Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
Financial planners would advise you that the key to a successful retirement are four cornerstones:
In William Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” (usually referred to simply as “Hamlet”), the main character, Hamlet, uses the phrase “undiscovered country” to refer to what lies beyond the grave – the afterlife – and our lack of knowledge of it, and our fear of it. As it is with death, so is it with “Artificial Intelligence”, or “AI”.
Simply put, AI are the sciences involved in having computers gather and evaluate information (data in context) – whether that information is stored, or is gathered in real-time, or combinations thereof – and to make decisions based on that information towards some pre-determined outcome or objective. Each decision made leads to an experience which is archived and added to the information that is stored to help make better decisions in the future. [Read more…]
In September 2019, the Local Government Department of the Australian State of New South Wales (NSW), issued “A New Risk Management And Internal Audit Framework” (1). The Minister of Local Government in a forward to the framework states: “Formal risk management and internal audit is a vital part of the NSW Government’s plan to ensure that councils achieve their strategic objectives in the most efficient effective and economical manner. [Read more…]
Based on my years of experience, the secret to effective Project Risk Management is what I call the four cornerstones: Project Management; Earned Value Management; Risk Management; and Subcontract Management. This paper explains why. [Read more…]
A project with a poor risk management foundation is like a house with a fragile foundation. Eventually it will fail.
Knowledge and skills with the four cornerstones of risk management, dramatically increase the probability of you realizing project manager success. Conversely, a lack of knowledge will likely lead to poor project manager performance. [Read more…]
Just Do It!; “He who hesitates is lost”; and “Strike while the iron is hot” are all expressions used with impunity when a project is about to start as we are encouraged to ‘get on with it’ as nothing can go wrong, go wrong?, wrong!
After all, ‘a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step‘ and projects have to start sooner or later. But what happens when project planning is incomplete and project participants are caught up in that unfortunate project dilemma of ‘wild enthusiasm’ as they carry on with a sense of urgency while conveniently disregarding risk. [Read more…]
The art of debate has devolved. No longer is it used as a tool of discovery, understanding, reconciliation, and progress. Today, it is a tool used to beat one another into submission –with the wholesale surrender of the beliefs and values held by one party over the other being the goal. [Read more…]
Risk is an event or activity that can go wrong and cause an impact to the project. Risks can have a negative or positive impact to the project. Risks that have a positive impact are called opportunities. If they a negative impact to the project, they are called risks.
Risks and opportunities can be generated by anyone on the project but typically are identified and analyzed at the IPT (Integrated ProductTeam) level. A goal on a project is to try and balance risks and opportunities to mitigate the chance of cost or schedule growth. [Read more…]
The 2020 democratic presidential candidates are backing the New Green Deal, which calls for the elimination of fossil fuels within 10-40 years (depending on which candidate you are talking to). If America is serious about this goal, then nuclear fusion power is the only practical way to begin to achieve it. [Read more…]
“That’s not my job” …an inevitable response when a ‘somebody’ is asked to do something that requires their effort and which they believe they don’t have to do, don’t won’t do, or can’t do. This familiar cry is often said with such impunity that the requester may well feel that they are in the wrong…but who is wrong and who has been wronged?
Both parties are taken aback; the requester may wilt away and take the request somewhere else with umbrage and annoyance, or challenge the rebuttal. The requested, feeling threatened, reacts defensively be it right or wrong. Conflict results but the sad fact is that the disputed work in question is delayed. ‘ [Read more…]
I would find it hard to believe that any successful person achieved that success without having at least one mentor along their journey – someone who was instrumental and influential in the life journey of the person being mentored (the mentee). But what is mentorship? [Read more…]
The title is based on a comment: “The quality fear factor is gone.” The assumption behind the comment is that fear often motivates behavioral change. This was certainly true for the quality movement. But, if the movement was driven by fear, what happens when the fear is no longer there? Does anything replace it? This piece looks at these questions. [Read more…]
We have probably all uttered (or muttered) that immortal line of “if you want something done, do it yourself’ when confronted with a less than satisfactory performance from somebody else. The quote is attributable to Napoleon Bonaparte who, as an emperor, certainly found that this dream of doing everything yourself wasn’t really possible and, perhaps, his downfall may have been attributable to trying to live this dream rather than delegate effectively? [Read more…]
There are very few people that actually enjoy meetings. I have never heard anyone say, “I can’t wait for the meeting this afternoon” unless it’s followed by “I won’t have to eat at my desk.”
Certainly, the people who are called to attend a meeting largely lack enthusiasm are energetic unless they, or their project, are the reason for the meeting – and even then, only if it’s expected to be a positive experience for them. And the person calling the meeting will not usually be enthusiastic or energetic unless the reason for the meeting is something joyous or dreadful – or unless they are an autocrat or narcissist who just wants to tell people what to do, how to do it – and otherwise ladle-on (usually unreasonable) commands and demands. [Read more…]
The U.S. federal government is beginning a shift from a reactive approach to a risk event such as a flood or hurricane, to a proactive approach to risk management. This can be seen clearly in the changes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requirements as stated in the 2018 Disaster Recovery Reform Act (DRRA) and the Draft National Mitigation Investment Strategy. This piece looks at these changes. [Read more…]