage our projects, we have a physical document control system in place. It resides in the project management binder … [Read more...]
For us engineers, quality is a big deal. Industry standard quality control dictates that most documents and designs require a "second stamp" i.e. a reviewer who takes as much responsibility as the designer. But what does a true project quality management plan look like? In this article, I will talk about project quality from the perspective of the project management … [Read more...]
