Program Manager, Hardware and Software Engineer

A Program Manager, a Hardware Engineer and a Software Engineer were in a car heading down a hill when the brakes failed. The driver managed to get it stopped by using the gears and a convenient dirt track.

All three jumped out and after peering under the car the Hardware Engineer said, "I see what the problem is and technically with this handy roll of duct tape I think I can fix it good enough to get us to the next town".

The Program Manager quickly interrupted, "No, no, no. Before we do anything we need to decide on a Gantt Chart, vision for our future, figure out a plan and assign individual deliverables".

At which point the Software Engineer said, "You know what, I think we should re-boot by pushing the car back up to the top of the hill and see if it happens again".

KACAK5 Management

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Program words of wisdom:-
"To dream the impossible dream......."



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Kacak5 Management

Business Spring Cleaning Time

Program Management words of wisdom:
" If everything seems to be going well, you obviously don't know what's going on"- Edward Murphy.

Points to ponder
1. Helping a prospect solve a business problem creates a "win-win" relationship and closes more sales than you think.

2. Remember – nothing adds more to your credibility than a referral from a satisfied prospect.

3. Selling is a numbers game, and you need to learn your "selling ratios."
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You may call it's Spring Cleaning Time or time for an annual checkup, our business needs to undergo a reality checkup each year. No matter how large or small our business is, we cannot gauge the effectiveness of any changes we've made without analyzing the benefits and bottom line.

Here are 10 questions to get started:

* How do your year-to-date sales compare to the last couple of years?
Don't be satisfied if you managed to match them because if sales stayed the same then you've achieved zero growth. With inflation, this flat growth line is a warning sign for more trouble down the road.

* What percentage of your business is from repeat customers?
This is important to know because if it's too low, then it needs to be improved. The estimated cost of getting a new customer versus retaining an existing one can be as much as five to one in terms of dollars spent. Keeping customers is more cost-effective than constantly seeking new ones.

* How long has it been since you offered a new product or service?
Loyal customers like to see you innovate, changing and progressing with the times for cost down and quality improvement. If you're stuck for an idea, ask your customers what they need.

* Do you consider marketing and advertising expenses or investments?
How you look at the money spent in these areas affects your willingness to spend money at all. Would you look at marketing as a waste of money? Marketing is really investing in your business, your vision, and your company. The old adage that you must spend money to make money is true, but you must spend it wisely. Spend it on sales promotion that are pulling responses and orders, and if they're not maybe you need to change methods.

* Do you know what Public Relation is and how to use it to positively position your business in the media?
I'll bet that at least one of your competitors does. Nearly every company or business in the newspapers and magazines is a direct result of publicity efforts. Being quoted or featured in an article speaks volumes to your clients and readers who are your potential prospects. A good PR consultant can do that for you and show you ways to extend the shelf life of that article beyond its
publication.

* Are you listed in the web listing? If you only have a line listing, consider including a small ad in the web pages. If you can afford it, it will pay dividends throughout the year.

* Do you treat your regular customers better than your drop-ins?
You should. If your customers don't feel special when coming to you for products of services, why should they remain loyal to you? Have a customer VIP treatment when when they visit your company or a special invitation to visit you (they loves to travel too!). Send occasional post cards or greeting cards for special events or just to keep in touch. Learn to recognize them on sight and greet them by name when they visit you. You may take photos of them and write their names on it if have problems recalling names or have a large name card on the table where they sit.

* How long has it been since you really talked to other staffs of your customers?
Just as you appreciate when your Doctor takes time to talk to you, your customers will appreciate you if you take an interest in their needs. If you have a service business, have lunch or coffee periodically with some regulars – even if they only contact you once or twice a year. The personal touch in an impersonal world will be remembered.

* How is your business doing compared to your competition?
Every company, no matter what the size, has competition – even home-based businesses. Is their business growing or downsizing? Is their pricing or service better than yours? If so, what can
you tell potential customers about the price difference? Think about how you can improve your service to meet or exceed your customer's expectations.

* Are your employees happy?
Don't ask them directly, but observe them throughout the day. Watch, listen and learn.
Employees who like their jobs don't watch the clock for quitting time, aren't habitually late, don't have poor body language, don't spend time on personal phone calls, and don't look like they never smiled. Observe how they interact with customers. Not everyone is a match for direct contact with
the public, so make sure you don't have an employee who is driving business away!

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Kacak5 Management

Why we should have meetings

Program words of wisdom:
"Meetings are events in which minutes are kept and hours are lost.................if nobody is assign to execute the activities"
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If a company's practises this kind of communication channel, the end result will be very strange. In a meeting room, team members should be present, everybody should be treated as equal and with equal respect.

Production Engineer to RFP/RFQ Executive:
"This is not possible. **Impossible**. It will involve design change and no body in our team knows the full design of the product. And above that nobody in our company knows the language in which this software has been written by another company. So even if somebody wants to work on it, they can't. If you ask my personal opinion the company should never take these type of business."

RFP/RFQ Executive to Program Manager:
"This Project will involve design change. Currently we don't have people who have experience in this type of work. Also the obsolete IC Chip replacement is unknown so we will have to arrange for some training if we take this business. In my personal opinion, we should avoid taking this Project."

Program Manager to Program Director:
"This Project involves design change in the system and we don't have much experience in that area. Also not many people are trained in this area. In my personal opinion we can take the business but we should ask for some more time to invest in a new Design Department and employ required expertise."

Program Director to Sales Vice President
"This Project involves design re-engineering. We have some people who have worked in this area and some who know the language. So they can train other people. In my personal opinion we should take this business but with caution."

Sales VP to CEO:
"This Project will show the industry our capabilities in remodeling the design of a complete system. We will have all the necessary skills and people to execute this Program successfully. Some people have already given in-house training in this area to other people. In my personal opinion we should not let this business go by under any circumstance."

CEO to Client:
"These are the type of Business in which our company specialize. We have executed many Projects of the same nature for many big clients. Trust me when I say that you are in the safest hand in the Industry. In my personal opinion we can execute this business successfully and that too well with in the given time frame."


Kacak5 Management

Living in 2009 and laughing

Business Management words of wisdom:-
Evolve with time or be a dinosaur.

I started working in the Program & Business Management environment since 1990 while we were still using faxes and transparencies. I had to carry very heavy luggage during any oversea business trips as the communications and files are in hardcopy papers with several transparencies for each company that I visited.

For those younger generations, faxes were received at a centralised fax machine for in-bound and outbound letters where an operator will be required to read the content. If the fax attentioned to me have 3 other names to be cc to, the operator will photocopy 3 sets and placed it into the respective pigeon hole for the respective department to collect. The amount of A4 papers used was fantastic and keeps piling up in my office as we have to file these hardcopy document.

Transparencies are A4 sized transparent plastic sheets used for placing our presentation materials which are later placed on a powerful light source that project the image/ information onto a screen.

We can travel very light now on a PC notebook.

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2009 when...

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave. Password is also required for office photocopier machines nowadays.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years. In fact , many had been playing alone against the computers.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3, but you do not memories all the phone numbers.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you. Skype chat or MSN Messager is the favorite here.

5. With web's help, you can communicate in any languages to the foreign person who sits at the desk next to you.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries. Door bells becomes obsolete.

7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen. Any company that does not have website are fake.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee. You have to go on line before going to sleep too.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly how to write foul rude words without being foul like ^&#$%^&*+_)(*.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses. Greetings cards are sent on softcopies only.

16. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list

AND NOW YOU ARE LAUGHING at yourself.


Kacak5 Management

Guide to EMS Outsourcing Management

Program words of wisdom:-
If Project/Program content is allowed to change freely the rate of change will exceed the rate of progress.

Manufacturing Agreements (MA) are legally binding agreements between two or more parties. MA are pervasive and used in many aspects of life such as they form the cornerstone of commerce in the modern economy. Outsourcing terms are enforceable by the legal system and courts of any modern state. Effective outsourcing management before the MA is an important function in many businesses.

Outsourcing Process
There are four stages in the outsourcing process:
1) Requisition process: Internally at this stage, specifications of the work are determined, and qualified manufacturers are identified.
2) Solicitation process: This entails asking for bids or proposals. Various EMS or service providers will be asked to participate in this process. When purchasing commodities, price might be the deciding factor, but when buying a specific service or product various factors such as competence, quality and warranties are taken into account in accepting a bid or proposal.
3) Award process: At this stage, a manufacturer is selected and a MA contract is negotiated and signed.
4) Manufacturing process: Finally the manufacturing is actually carried out. The manufacturer and purchaser follow the terms of the MA, organize the work and monitor progress.

Some common types of MA are as follows:
1) Fixed price or lump sum: In this type of contract there is an agreed price for the performance of work. It provides a degree of certainty for both parties because the MA clearly defines what is involved and at what price.
2) Unit rate: Here the pay is directly proportional to the volume and range of work. An example is supply of electronics products where the monetary amount would be defined by the volume of units supplied.
3) Reimbursable or cost plus: There is an upfront payment to the manufacturer. These types of agreement are used when the scope of the work is a one off activity like Non Recurring Expenses for tooling, jigs and fixtures.
4) Project/program management: Here the manufacturer agrees to manage a turnkey project for a specific duration of time, from ground zero blank sheet of paper to actual realisation of the final box build product.

Structure
Generally a MA should contain the following headings:
1) Definition of MA terms: This section defined terms and field-specific word.
2) Project scope: This section provides information on the whole project to give context to the services that the MA is going to provide.
3) The services and work to be performed.
4) Facilities that should be provided by the client (e.g. testers, tooling....).
5) Warranties and guarantees of the services provided.
6) Definition of fee base i.e. cost of the project.
7) Terms of payment: Time of payments and conditions that should be met for the payment are clarified.
8) Taxes (e.g. sales and use tax).
9) Insurance coverage and freight terms
10) Other contractual provisions based on the nature of the program.
11) Miscellaneous provisions like "excess material liability should the program ends"


Kacak5 Management

Humor for Program Managers

Program words of wisdom:-
Program Managers ability to reason through many different manufacturing & business issues was aided by the ability to relax under pressure and see the lighter side of life.


Humor can change the attitude of individuals and provide a healthy, productive atmosphere when used properly. Business situations, however, often lend themselves to humor that changes the way a person looks at the environment.

Humor in the work place can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a program/business team when used appropriately and people can laugh at themselves. Humor can be used to defuse tense situations and to suggest correction to behavior that is counter to the team’s goals. Demeaning or vicious humor can, however, destroy the unity of a team and isolate individuals because of perceived criticism.

During a Business trip to China, one Chinese man humor to question the credentials of a woman in the company because of the manner in which she was conducting herself.
He stated, “Her resume says ‘doctor of philosophy,’ I think there is a mistake.”
I responded to the statement, “No, she has a Ph.D. in management science.”
The Chinese interpreter came back with the statement, “Oh no, I think that she is doctor of complexity.”
Of course we laughed, which meant that I agreed with him. Through humor, the Chinese interpreter and I had achieved a common understanding to criticize about this person’s competence.

Humor plays an important role in getting team members to relax and not dwell on the negative side of management challenges. A team member cannot laugh and still be angry or have negative feelings about what is happening. Obtaining a laugh should be a goal to change how a situation looks.

The Chinese are masters at criticism with humor, which causes the person to recognize the bad situation without losing face. In all cultures, perhaps, humor at the right time and right place can lead to better relationships among team members as long as the humor is not demeaning or off color.

Properly used humor can build on relationships in programs, smooth over rough edges, and promote productivity. The wrong type of humor, however, can work to the detriment of the project/program team by isolating an individual through criticism. Humor should not be used as a substitute for coaching or mentoring, but as a way of getting individuals to look at challenges through a different prism.


Kacak5 Management

10 Ways Program Management Change Your World

Program words of wisdom:-
"Good Program Managers know when not to manage a Program.
If there were no problem people there'd be no need for people who solve problems".
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1. Set a personal and an organizational vision for long-term sustainable success because we tend to create what we focus on. Focus on failure, and that is what we will get. Focus on people, and even in turbulent times, we have a better chance of being able to make a huge difference.

2. Create our own "school" of what it is we need and want to learn so we can be and become an effective contributor to other people and to our organization's success. Seek out opportunities to do our own formal and informal learning. For example, you can take the Project Management Professional study.

3. Develop a “can do, we will prevail” attitude, and bring those around us up with our thirst for knowledge and your enviable Program Management capabilities.

4. Join the Program or Project Management Institute as an individual and as a corporate member. Participating in this professional trade association helps both individuals and corporations better self-identify with doing good Program Management and that, in and of itself, can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

5. Diversify and don't put all our eggs in one basket. This is true whether we are an individual relying on one industry or one company to meet all our financial needs or whether we are an organization that relies on one customer, or one product, to sustain our economic well-being.

6. Develop a safety net that will let us take appropriate risks in our career, and in our projects, so that we can weather whatever comes along. It’s just like the flight attendants tell us on their pre-flight safety instructions: "You need to secure your own mask before helping others".

7. Don't fall prey to those around us (and especially the media) with “the sky is falling” mentality. Do a risk management reality check on our projects and current events to develop our own risk management plan to handle the legitimate risks facing our life and our programs.

8. Create a change management plan for our life. When new opportunities arise (and sometimes these come disguised as difficulties), assess how these will impact us achieving our overall goals, and develop a strategy that incorporates change into our reality.

9. Drop commitments that are no longer serving us. We need to “cut bait” on the programs and commitments that are like the infamous bridge to nowhere. Look at these programs that are going nowhere and ask yourself, “If I had to make the decision today to start this project, would I?” If the answer is no, stop wasting our valuable resources on it.

10. Find the path of least resistance where we can make the biggest contribution for the least amount of effort. Every individual and organization has unique talents that when used effectively, in the right environments, can have significant impact. If something has become too
hard for us to do, maybe, just maybe, we should not be doing it. Seek out other opportunities where we can have more fun and make more of a difference. My personal motto is "What is meant to be, happens easily."

So, don’t buy into the Doomsday mentality. Use our Program Management skills to
make our own world and to make the most of every project, every day. It’s our time
to take center stage and be at the forefront of meeting the challenges in our life, at
work, at home or wherever we may find them.

Kacak5 Management