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About admin

Project Manager based in Manchester UK

Why re-invent the wheel…

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200022813-001During the product design stage it makes good sense to re-use previous design knowledge wherever possible. This may seem to be a bit of a lazy option but is valid for the following reasons:-

1) The existing design will have been fully validated and tested.

2) Considerable time and effort will be saved instead of  “re-inventing the wheel”

3) The existing design layout and supporting documentation already exists.

This doesn’t mean that innovation should stop, on the contrary any improvements in design should be incorporated into the new version.

Product design is an evolutionary process which makes best use of previous innovation.

Are you earning your value ?

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Earned Value is a term which allows us to determine where we are in a PLN005project in terms of progress against plan.  If we talk about expended cost at a particular moment of time we have no idea whether we are ahead or behind the plan unless we measure the amount of work done and the time expended doing it.

Earned Value allows us to make a measured judgment and may be defined as “The value of work performed expressed in terms of the the approved budget assigned to that work for a scheduled activity” – PMBOK

Earned Value Technique integrates the time, cost and work done.

EV = Earned Value – Estimated Value of the actual work completed.

AC = Actual Cost – Actual cost charged for the work done so far.

CV = Cost Variance – Difference of Earned Value minus Actual Cost.

CV = EV – AC

A positive value means UNDER budget.

A negative value means OVER budget.

Earned Value Technique is a useful tool for measuring progress against plan and for helping to control budget effectively.

“Manchester, so much to answer for…” – Morrisey.

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manchester02I had to go in to Manchester today and decided to “Park & Ride” and  take the Tram to beat the congestion on the roads. It made a pleasant change.

As the Tram trundled over the bridge across the Irwell, from Salford to Manchester I was rewarded with a rare view of the urban lanscape stretching out below me.

Many of the old disused mill buildings and warehouses have been converted into a plethora of loft apartments and studios. Many house small businesses and design studios and through the sheets of glass which separate these environments from the greater one beyond I could see people going about their daily work and play.

These historic buildings which once housed thousand of mill and factory workers decades or even centuries ago are now home to sophisticated urbanites manipulating computer screens or T.V remote controls.

Surrounding the older buildings are new structures, fantastic edifices of glass and steel stretching their limbs to the steel grey sky.

I could feel the ebb and flow of time.