Category Archives: Management

Stories from the gray side of life.

Superman, Chicken Little, and Knowable Unknowables

Posted on May 15, 2013 by

I was having a discussion with other managers about the difficulty of creating accurate schedules for development programs. Typically, I work directly with the engineers involved and have them create time estimates for their portions of each development effort. I … Continue reading →

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Goldilocks Problems

Posted on May 9, 2013 by

I have been working on a simple optical deployment problem that is all too common. A customer has put together an optical plant (fiber, connectors, splitters, etc) that does not have enough loss on it — the laser transmitter is … Continue reading →

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TSA Has No Sense of Humor

Posted on April 13, 2013 by

I was having a discussion with some other engineering managers when I heard the following travel horror story. Engineering managers are always talking about Bills of Materials (BOMs), which we pronounce as “bombs”. An engineer was on his phone at … Continue reading →

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What Does It Mean to be an Expert?

Posted on October 19, 2012 by

As an engineering director, I must annually review my employees for performance relative to the standards of their assigned job categories. If an employee is performing above or below their assigned standards, their job category may need to be changed. … Continue reading →

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Not Every Scientist Starts Out a Prodigy

Posted on October 10, 2012 by

I have to share this news story about John Gurdon, who is one of the 2012 Nobel Prize Winners in Medicine. He was no prodigy — in fact, he had issues in school. The news article contained an image of … Continue reading →

Posted in General Science, Management | 2 Comments

Product Feature Presentations Using Excel’s AutoFilter and VBA

Posted on June 5, 2012 by

I have to present a lot of data to people, but I find PowerPoint, a corporate workhorse, to be a poor vehicle for presenting data. I am not an acolyte of Tufte — a famous PowerPoint critic — I just … Continue reading →

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Customer Service Math

Posted on April 19, 2012 by

While this post does not address a math problem, it does address an important aspect of mathematics — the presentation of data. I occasionally have to prepare information on various items for our Customer Service group. For a number of … Continue reading →

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Market Analysis Math

Posted on March 1, 2012 by

Introduction One of the roles that an engineering manager has to occasionally play is advocate for a product that you believe in. Every successful product that I can think of began with some individual who was an internal advocate, a … Continue reading →

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More Interview Criteria and A Funny Story

Posted on August 3, 2011 by

I read a management forum on LinkedIn that I like. The following exchange was on the forum yesterday that made me smile. Two people were discussing how to evaluate an interviewee. Justin Hoffman • I use four simple guidelines (KSQB) … Continue reading →

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How to Interview Engineers

Posted on June 29, 2011 by

Introduction My youngest son has a long drive to and from work everyday. During his drive home, he frequently calls me to help him pass the time. During a recent drive, we talked about how I interview engineers, which I … Continue reading →

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