Shipulski On Design

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When you demo something new, you make the technology real.  No longer can they say – that’s not possible. When you demo something new, you help people see what it is and what it isn’t.  And that brings clarity. When you demo something new, people take sides. And that says a lot about them. When […]

When new ideas come from the outside, they are dismissed out of hand.  The technical term for this behavior is Not Invented Here (NIH).  Because it was not invented by the party with official responsibility, that party stomps it into dust.  But NIH doesn’t stomp in public; it stomps in mysterious ways. Wow!  That’s a […]

When there are too many projects, all the projects move too slowly. When there are too many projects, adding resources doesn’t help much and may make things worse. To speed up the important projects, stop the less important projects. There’s no better way. When there are too many projects, stopping comes before starting. All projects […]

When you notice someone having a difficult time, take the time to check in with them.  An in-person “Are you okay?” is probably the best way, but a phone call, text, or video chat will also do nicely. When you’re having a difficult time, when someone notices and checks in you feel a little better. […]

Companies that are good at planning their projects create roadmaps spanning about three years, where individual projects are sequenced to create a coordinated set of projects that fit with each other.  The roadmap helps everyone know what’s important and helps the resources flow to those most important projects. Through the planning process, the collection of […]

Defend – Protect your success in its current state.  In short, do what you did last time and do no harm. Extend – Modify and adapt your success. In short, sell similar offerings to similar customers. Transcend – Obsolete your best work before someone else does. All three elements can be important to a company’s […]

What does work look like when you prioritize your happiness? When it’s announced that open positions will not be backfilled to meet the practical realities of a recession, you reduce the scope of your projects and push out their completion dates to match the reduction in resources. And the impact on your career?  I don’t […]

When you spend time with a group in person, you get to know them in ways that can’t be known if you spend time with them using electronic means.  When meeting in person, you can tell when someone says something that’s difficult for them.  And you can also tell when that difficulty is fake.  When […]

When a car’s battery is low and doesn’t have enough energy to start the car, you change your expectations about travel plans, hook up the battery to a charger and give it the time it needs to charge.  You don’t keep trying to start the car because the already tired battery gets more tired.  You […]

With inflation on the rise and sales on the decline, the time to reduce costs is now. But before you can design out the cost you’ve got to know where it is.  And the best way to do that is to create a Pareto chart that defines product cost for each subassembly, with the highest […]

Our behavior is a result of causes and conditions. One thing paves the way for the next.  Elements of the first thing create a preferential path for the next thing. If someone gets praised for doing A, more people will do A, even when A is the wrong behavior.  If someone gets chastised for doing […]