on Leadership & Career

A listing in reverse chronological order of articles by:

Katie Switzer — Advanced Engineering Culture series

Ash Norton — Engineering Leadership series

Tim Rodgers — Managing in the 2000s series

Rob Allen — Product Development and Process Improvement series

Eight Ways to Keep Reliability Engineers From Leaving

A topic that often comes up lately is high turnover, especially the perception that this is common and desirable among millennials. Born in the mid eighties, I am right on the cusp between millennial and Generation X, and I am one of the aforementioned employees with a high turnover history. A specialized Reliability Engineer with nearly ten years of work experience, I have rarely stayed with a company much over two years. I never intended to be a person who moved between companies so regularly, it just kind of happened. [Read more…]

by Robert Allen 2 Comments

Enabling Customer Value in Product Design

Use an Integrated Approach in the Product Life Cycle Process to Enable Customer Value

Given our primary goal of developing a profitable product, our objective in the design process is to maximize customer value and minimize cost. From a financial analysis standpoint: we pursue products with the highest possible margins (ie. charge the customer “as much” as possible, and make the product for “as little” as possible). Of course we also want to sell “as many” as possible. [Read more…]

by Ash Norton Leave a Comment

5 Tips to Ace the Interview

5 Body Prep Tips to Ace the Interview

Even a seasoned professional gets a little nervous (or a lot nervous!) before an interview. It is human nature. Luckily for you, there are lots of things that you can do to prepare to boost your confidence and ready yourself. Now, I am not talking about wearing a great suit, studying your material, practicing your Ten Second Tease elevator speech, or rehearsing your Me at My Best Stories. Yes, those are all important things to do. [Read more…]

by Robert Allen Leave a Comment

Enabling People, Processes and Product Development

Clear roles and responsibilities for project managers and team leaders can significantly improve alignment of skillsets and overall teamwork

A generally accepted principle for a successful business is great people, processes & products. This can be further simplified as “maximizing customer value and minimizing cost” of the product.

Consider the following:

An excellent product development process should ensure maximum customer value while product cost is minimized
Process improvement minimizes (or reduces) costs across the enterprise
Project management ensures execution of product development, or process improvement products

[Read more…]

by Katie Switzer Leave a Comment

Defeat Your Lizard Brain and Banish Procrastination Forever

Do you sometimes (or often) suffer guilt or frustration due to procrastination? If so, you are not alone. It’s a common perception that procrastination is an inherent personality flaw, the result of laziness or other slothfulness. People get frustrated by procrastinators and label them as lazy, untrustworthy, and unreliable.

However, in recent decades scientists have learned a lot about how our brains work that gives insight into procrastination and why it happens. It turns out that when your advanced human brain sets out to accomplish a task, but can’t see a clear path to completion, the doubting antiquated lizard brain takes over. Your lizard brain, a leftover instinct-driven antique from the days of the caveman, decides the apparently unsolvable is overwhelming, and creates a bad attitude toward the task. It’s fight or flight, and procrastination is the flight response to the stress created by the task. [Read more…]

by Katie Switzer 1 Comment

Finding Joy in the Workplace

This time of year, people talk a lot about joy and family. But what about finding joy in the workplace? Most people in the Reliability profession spend at least 40 hours each week at work (probably much more). That’s almost 25% of our total time, and more than 35% of waking hours if you average 8 hrs of sleep per night. Who wants to spend a third of their life without joy?

If your workplace is getting you down or just plain blah, here are some ways to make a change. [Read more…]

by Ash Norton Leave a Comment

How to Shine in any Interview

How to Shine in any Interview — Me at My Best! Stories

It was 7:15 am. We had just finished up our morning kick-off meeting for our lab staff at the generating station, which was about to start-up following a planned outage. Mary, one of the senior lab technicians, came frantically into the lab from the plant.

“We have a problem! The circulating water pH meter is reading a 3.0!” Mary

My heart started racing. [Read more…]

by Katie Switzer 1 Comment

Why Does Everybody Hate Me? Improve Your Pumpside Manner in Three Easy Steps

You know the type. That person who demands the center of attention at all times and hardly pauses for a breath. The person everybody on site avoids or talks about when they aren’t around. Usually, younger people suffer the most from Knowing Everything All The Time (KEATT). Sometimes, though, it persists long after it should and people never recover.

For me, this lasted about two years after graduating. I’m not sure precisely what caused the change, but a moment came when I realized I didn’t know jack. By that time the damage had been done; many knowledgeable people didn’t like or trust me, I was frustrated and it was difficult to learn because nobody wanted to teach me. Thankfully, I did and you can recover from the disorder of Knowing Everything All The Time (KEATT).

[Read more…]

by Katie Switzer Leave a Comment

Advanced Engineering Culture Introduction Post

Good day, friends and colleagues. I am excited to join Accendo Reliability to bring you a weekly column titled, “Advanced Engineering Culture.” The goal of this column is to bring awareness and solutions to common challenges technical people face in the workplace. New articles will post every Monday.

My name is Katie Switzer, and I am a Senior Reliability Engineer at a chemical manufacturing plant in West Virginia. I hold a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University, and I have been an ISO Category III Vibration Analyst since 2009. Industries I have experience in include aerospace, nuclear power, corn milling and chemical manufacturing. [Read more…]

by Ash Norton Leave a Comment

How to Find Your Purpose as an Engineer

Engineers, You’re Doing It Wrong!

When you woke up this morning, how did you feel? Was it giddy excitement for what the day ahead holds? If not, then you are likely not living your purpose. Not pursuing your life’s work.

For me, the idea of pursuing my life’s work became exponentially more important in 2013. Over the past 3 years, I had gotten married (yay!), became a mother to my husband’s 5 year old son (double yay!), had a daughter (triple yay!), lost my mother to 5 year battle with lung cancer (tears! lots and lots of tears!), and become pregnant with a baby boy (due January 2017!). [Read more…]

by Ash Norton Leave a Comment

Ten Second Tease – 3 Methods for Crafting the Ultimate Elevator Speech

How to build the ultimate Ten Second Tease

So you’ve probably heard of elevator speeches before. You know, a speech that you could blurt out if you had 20 seconds on an elevator with someone. In theory, this should give someone an overview of what you do.

Let’s be real here, shall we? Most people don’t care about your elevator speech. When introduced via a typical elevator speech most people have already zoned out and are thinking about the best route to the snack table. Admit it – You do this too!! If you use those precious few seconds of introduction to rattle off a resume you’ve wasted an opportunity to make a memorable impression.

You know what else no one cares about?? Your job title. The majority of the time, job titles do not tell you that much information – especially if the person is working in a different industry. So sharing your title alone does not really do much to pique the interest of others. It is often the starting point, but do not get lazy and think this is the end of it.

Also, no one wants to hear a speech. People do NOT want to be talked TO. Booooooorrrrring! They want to talk WITH interesting folks. So let’s not think of it as a speech or a chance to lecture someone on what you do, ok? Ok!

Instead, shift your thinking to the goal of the elevator speech. When someone says you, “So, Tell me about yourself,” think of it as an opportunity to hook them. Make them curious. Make them ask more questions. The purpose of your elevator speech should be to entice the other person to want to get to know you. THIS, my friend, is how you make an impression. And THIS is why I like to call it a Ten Second Tease.

[Read more…]

by Ash Norton 2 Comments

6 Tips for Becoming an Engineering Subject Matter Expert

As you’ve read in my previous post, I learned so much over the seven year journey of becoming an Engineering Subject Matter Expert. While there is no clear cut path, and every career is different, some of the tips below will help you minimize the detours along the way! [Read more…]

by Ash Norton Leave a Comment

Becoming An Engineering Subject Matter Expert – Lessons Learned

Big dreams and ambition have always come pretty easily to me. Watching the Magnificent 7 compete for Olympic gold in 1996, 11-year old me was convinced that I could become a champion gymnast. Little did I know that these same dreams and ambitions would help serve as lessons learned in becoming an engineering subject matter expert.

My gymnastics dreams did not care that I only had a couple of years of tumbling training. No bother to my ambition that my parents could not afford our monthly bills, let alone specialized coaching. “No big deal!” said my heart when reminded that I was terrified of a back handspring – how would I ever be able to accomplish the death defying acrobatics an Olympic gymnast must complete? [Read more…]

by Tim Rodgers Leave a Comment

Give a Little to Get More

I’ve been managing supplier relationships for almost my entire career, including hardware component suppliers, contract manufacturers, technology alliance partners, and engineering service providers.

Over that time I’ve worked with a number of people at all levels who seem to believe that their one-up position as the customer entitles them to demand more from suppliers while paying less.

The attitude seems to be: “Do as I say or we’ll take our business elsewhere.” [Read more…]

by Tim Rodgers Leave a Comment

Supplier Management Fundamentals

I’ve managed suppliers at multinational, US-based firms, and I’ve worked for a large electronics manufacturing services company, and those experiences have given me the opportunity to think a lot about the power dynamics on both sides of the table.

I know it seems obvious, but it’s important to remember that at the core it’s a business relationship based on a payment for a product or service, or an expectation of an ongoing revenue stream.

Suppliers are in business just like you are, and their decisions are based on the same concerns about profit and growth and predictability.

[Read more…]