#176 – CAN ENGINEERING AND MARKETING GET ALONG? – GARY HINKLE

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02WEB-144x150-144x150They’re selling features we haven’t even designed yet!—is a common complaint from engineers about sales and marketing. Requirements are a moving target, thanks to marketing. They’re not well-defined. They’re growing and changing, yet deadlines and schedules are firm.

While engineering is pointing fingers at marketing, marketing is pointing back. Engineers aren’t getting the importance of cost, schedule, and features. To marketing, it seems that engineers care about creating technically superior solutions, regardless of cost or schedule. Continue reading

#175 – ‘MY IDEAS ARE WAY BETTER THAN YOURS’ – EGOS IN ACTION – GARY HINKLE

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02WEB-144x150A leading electronics company suffered a setback when a systems engineer was pushing his own ideas hard, all the while belittling the ideas of others. It was clear to everyone he thought highly of his own ideas and expertise and not much of everyone else’s. The irony is that his approach for developing an important new product was actually great but ended up rejected because he alienated the rest of the team. Continue reading

#174 – THE BUSINESS AND LEADERSHIP CONFLICT – GARY HINKLE

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02WEBIt’s ridiculous if you think about it – businesses invest billions of dollars per year on leadership development, yet we continue to have a shortage of true leaders in business. Not every business suffers from this shortage, but I know that within most organizations involved in technology development and manufacturing there are major leadership voids in the management ranks. Continue reading