Posts by Rob Allen
Simplified Project Management (Part 1)
Organizations often accumulate a list of desirable projects, however, may not have project management bandwidth to filter or manage them effectively. While project management is a respected discipline, the Project Management Institute Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) has swollen to several hundred pages. This level of detail and complexity makes it difficult to absorb and apply…
Read MoreSimplified Project Management (Part 2)
In Part 1 of this article series, we explored a simplified project management process using a phase/gate structure that enables a robust project planning and execution thought process. Now let’s identify some deliverables within each of the phases. These deliverables would be required and reviewed at each of the gates. Below is a brief description of each:…
Read MoreBenefits of Comparing Agile with Waterfall
Previous articles have covered a proposed waterfall product development phase/gate process. This article will compare and contrast waterfall with Agile product development, especially with respect to the front-end of the process. Let’s start with a proposed waterfall product development phase/gate process. (The process below implies a hardware product, however, it can be considered any waterfall process…
Read MoreBenefits of Comparing DMAIC with Project Management
Our previous article covered the benefits of comparing waterfall with agile, emphasizing the benefit of planning the agile process and product backlog content. In this article we’ll compare the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control (DMAIC) thought process, with a project management thought process. DMAIC is a problem-solving thought process applies critical thinking to ensure robust…
Read MoreBenefits of Comparing Lean/Kaizen with Agile/Scrum
Our previous article covered the benefits of comparing the DMAIC problem solving thought process with project management. The key takeaway was DMAIC can be more effectively executed using “measure & plan” phase. Now let’s compare and contrast agile/scrum with lean/kaizen. While agile is primarily used in software development, there are many valid comparisons. By making this comparison,…
Read MoreAchieving Lean by Identifying Forms of Waste
Our previous article compared agile/scrum with lean/kaizen and revealed several similar fundamentals that helped make each methodology easier to understand. Since the objective of lean and agile is waste reduction, we also want to identify and eliminate various forms of waste. In order to do this, first let’s consider our objective to manufacture hardware product,…
Read MoreMinimizing Waste and Task Management
Our previous article identified several forms of waste, specific to completing tasks, as detailed by the following table: Keep in mind, by focusing on tasks, this table assumes several things: a project selection process that ensures the project is valuable robust project requirements & planning project sponsorship and resources (team members) are made available Without…
Read MoreFundamentals of Applying a Structured Approach
In reviewing several previous articles in thisarticle series, it’s apparent there is much in common with product development, project management and process improvement. Let’s look at a brief list that considers a structured approach vs. unstructured While this list is pretty “high-level” it reveals the importance of project leadership, governance and management. A structured approach…
Read MoreTiered Meetings Structure Enables Production Oversight & Support
A complex production process requires a mixture of leadership, governance and management. In this article, we’ll discuss a tiered meetings structure that can effectively enable this. Empowerment, escalation paths, accountability and responsibility are included as some key ingredients. We’ll start with the following diagram: Production Floor Team Meeting (Tier 1): the production supervisor (or manager) holds…
Read MoreDemystifying Business Requirements
In a previous article, we compared and contrasted the definition of a requirement, with a ‘story’, which is used in agile/scrum. In that article, we stated: “requirements and stories establish a clear understanding of customer needs in the context of desired functionality”. What if we want to establish a clear understanding of a customer’s needs in the context…
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