WHAT EVERY ENGINEER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CAREER MANAGEMENT 76825.indb 5/29/08 12:49:17 PM WHAT EVERY ENGINEER SHOULD KNOW A Series Series Editor* Phillip A Laplante Pennsylvania State University What Every Engineer Should Know About Patents, William G Konold, Bruce Tittel, Donald F Frei, and David S Stallard What Every Engineer Should Know About Product Liability, James F Thorpe and William H Middendorf What Every Engineer Should Know About Microcomputers: Hardware/Software Design, A Step-by-Step Example, William S Bennett and Carl F Evert, Jr What Every Engineer Should Know About Economic Decision Analysis, Dean S Shupe What Every Engineer Should Know About Human Resources Management, Desmond D Martin and Richard L Shell What Every Engineer Should Know About Manufacturing Cost Estimating, Eric M Malstrom What Every Engineer Should Know About Inventing, William H Middendorf What Every Engineer Should Know About Technology Transfer and Innovation, Louis N Mogavero and Robert S Shane What Every Engineer Should Know About Project Management, Arnold M Ruskin and W Eugene Estes 10 What Every Engineer Should Know About ComputerAided Design and Computer-Aided Manufacturing: The CAD/CAM Revolution, John K Krouse *Founding Series Editor: William H Middendorf 76825.indb 5/29/08 12:49:18 PM 11 What Every Engineer Should Know About Robots, Maurice I Zeldman 12 What Every Engineer Should Know About Microcomputer Systems Design and Debugging, Bill Wray and Bill Crawford 13 What Every Engineer Should Know About Engineering Information Resources, Margaret T Schenk and James K Webster 14 What Every Engineer Should Know About Microcomputer Program Design, Keith R Wehmeyer 15 What Every Engineer Should Know About Computer Modeling and Simulation, Don M Ingels 16 What Every Engineer Should Know About Engineering Workstations, Justin E Harlow III 17 What Every Engineer Should Know About Practical CAD/CAM Applications, John Stark 18 What Every Engineer Should Know About Threaded Fasteners: Materials and Design, Alexander Blake 19 What Every Engineer Should Know About Data Communications, Carl Stephen Clifton 20 What Every Engineer Should Know About Material and Component Failure, Failure Analysis, and Litigation, Lawrence E Murr 21 What Every Engineer Should Know About Corrosion, Philip Schweitzer 22 What Every Engineer Should Know About Lasers, D C Winburn 23 What Every Engineer Should Know About Finite Element Analysis, John R Brauer 24 What Every Engineer Should Know About Patents: Second Edition, William G Konold, Bruce Tittel, Donald F Frei, and David S Stallard 25 What Every Engineer Should Know About Electronic Communications Systems, L R McKay 26 What Every Engineer Should Know About Quality Control, Thomas Pyzdek 76825.indb 5/29/08 12:49:18 PM 27 What Every Engineer Should Know About Microcomputers: Hardware/Software Design, A Step-by-Step Example Second Edition, Revised and Expanded, William S Bennett, Carl F Evert, and Leslie C Lander 28 What Every Engineer Should Know About Ceramics, Solomon Musikant 29 What Every Engineer Should Know About Developing Plastics Products, Bruce C Wendle 30 What Every Engineer Should Know About Reliability and Risk Analysis, M Modarres 31 What Every Engineer Should Know About Finite Element Analysis: Second Edition, Revised and Expanded, John R Brauer 32 What Every Engineer Should Know About Accounting and Finance, Jae K Shim and Norman Henteleff 33 What Every Engineer Should Know About Project Management: Second Edition, Revised and Expanded, Arnold M Ruskin and W Eugene Estes 34 What Every Engineer Should Know About Concurrent Engineering, Thomas A Salomone 35 What Every Engineer Should Know About Ethics, Kenneth K Humphreys 36 What Every Engineer Should Know About Risk Engineering and Management, John X Wang and Marvin L Roush 37 What Every Engineer Should Know About Decision Making Under Uncertainty, John X Wang 38 What Every Engineer Should Know About Computational Techniques of Finite Element Analysis, Louis Komzsik 39 What Every Engineer Should Know About Excel, Jack P Holman 40 What Every Engineer Should Know About Software Engineering, Phillip A Laplante 41 What Every Engineer Should Know About Developing Real-Time Embedded Products, Kim R Fowler 42 What Every Engineer Should Know About Business Communication, John X Wang 43 What Every Engineer Should Know About Career Management, Mike Ficco 76825.indb 5/29/08 12:49:18 PM WHAT EVERY ENGINEER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CAREER MANAGEMENT Mike Ficco Boca Raton London New York CRC Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business 76825.indb 5/29/08 12:49:18 PM CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300 Boca Raton, FL 33487‑2742 © 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business No claim to original U.S Government works Printed in the United States of America on acid‑free paper 10 International Standard Book Number‑13: 978‑1‑4200‑7682‑0 (Softcover) This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources Reason‑ able efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use The Authors and Publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint Except as permitted under U.S Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, please access www copyright.com (http://www.copyright.com/) or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc (CCC) 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978‑750‑8400 CCC is a not‑for‑profit organization that provides licenses and registration for a variety of users For organizations that have been granted a photocopy license by the CCC, a separate system of payment has been arranged Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Ficco, Michael What every engineer should know about career management / Michael Ficco p cm ‑‑ (What every engineer should know ; 43) Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978‑1‑4200‑7682‑0 (alk paper) Engineering‑‑Vocational guidance Engineering‑‑Management I Title II Series TA157.F48 2008 620.0023‑‑dc22 2008013348 Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com and the CRC Press Web site at http://www.crcpress.com 76825.indb 5/29/08 12:49:19 PM Contents What Every Engineer Should Know: Series Statement xi Preface xiii Author xv Introduction xvii I  The Engineering Career Education Introduction The Early Years .3 Emergence of Talent .4 Math and the Sciences The Weeding Out Process Educational Environment Social Interactions Free Time .7 Getting into a Good College .8 Academic Achievements .9 Graduate School 10 Framing the Corporate Landscape 11 Introduction 11 The First Weeks 12 Corporate Organization and Operations 13 Business 13 Engineering 13 Financial 14 Manufacturing 14 Marketing 14 Occupational Safety 15 Privacy 15 Corporate Culture 16 Power, Dominance Displays, and the Corporate Hierarchy 19 Loyalty versus Ability .22 Chain of Trust 23 Keyhole Management 24 Democracy 26 Rule, or Die Trying 28 Enlightenment and Reason 29 Irreverence, Malcontents, and Progress 30 vii 76825.indb 5/29/08 12:49:19 PM viii 76825.indb Contents On the Job 35 Introduction 35 The Role of Experience 36 Understanding the Necessary Level 39 Advocacy 41 Empowerment and Authorization 41 Caesar and the Engineer 43 Managers and Motivational Techniques 43 Cheerleading 44 Management by Small Progress 45 Management by Focus 46 Management by Ambiguity 46 Management by Secrecy 47 Management by Misdirection 49 Management by Pressure 50 Management by Coercion 52 Managing Up 52 Patterns and Portents 53 Ideas and Designs 53 Prototypes, Demonstrations, and Products 54 Other Options 55 Publications, Presentations, and Patents 55 Bids and Proposals 57 Interviewing Job Candidates 57 Marketing Support and Collaboration 59 Image 60 Professionalism 61 Leadership 62 Grandstanding 63 Stereotypes 64 Tattletales 64 Success 65 Anticipate Success .65 Establishing Dominance 66 Protecting Turf 66 Accidental Success 67 Incumbents 68 Advancement 69 Compensation 70 Success Breeds Success 71 Alternate Career Paths 73 Introduction 73 Project Management 74 First, Do No Harm 75 Failure Is Always an Option 75 5/29/08 12:49:20 PM Contents ix Elegance, Aesthetics, and Innovation 76 Just a Prototype, Just a Demo 77 Project Budgets 77 Project Schedules 78 Project Status 79 Tricks and Treats 80 Excitement, Responsibility, and Visibility 82 Management 83 Management Training 84 Your Staff 84 Motivation 85 Passion 86 Encouraging Innovation 87 Focus 88 Senior Management 89 The Stamp of Approval 91 Technical Consulting 91 Approaches to Technical Consulting 92 Why Are Consultants Hired? 92 Pros and Cons of Consulting 92 Knowledge Obsolescence 94 Independent Consultants 94 It’s a Business 95 Headaches Galore 95 Hourly Rate 96 Health Care 98 Intellectual Property 99 Starting Your Own Company 99 Types of Companies 100 Venture Capital 100 One-Man Show 101 Pizzazz 102 Success 102 Exit Strategy 103 So Many More 103 The Engineer as Applications Engineer 103 The Engineer as Marketer 104 The Engineer as Technical Recruiter 104 The Engineer as University Professor 104 76825.indb Job Searching and Interviewing 105 Introduction 105 Active and Passive Job Searching 105 When Is It Time to Change Jobs? 106 Layoffs 108 Outsourcing 108 5/29/08 12:49:20 PM Epilogue 225 cere consideration of potentially damaging issues, and they often block such debate with words and arguments intended to manipulate corporate opinion As such, people who say, “We don’t tolerate finger-pointing around here,” may very well be worried that the finger is going to point at them or someone in their organization Superficially it is a good idea to ban finger-pointing; however, this is really a knee-jerk reaction to the negative word (finger-pointing) used in psychological manipulation of the audience A much more positive reaction is achieved if one replaces finger-pointing with holding people accountable An audience is much more receptive to holding people accountable for their actions and directives However, holding people accountable is itself somewhat more aggressive than what is really needed in a project postmortem The idea of a final review of what went wrong on a project is neither finger-pointing nor holding people accountable It is simply to enable continuing improvement of the process of running a development project The fact is that errors are made on every project, but they are made by fallible and imperfect humans The finger must be pointed at individuals—not to penalize them for being human but to expose the error and to learn how to avoid similar ones in the future Let’s Do It Again—and Again There is no rest for the weary If you are working for a successful and viable company you were already working on the next product before you were completely finished with this one If the product was well designed and well 76825.indb 225 5/29/08 12:50:12 PM 226 What Every Engineer Should Know About Career Management made there should be minimal distraction as you move into working on the new one full time However, if your company was overly aggressive in sending the product to market, you will likely be analyzing field failures and preparing a software download to fix longstanding and recently discovered bugs If your company has had a long history of shipping products before they are quite ready, you may be working on two or three or more earlier products as you struggle to find time to begin work on the newest one And when that newest one is complete and shipping, you’ll have yet another one to support Ah—the life of a development engineer 76825.indb 226 5/29/08 12:50:12 PM Index a Accountability, 223–225 Advancement by leaving, 40 Alternate career paths, 73–104 acceptability of schedule slips, 82 antithesis of rules and regulations, 87 big bang development approach, 81 billable consulting hours, 100 career paradigm shift, 86 changing jobs, 91 charisma, 83 comparative revenue sources, 97 context switch, 89 controversial view of successful company, 102 corporate image, 90 cost overruns, 78 damage suffered by innovators, 88 demotivational behaviors, 85 dual career paths, 73 expert knowledge, 79 insecure leadership, 87 legal issues, 82 management, 83–91 encouraging innovation, 87–88 focus, 88–89 as force multiplier, 73 management training, 84 motivation, 85–86 passion, 86–87 senior management, 89–90 stamp of approval, 91 training courses, 84 your staff, 84–85 maximum creativity, 87 office politics, 93 oppressive environment, 88 overhead, 98 peeling the onion, 79 person of interest, 88 political correctness, 88 prediction of task duration, 79 prime directive, 75 program manager, 74 project failure, 75 project management, 74–83 no harm, 75 elegance, aesthetics, and innovation, 76–77 excitement, responsibility, and visibility, 82–83 failure, 75–76 project budgets, 77–78 project schedules, 78–79 project status, 79–80 prototype, 77 tricks and treats, 80–81 project manager, 74 real-world program manager conundrum, 81 replication of scheduling success, 79 risk-averse company, 87 self-employment, 99–103 angel investors, 101 exit strategy, 103 one-man show, 101 pizzazz, 102 success, 102–103 types of companies, 100 venture capital, 100–101 shared expenses, 98 staff camaraderie, 93 staff turnover, 91 status sinks as time sinks, 80 technical consulting, 91–99 approaches, 92 business model, 92 employee, 92 going over to the dark side, 91 independent consultants, 94–99 knowledge obsolescence, 94 pros and cons, 92–94 why consultants are hired, 92 termination of company, 103 unexpected design problems, 81 227 76825.indb 227 5/29/08 12:50:13 PM 228 What Every Engineer Should Know About Career Management uses of engineering background, 103–104 applications engineer, 103 field service representatives, 103 marketer, 104 technical recruiter, 104 technical sales representatives, 103 university professor, 104 ways to harm project, 75 wrong module, 81 Angel investors, 101 Anthropic principle, APIs, see Application programming interfaces Application programming interfaces (APIs), 161 Application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), 50, 147, 171 ASIC, see Application-specific integrated circuit b Big bang development approach, 81 Bug privacy, 213 Bug tracking, 209–213 Bullies, c Caesar marking, 43 Can-do person, image of, 158 Chain of trust, 23 Cheerleading, 44–45, 186 Code Complete, 223 Competitor boost, 219–220 Consultant(s), see also Technical consulting adage, 150 self-taught, 93 training, 94 Consumer technology, advances in, 150 Context switch, 89 Corporate bug privacy, 213 76825.indb 228 Corporate culture, 16–19 budget enforcement, 78 consulting and, 98 core expertise, 188 differences, 17 distribution of information, 27 emphasis, 16–17 evolution, 18, 19 exaggerated capabilities, 57 image and, 60 incumbents, 69 innovation and, 76, 87 interviews, 118 key to enhancing, 222 orientation classes, 12 personalities, 17 Pollyanna, 168 project communication, 173 project plan, 153 scheduling, 65–66 sigma of criticism, 222 software group, 144 software update, 208 success filter of, 70 underground dissent and, 17 Corporate landscape, framing of, 11–34 abrasive personalities, 33 absolute directives, 29 bad ideas, 21 bullies, 22 bureaucratic hierarchy, 11 caste system, 20 chain of trust, 23–24 clandestine projects, 27 conspiracy theorists, 15 Copernican theory, 32 corporate culture, 16–19 corporate culture differences, 17 corporate leadership, 27 corporate organization and operations, 13–15 business, 13 engineering, 13–14 financial, 14 manufacturing, 14 marketing, 14–15 criticism of corporate leaders, 28 democracy, 26–28 dissemination of opinions, 16 dissent, 19 5/29/08 12:50:13 PM 229 Index 76825.indb 229 distrust of engineers, 15 e-mail, 15, 16 enemies of advancement, 32 enlightenment and reason, 29–30 ethical standards, 17 extraordinary personalities, 33 feared innovation, 32 first weeks, 12–13 freedom of inquiry, 20 free press, 26, 27 hidden health risks, 15 idea of lower rank, 21 impediment to progress, 32 independent supervision, 25 insecure CEOs, 27 Internet piracy, 33 irreverence, malcontents, and progress, 30–34 isolationist management strategy, 25 justified arrogance, 33 keyhole management, 24–26 laziness, 17 loyalty to boss, 23 loyalty versus ability, 22–23 lunchtime discussion, 12 management by walking around, 25 McCarthyism, 31 moral character, 32 motivational threats of dismissal, 22 natural antagonism, 34 necessities of modern office life, 12 occupational safety, 15 organizations within corporations, 13 orientation class, 12 positive feedback loop, 32 power, dominance displays, and corporate hierarchy, 19–22 press conferences, 13 privacy, 15–16 project accountability, 27 pseudo-science, 18 psychological profiling, 18 responsibilities of engineers, 13–14 rule, 28–29 rule or die personality, 29 secrecy, 26 things driving the world, 19 totalitarian regime, 30 unwelcome counsel, 21 Wild West mode of technology growth, 33 Corporate trauma, arson and, 220 Creativity encouraging, 185 forced, 46 guided, 31 maximum, 87 repressed, 30 restrained, 76 Customer(s) early adopters vs mainstream, 149 near-future innovations helping, 60 needs, marketing group knowledge of, 76 product acceptance, 148 prospective, 57 upset, 40 d Democracy, benefits of, 26 Demo tax, 182 Demotivational behaviors, 85 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 138, 219 Distant manufacturing, 161 Dr Jekyll paradox class of problems, 202 e Early adopters, 219–220 Education, 3–10 academic achievements, anthropic principle, attributes, bullies, contrived solutions, early years, 3–4 educational environment, 5/29/08 12:50:13 PM 230 What Every Engineer Should Know About Career Management emergence of talent, free time, 7–8 future engineers, geek stereotype, getting into good college, 8–9 grade point average, graduate degrees, 10 graduate school, 10 high-pressure course load, honors programs, interpersonal skills, learning to think critically, love of creation, love of technology, master’s degree, 10 math and sciences, 4–5 missing skills, name-brand university, problem solving, 4, school system love–hate relationship, social advantage of major university, social interactions, 6–7 technophobia in society, unfairness inflicted by teachers, wealthy school districts, weeding out process, Employee(s) bullying of, 22 impromptu authorization given to, 42 learning of new technology, 94 mutual commitment, 111 Pollyanna, 204 training, 78 Empowerment, workplace, 41 Engineer(s) aptitude, 175 beaten, 62 career flexibility of, 74 communication, 172 confident, 167 corporate, responsibilities of, 13–14 cynical, 213 lent, 164 market understanding, 136 mentored, 62 morale, 176 76825.indb 230 recognition, 185 Ethical standards, 17 f Field programmable gate array (FPGA), 147 Field service representatives, 103 Finger-pointing, 222, 223–225 Fool’s gold, 191 Forward pricing, 143 FPGA, see Field programmable gate array Freedom of inquiry, 20 Free press, 26, 27, 48 g Geek stereotype, Going over to the dark side, 91 Golden children, 64 Grandstanding,63–64 Guess–guess game, 151 h Houdini test, 187 i ICT fixtures, see In-circuit test fixtures In-circuit test (ICT) fixtures, 216 Innovation(s) corporate, 151 corporate culture and, 76, 87 discouraged, 76 encouraging, 87 feared, 32 laziness and, 17 5/29/08 12:50:13 PM 231 Index schedule delays and, 76 unrestrained, 88 Intellectual property costs of royalties paid to license, 142 patents and, 56 protection mechanism, 137 tangible assets, 100 technical consulting and, 99 technology growth and, 33 Internet piracy, 33 Interviewing, see Job searching and interviewing Invention disclosure, 55 Isolationist management strategy, 25 j Job searching and interviewing, 105–123 active and passive job searching, 105–106 age discrimination, 117 applying for job, 114–115 advertised jobs, 114 resume shopping, 115 inertia, 106 interview, 115–119 fear of talent, 117 itinerary, 115 other tests, 116 proficiency tests, 116 rudeness, 116–117 seasoning, 117 typical interview questions, 117–119 job types, 109–112 company in transition, 112 mature company, 112 start-up company, 111–112 temporary, permanent, or part time, 110–111 marketing yourself, 112–114 becoming well known, 113 chaos, 112 networking, 113 working with recruiter, 113–114 negotiation of offer, 119–123 76825.indb 231 fine print, 121–122 integrity, 122–123 know what you want, 119 low bidder, 120 noncompete and invention agreements, 122 performance matrix, 120 remote development, 122 your level, 120 performance bonus, 121 plausible business plans, 111 reputable start-ups, 111 self-promotion, 112 stock options, 121 stress associated with, 117 warning signs, 107–108 when to change jobs, 106–109 layoffs, 108 outsourcing, 108–109 severance packages and retention bonuses, 109 k Keyhole management, 24 l Layoffs, 108 Lessons learned, 223–225 Life template, 35, 36 Loyalty-based advancement, 23 m Machiavellian principles, 165, 193 Management, see also Project development, management of by ambiguity, 46 by coercion, 52 by focus, 46 by misdirection, 49 5/29/08 12:50:14 PM 232 What Every Engineer Should Know About Career Management by pressure, 50 by secrecy, 47 by small progress, 45 Teflon, 193 by walking around, 25 Managing up, 52 Manufacturing costs, 142 distant, 161 project development and, 216–217 testing, 160–161 testing options, 216 Marketing budget, 177 campaigns, time-sensitive, 63 consultant, 91, 95 early adopters, 136 expense account, 14 group(s) new product requirements of, 76 product demand and, 222 prospective customers found by, 57 requirements document for, 152 status reports and, 198 testing, 214 principle, well-known, 184 project plan and, 156 strategy, 130, 204 support and collaboration, 59 survey, project development and, 183 Market penetration, prediction of, 220 Misdirection, examples of, 49 n National security, 62, 91, 109, 224 Nazi war machine, 31 Need to know, 212 Networking, 113 New technology bleeding edge, 188 conflict arising with, 33 contracting out of, 189 core expertise and, 188 invention of, 193 lack of familiarity with, 159 76825.indb 232 problematic scenario, 79 project development and, 188 project schedules and, 158 Noncompete agreements, 122 Nonrecurrent engineering (NRE), 145 NRE, see Nonrecurrent engineering o Occupational safety, 15 Officers of the company, 42 Operating system (OS), 172 OS, see Operating system Out-of-the-box thinking, 29, 46, 87 Outsourcing, 108–109 Overhead, 98 p Patents discretionary spending for, 113 licensing of, 142 lucrative, 56, 99 political intrigue with, 56 Peeling the onion, 79 Personality(ies) abrasive, 33 attributes, development team, 166 conspirator-type, 86 “do-the-deal”, 151 extraordinary, 33 forceful, 133, 139 insecure, 134 outgoing, 104 pack leaders, 134 powerful, 206 product development team member, 165 rule of die, 29 team-leader-type, 167 timid, 88 Pessimism, 168, 222 Political correctness, 88 Pollyanna assurances, 169 Press conferences, 13 5/29/08 12:50:14 PM 233 Index Privacy bug, 213 leaks, 16 Product(s), see also Project burn-in, 217 cheap vs successful, 172 companies, 100 competing devices, 219 completion, delay of, 182 complex, unknowns of, 175 customer acceptance, 148 delay, purposeful, 208 high-volume, 148 ideas, 133 manufacturing costs, 142 new, initial sales of, 219 postmortems, 221–223 -profit potential, 137 risk, 139 schedule, predictable, 159 successful, 221 support of successful, 221 when you guess wrong, 220–221 work continuation, 225–226 Product development basics, 133–152 adage in consulting, 150 advances in consumer technology, 150 avoidance of high-risk projects, 139 behind-the-scenes deals, 134 competing with superior, 134 competition, 141 corporate yes man, 137 cost estimation issues, 144 cost-reduction strategy, consequences, 148 customer-driven requirements, 150 detecting manipulation of pricing, 143 “do-the-deal” personality, 151 egos, 136 engineering trade-offs, 149 estimation responsibility matrix, 144, 145 forward pricing, 143 guess–guess game, 151 idea, 133–134 intellectual property protection mechanism, 137 licensing of intellectual property, 142 76825.indb 233 manipulative strategies, 143 marketing initiatives, 143 money, 135–138 money-losing product, 137 nonrecurrent engineering, 145 pack leaders, 134 penalized failure, 135 personal relationship with manager, 137 politics, 134 poor product strategy, 138 product-profit potential, 137 profitability analysis, 135 requirements, 150–152 risk, 141 schedule manipulation, 143 strategy, 138–149 component pricing and schedules, 142–143 cost-reduction activities, 147–149 costs of developing product, 141–142 costs of manufacturing product, 142 estimation responsibility matrix, 144–147 exotic chips, 147 hardware development, 145 memory components, 146 more than engineering, 149 passive components, 146 processors, 147 software development, 146 system integration and testing, 146 User Interface development, 146 Product development overview, 127–131 college curriculum, 129 doing the deal, 129 marketing strategy, 130 needed sociopolitical skills, 128 politics, 127 product development blueprint, 130–131 selling, 128 social interaction, 128–130 technical failure, 131 trust, 129 Project(s), see also Product accountability, 27 5/29/08 12:50:14 PM 234 What Every Engineer Should Know About Career Management behind schedule, 192 budgets, 77 clandestine, 27 communication, corporate culture and, 173 engineers, snag in acquiring, 164 executive understanding of, 55 failure, 45, 75, 131, 181 geeky features, 44 grandstanding, 64 hard-to-implement features, 44 high-risk, avoidance of, 139 old, 164 reasons for falling behind schedule, 50 risk, 140 schedule, 78, 156 aggressive, 159 compressed, 140 delays, 194 error margin, 195 manipulation, 143 myth, 199 remediation, 205 revisions, 207 well-done, 164 schedule chicken, 196, 197 small progress approach, 45 status, 79 Project beginnings, 163–179 assembling of project team, 163–164 blame game, 165 communications, 170–173 conflicting needs, 171 CPU limitations, 177 debugging path, 176 defined terms, 171 design delays, 176 design first, 174–179 design testing costs, 178 e-mail, 173 engineer morale, 176 expectations, 170 hardware prototypes, 174 hardware success, 171 hidden problem, 177 inspirational statement, 168 interpersonal skills, 167 leadership, trust, and talent, 169–170 Machiavellian principles, 165 76825.indb 234 marketing budget, 177 personality, 165–169 personality attributes, 166, 168 pessimism, 168 Pollyanna assurances, 169 proper equipping of team, 173–174 real-time operating system, 172 self-confidence, 167 unknown technologies, 175 Project development, management of, 181–217 accountability, 197 bad implementers, 182 being in charge, 191–193 bug database, 211–212, 213 bug fixing, 200 bug reports, 210 common sense, 181 configuration management, 183 delay of product completion, 182 delays caused by serious problems, 206 demo tax, 182 design fix, 190 design reviews, 189–191 Dr Jekyll paradox class of problems, 202 encouraging creativity, 185 final optimization, 200 formal bug tracking and metrics, 209–213 formal testing, 214–216 government contract, 201 manager–developer interaction, 197 mantra, 182 manufacturing, 216–217 marketing principle, 184 market survey, 183 masking error, 202 meetings, 192 memory leaks, 215 metric bureaucracies, 211 metric Nazis, 210 misdirection, 198 myth of managing to schedule, 199–203 myth of managing of vendor, 203–204 need to know, 212 negativism, 204 5/29/08 12:50:14 PM 235 Index new technology, 188 on-demand status presentation, 198 open-loop system, 194 powerful personalities, 206 project efficiency, 212 pyrite engineering, 191 quick and dirty implementations, 191 release tax, 182 requirements, 182–183 risky technology, 196 schedule chicken, 196, 197 schedule delays, status reporting, and visibility, 194–198 schedule dominoes, 203 schedule improvement, 201 schedule paradigm shift, 207 schedule remediation, 205–207 schedule revisions, 207–208 scheduling approach, 195 software update, 208–209 status meetings, 199, 201, 212 status reports, 198 system integration, 200, 209 team motivation, 183–186 positive reinforcement, 186 shortening of schedule, 183–184 tangible recognition, 185–186 working smarter, 184–185 Teflon management, 193–194 testing specialists, 214 test plans, 183 tiger team, 211 universal marketing strategy, 204 user manuals, 183 vendors and subcontractors, 187–189 core expertise, 188–189 Houdini test, 187 working with vendor, 187–188 weak team members, 205 worst-case scenario, 204, 206 Project effort, planning of, 153–162 aggressive schedule, 159 application programming interfaces, 161 confidential information in, 155 contingency plans, 153 delivery dates, 157–158 design shorts cuts, 159 76825.indb 235 distant manufacturing, 161 hard date, 157, 158 image of can-do person, 158 joint ventures, 153 manufacturing testing, 160–161 not a design document, 156 nurturing of manufacturing process, 161 project management feedback loop, 159 project plan, 153–155 elements, 154–155 sign-off, 162 project schedules, 156–157, 158–160 recovery plans, 159 set date, 157 smaller companies, 155 special notes on project plans, 155 subjective dates, 157 Prototype(s), 77 development, 54 hardware, 174 Psychological profiling, 18 Pyrite engineering, 191 r Recruiter, job search through, 113 Release tax, 182 Requirements document, 151, 170, 182, see also Product development basics, requirements Risk-averse company, 87 Rule of die personality, 29 s Sales volume prediction, 220 School systems, love–hate relationship with future engineers, Self-employment, 99–103 angel investors, 101 exit strategy, 103 one-man show, 101 pizzazz, 102 5/29/08 12:50:15 PM 236 What Every Engineer Should Know About Career Management success, 102–103 types of companies, 100 venture capital, 100–101 Service companies, 100 Severance packages, 109 Sexual harassment lawsuit, 118 Shared expenses, 98 Sleep, benefits of, 51 Software update, project development, 208 Start-up failures, 111 System integration management, 200 product development, 146 time needed for, 209 v Vendor(s) best people, 204 brutality, 204 bug disclosure and, 213 communication, 170 component delay, 50 contracts, 74, 213, 220 CPU, 177 delays, 81 exaggerated capabilities of, 80, 187 Houdini test, 187 legal issues, 203 risky project and, 140 working with, 187 Venture capital, 100 Virtual credential, 69, 70 t Technical consulting, 91–99 approaches, 92 employee, 92 going over to the dark side, 91 health care, 98 hourly rate, 96, 98 independent consultants, 94–99 intellectual property, 99 knowledge obsolescence, 94 problems with, 95 professional hours, 96 pros and cons, 92–94 why consultants are hired, 92 Technical sales representatives, 103 Technophobia, society’s, Tiger team, 211 Totalitarian regime, 30 u UI development, see User Interface development User Interface (UI) development, 146 76825.indb 236 w Weigh-in documentation, 59–60 Wild West mode of technology growth, 33 Workplace, 35–72 accidental success, 67–68 advancement, 69–70 advancement by leaving, 40 advocacy, 41 agreeing with bosses, 53 American on-demand success, 68 anticipating success, 65–66 areas of technical risk, 65 available money, 69 believing vs knowing, 54 benefits of sleep, 51 bids and proposals, 57 bigger-than-average raise, 41 Caesar, 43 career missteps, 37 compensation, 70–71 corporate power dissemination, 42 credentials, 69 customer development partner, 57 DVT, 58 empowerment and authorization, 41–42 5/29/08 12:50:15 PM 237 Index establishing dominance, 66 exaggerating capabilities, 57 experience-relayed phenomenon, 58 expert evaluators, 71 external cross-pollination, 69 faux pas, 35 focus group, 50 forced creativity, 46 golden children, 64 grades of engineers, 39 grandstanding,63–64 hiring manager, 38 ideas and designs, 53–54 image, 60–65 grandstanding, 63–64 leadership, 62–63 professionalism, 61–62 stereotypes, 64 tattletales, 64–65 impromptu authorization, 42 incumbents, 68–69 interest in national security, 62 interviewing job candidates, 57–59 invention disclosure, 55 life template, 35, 36 manager’s bruised ego, 52 managers and motivational techniques, 43–52 cheerleading, 44–45 management by ambiguity, 46–47 management by coercion, 52 management by focus, 46 management by misdirection, 49–50 management by pressure, 50–52 management by secrecy, 47–49 management by small progress, 45 managing up, 52–53 mandated accountability, 49 manipulated emotions, 63 marketing support and collaboration, 59–60 middle managers, 38 missed deadlines, 51 office etiquette, 61 officers of the company, 42 one-shot-wonders, 67 opportunistic functions, 51 76825.indb 237 organizational consensus, 69 out-of-the-box thinking, 46 pain of learning, 35 patterns and portents, 53 political consequences, 37 political realities, 37 politics, 224 popularity contest, 69 problem solving, 53 project failure, 45 protecting turf, 66–67 prototypes, demonstrations, and products, 54–55 pseudo-code, 60 psychology, 71 publications, presentations, and patents, 55–56 purposeful blindness, 41 reality check, 37 recycling of managers, 72 rejected schedule, 37 relative value, 39 rising stars, 223–224 risk reduction, 72 risk–reward proposition, 70 role of experience, 36–38 salesmanship, 70–71 self-policing, 48 seniority, 37, 39 social instincts, 36 stereotype-driven preconceived notions, 38 stressful meetings, 61 success, 65–72 success breeds success, 71–72 team-first culture, 66 understanding of necessary level, 39–40 unsuitable new hire, 58 visible leadership, 63 weigh-in documentation, 59–60 y Yes man, 137 5/29/08 12:50:15 PM 76825.indb 238 5/29/08 12:50:15 PM ... 28 What Every Engineer Should Know About Ceramics, Solomon Musikant 29 What Every Engineer Should Know About Developing Plastics Products, Bruce C Wendle 30 What Every Engineer Should Know About. .. 35 What Every Engineer Should Know About Ethics, Kenneth K Humphreys 36 What Every Engineer Should Know About Risk Engineering and Management, John X Wang and Marvin L Roush 37 What Every Engineer. .. 42 What Every Engineer Should Know About Business Communication, John X Wang 43 What Every Engineer Should Know About Career Management, Mike Ficco 76825.indb 5/29/08 12:49:18 PM WHAT EVERY ENGINEER