Amberhill Associates Ltd ©️Chris Robinson

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project managers and business consultants

#Space…the final frontier….#pmot….

Posted on April 11, 2011 by admin

5o years ago today Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space when he orbited the earth in his Vostok spacecraft, winning the cold war race and catapulting himself into the annals of history.

Consider for a few moments what we have achieved since then.

We have taken “one small step for a man, giant leap for mankind” when Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon in 1969.

Like Icarus we have sailed too close to the sun in Apollo 13 and survived through tremendous ingenuity and fortitude.

Through Hubble we have peered back through Space & Time to the very origins of the Universe.

Perhaps our greatest achievement was when cold war foes became friends and joined hands in the International Space Station 30 years after Gagarin’s first tentative flight.

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Fix the system not the individual…#pmot…#in

Posted on April 2, 2011 by admin

systems-thinking On a recent business trip to Geneva I flew from Leeds Bradford Airport in the North of England. I checked through on time and headed for the gate to be met by a scene of organised chaos. The queue was very long and heaving with Schoolkids on exchange visits, holidaymakers and business people. At the very end of this long queue we were given a tray into which we had to load our laptops, keys, belts etc as part of the security screening process. This was undoubtedly the bottleneck and by the time I got through security to the Gate I was informed by an attendant that I may well have missed the flight. I was then subjected to admonishment, had I not heard the attendants calling people through for the Geneva flight – “No” , I hadn’t heard anything in melee – anyway to cut a long story short I caught my flight but not without a lot of hassle and stress.

Contrast this experience with the return journey – same plane, same loading, same mixture of people.

Here, at Geneva, the queuing system was completely different. Rather than joining a long “snake” we joined the end of two queues where we were given a tray on a conveyor belt at the START of the queue. This gave us plenty time to put all our valuables into the tray before we reached the end of the queue and the X-ray machine. Consequenly there was no rush or panic, we all got through in plenty time & enjoyed a less stressful experience.

The difference was one of Systems Thinking. The system at Geneva was designed to speed the security process, eliminate bottlenecks and make thing easy for the customer. The system at Leeds-Bradford did the opposite.

If we employ Systems Thinking to our Business Processes, adopting the spirit of Kaizen, we will encourage the smooth flow of people and materials to aid maximum efficiency and process capability. If we ignore the system and blame the individual we will never achieve maximum efficiency & are doomed to fail.

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project managers and business consultants

Should have gone to Spec wavers..#pmot #in

Posted on March 29, 2011 by admin

How many times have you worked on projects where the product spec is not defined?

This leads to all sorts of issues as the customer tweaks the product spec and the designer responds accordingly, trying to keep the customer happy but at the same time disappointing her because the timescale keeps getting extended to accommodate the changes. A vicious circle develops leading to frustration on all sides & a perception of incompetence which can lead to loss of all important business.

This can be fixed by adopting the following practice:-

1) A milestone MUST be put in the plan, somewhere in the design phase, for product spec sign off by both parties.

2) It should be clearly communicated and understood that any changes following this milestone will be under change control, approved by Senior Management and will impact the timing plan & probably have a cost impact.

This practice is good for both customer & supplier. It forces the customer to clarify what they want and leaves the supplier with no excuse for not meeting planned deliverables once the spec is fixed.

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project managers and business consultants

“Dee eff emm eee aaay”…? #pmot #in

Posted on March 25, 2011 by admin

DFMEA DFMEA or Design Failure Modes Effects Analysis is a Risk Management Tool which is widely used throughout the Automotive Industry.

DFMEA is a Team activity which is led by the Project Manager or Senior Design Engineer.

It involves using a set form & identifying the risks in the project.

Each Risk is called a Failure Mode. Each has an Effect. The Severity of this Effect is assigned a score where 10 is high impact & 1 low impact.

Each Failure Mode also has a Cause which is ranked according to its Occurrence or likelihood between 1 & 10.

Each Failure Mode also has a Current Control and its chance of detection is ranked 10 unlikely to 1 likely.

The product of Severity x Cause x Control gives us a Risk Priority Number or RPN which gives us a measure of the size of the problem and the urgency to address it.

Identifying a Recommended Action for each Failure Mode leads us to rescoring the Occurrence & Detection and subsequently reducing the RPN.

The key to success of DFMEA is not to get too hung up about the scores and to use it as intended, as a comparative tool for Risk Analysis.

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project managers and business consultants

The difference between price & cost…#in..#pmot

Posted on March 11, 2011 by admin

price & cost

How many times have you inherited a project and had major problems with a supplier who was selected because they were cheap !

This perception of “cheap” is normally based purely on price and takes absolutely no account of the total cost of ownership of the product or service.

Selecting suppliers purely on price is never a good idea.

Here are some great tips from Businesslink:-

What you should look for in a supplier

There are a number of key characteristics that you should look for when identifying and short listing possible suppliers. Good suppliers should be able to demonstrate that they can offer you the following benefits.

Quality and reliability

The quality of your supplies needs to be consistent – your customers associate poor quality with you, not your suppliers. Equally, if your supplier lets you down with a late delivery or faulty supplies, you may let your customer down.

Speed and flexibility

Being able to place frequent, small orders lets you avoid tying up too much working capital in stock. Flexible suppliers help you respond quickly to changing customer demands and sudden emergencies.

Value for money

The lowest price is not always the best value for money. If you want reliability and quality from your suppliers, you’ll have to decide how much you’re willing to pay for your supplies and the balance you want to strike between cost, reliability, quality and service.

Strong service and clear communication

You need your suppliers to deliver on time, or to be honest and give you plenty of warning if they can’t. The best suppliers will want to talk with you regularly to find out what needs you have now and how they can serve you better in the future.

Financial security

It’s always worth making sure your supplier has sufficiently strong cashflow to deliver what you want, when you need it. A credit check will help reassure you that they won’t go out of business when you need them most.

Always remember the difference between price & cost

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project managers and business consultants

So what’s the plan…….#pmot #in

Posted on February 22, 2011 by admin

project-planning As a rough guide a Project Manager should put 70% effort into planning a project and 30% running it.

At first glance this statement may appear to be the wrong way round but experience shows that the planning phase of a project is by far the most critical one.

Here are some attributes of a well developed plan:-

* It should flow from start to finish.

* There should be a series of linked tasks from start to finish.

* Each task should have a named resource assigned to it.

* Everyone assigned to a task should have agreed and committed to the timescale.

* There should be a clearly identified Critical Path.

* The plan should be visible to key stakeholders in the organization.

* It should be reviewed and updated regularly.

Once all of the above has been fulfilled the management of the project becomes a relatively easy task.

If you need help planning your key project get in touch now

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project managers and business consultants

Nokia upwardly mobile….#pmot…#in

Posted on February 9, 2011 by admin

“We poured gasoline on our own burning platform. I believe we have lacked accountability and leadership to align and direct the company through these disruptive times. We had a series of misses. We haven’t been delivering innovation fast enough. We’re not collaborating internally. Nokia, our platform is burning.” – Stephen Elop, CEO Nokia.

nokia The recent internal memo “leaked” from Nokia & published on technology website Endgadget.com demonstrates the need for any corporation, but particularly those in the Technology arena, to have a continuous stream of new product developments flowing to the market. This is the direct result of a new product routemap which clearly identifies Customer needs, market trends and technology requirements.

New Product Development should not be a haphazard process but one which is planned years in advance. It should also be adaptable to allow flexibility in the case of new technological or market developments.

Not so long ago Nokia held pole position in the mobile phone market with huge market share. Now they are languishing behind Apple & others in the
Smartphone arena and are struggling to compete with Chinese manufacturers at the bottom end of the market.

However, all is not doom and gloom. The new CEO Stephen Elop obviously
recognises the problems and is keen to address them. This is the key important step in any recovery. Rather than just bury his head in the sand he is tackling the issues head on which is good news for Nokia empoyees and shareholders.

If you need help with your product development process get in touch NOW!

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project managers and business consultants

10 tips to get that problem project back on track #pmot #in

Posted on February 2, 2011 by admin

1) Create Space – nothing clouds judgement more than pressure to create a fast solution. Tell stakeholders you are assessing the situation and will provide an update in 1 weeks time.

2) Talk to everyone involved in the project and get their perspective. Make it an informal chat, reduce the pressure and you will get more honesty.

3) When you have identified what the problem is get the team together to Brainstorm possible solutions. Try an Ishikawa diagram to clarify whether the problem is with men (people) , machines, method, materials or environment (external factors)

4) Pick the top three possible solutions and start experimental work to evaluate success.

5) Implement the solutions in the timeline to evaluate timescales.

6) Agree with the Team a primary solution and a contingency plan.

7) Inform stakeholders of the revised timescale.

8) Execute the plan, keep a close watch on progress and issue daily updates if required.

9) On completion hold a “lessons learned” meeting to minimize the chances of repetition.

10) Celebrate Success – take the team for a beer or a sticky cake 😉