Do Birds of a Feather Flock Together

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Do Birds of a Feather Flock Together?

• John W. Center, PE

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Outline

• The Setting
• The Feathers
• The Flow
• The Birds and Flock Processes
• The Birds and Flock
• The Application
• Comments, Questions, and Discussion

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The Setting - Engineering Management

• Highly complex and critical
• Often not understood by bean counter
• Sometimes not understood by techies
• Knowledge or profit?
• Us or them?

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The Feathers

• Research
• Development
• Manufacturing
• Continuation-Support Engineering

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The Feathers

• Feather Considerations
• Input
• Time
• Money
• Control
• Output

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Research Feathers

• Input
• ideas
• visions and dreams
• theories and scientific laws
• what-ifs
• hypotheses, questions
• confusion?
• comprehensive and special instruments
• standard and special equipment and tools

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Research Feathers

• Time
• planned but varied
• serendipity
• unscheduled miracles
• Money
• expensive?
• money pit?

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Research Feathers

• Control
• strong policy and guidance
• technical expertise and judgment
• accepted techniques and rigorous analysis

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Research Feathers

• Output
• feasible ideas
• unfeasible ideas
• new understanding of cause and effects
• characterized materials, components, and processes

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Development Feathers

• Input
• feasible ideas
• market requirements and specs
• customer needs and requirements
• current products
• characterized materials, components, and
  processes
• comprehensive standard instruments
• standard and special equipment and tools

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Development Feathers

• Time
• often not taken seriously
• marketing not patient enough
• now or later
• miracles come out on schedule
• Money
• given the purse?
• not enough?
• Issue not taken seriously?

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Development Feathers

• Control
• strong policy and guidance
• organization strategy and priorities
• technical expertise and judgment
• accepted techniques and analysis
• industry standards and regulations
• government standards, regulations, and legislation

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Development Feathers

• Output
• functional prototype
• qualified materials, components, and processes
• product specifications
• compliance to standards and regulations
  demonstrated
• engineering set of drawings, processes,
  procedures, tests
• ideas and limits related to manufacturing

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Manufacturing-Process Engineering Feathers

• Input
• functional prototype
• qualified materials, components, and processes
• product specifications
• engineering set of drawings, processes,
  procedures, tests

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Manufacturing-Process Engineering Feathers

• Input - continued
• ideas and limits related to manufacturing
• current parts and equipment
• standard and commercial instruments
• standard and commercial equipment and tools

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Manufacturing-Process Engineering Feathers

• Time
• precisely defined
• late already
• Money
• never enough
• impact fixed costs and variable costs of product

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Manufacturing-Process Engineering Feathers

• Control
• organization strategy and priorities
• technical expertise and judgment
• accepted techniques and analysis
• industry standards and regulations
• government standards, regulations, and legislation

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Manufacturing-Process Engineering Feathers

• Output
• manufacturable product
• bill of materials
• manufacturing set of drawings, processes,
  procedures, tests
• manufacturing set of parts and equipment
• specs and designs for special manufacturing
  equipment

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Manufacturing-Process Engineering Feathers

• Output - continued
• documents for users and maintenance
• special maintenance tools and diagnostic
  equipment
• ideas for future products and enhancements

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Continuation-Support Engineering Feathers

• Input
• ideas for future products and enhancements
• manufacturable product
• bill of materials
• manufacturing set of drawings, processes,
  procedures, tests
• manufacturing set of parts and equipment

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Continuation-Support Engineering Feathers

• Input - continued
• specs and designs for special manufacturing
  equipment
• documents for users and maintenance
• special maintenance tools and diagnostic
  equipment
• standard and commercial instruments
• standard and commercial equipment and tools

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Continuation-Support Engineering Feathers

• Time
• Urgency
• Short duration, hopefully defined
• Money
• Not there?
• Customer based?

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Continuation-Support Engineering Feathers

• Control
• organization strategy and priorities
• customer expectations, demands, and priorities
• technical expertise and judgment
• accepted techniques and analysis
• industry and company standards

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Continuation-Support Engineering Feathers

• Output
• enhanced product
• solved manufacturing problems
• solved customer problems
• cheaper, faster, better production
• ideas for new products and future enhancements

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The Feather Flow - Super Summary
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The Birds and Flock Processes

• Creativity
• Innovation
• Problem-Puzzle Solving
• Performance-Execution

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Creativity Process

• 50 new stuff
• basic or applied
• new concepts or presentations

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Innovation Process

• 20 new
• built on a solid base
• twist of old stuff

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Problem-Puzzle Solving Process

• 5 new - arrangements and structure
• use old thing
• putting old pieces together in new or correct ways

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Performance-Execution Process

• 0 new
• do it better, perfect, consistent

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The Birds and Flocks

• Research Birds and Flock
• dominated by creativity
• do not forget special performance
• often create new tools and equipment
• no sense of time or money
• resent inappropriate or overbearing controls

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The Birds and Flocks

• Development Birds and Flock
• shared between creativity and innovation, but
  dominated by innovation
• methodical and persistent
• often extend envelope of tools and equipment
• tolerate most controls

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The Birds and Flocks

• Manufacturing-Process Engineering Birds and Flock
• dominated by innovation
• do not forget performance for administrative
  tasks
• work well under pressure and tight constraints
• almost accept most controls

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The Birds and Flocks

• Continuation-Support Engineering Birds and Flock
• dominated by puzzle solving
• often ignored and disregarded
• subject to burn-out from pressure and tight
  constraints
• hard to spot when controls are violated

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The Applications

• Recruiting Birds
• Selecting Birds
• Organizing Flocks
• Promotion and Transfer of Birds and Flocks
• Pay and Recognition for Birds and Flocks

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Recruiting Birds

• Develop or grab?
• Which bush to shake?
• Transfer of expertise?
• Use networks?
• Wording of ads?

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Selecting Birds

• look at unusual hobbies and activities as kids
• look for past uniqueness
• disclosure, then fit, of organization
• disclosure, then fit, of person

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Organizing Flocks

• sometimes split the flocks
• sometimes meld the flocks
• deal with fit between people and expectations
• deal with fit between leaders and expectations
• separate leadership, roles, and responsibilities

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Promotion and Transfer of Birds and Flocks

• be careful with promotion!
• be careful with transfer!

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Pay and Recognition for Birds and Flocks

• fair recognition for impact?
• role of tech toys
• misfit with organization policies?

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Comments, Questions, and Discussion

• Comments
• Questions
• Discussion