My management career has encompassed a number of diverse technologies and has concentrated on solving three
basic types of problems: Turn-around teams and/or projects to meet quality and delivery goals, move teams from
a research mindset to a product mindset, starting new engineering teams from scratch.

While technology has changed by leaps and bounds over the past 25 years, the problems that cause teams and
programs to fail have stayed relatively constant: lack of proper leadership, planning, coordination with partners
and suppliers, and an inadequate development life cycle model.

I have been successful at turning around each and every one of these issues as necessary.

Team/Project turnaround/transformation

The first is turning around teams/projects that have run into trouble in meeting quality or schedule goals.  
Whatever reasons are given for an engineering group not meeting its goals, I have found that the root cause is
invariably a management issue that must be overcome.  I start this by taking total accountability for major
custom development projects that have failed to meet their goals and where the customer is often on the verge
of walking away and claiming damages.  By total accountability, I mean:

  • Responsibility for development of a plan
  • Re-energizing or building the development and quality teams - involving them in the planning results in it
    being their plan and not management's plan!
  • Provide the engineers with the environment they need to succeed - this is my part of the bargain with
    developers/SQA
  • Ensuring product quality functions processes are in place and adhered to
  • Negotiating this plan with the customer - often involving them in the QA function so they can see what is
    being done firsthand.  This helps to build a trusting relation with the customer.
  • And delivering to it - this is the developer/SQA staff's part of the bargain

I have been very successful in achieving these goals in multiple circumstances.

Transforming Startups from Research to Product Mode

A major portion of my career has involved assisting startup companies in making the leap from research mode
to product mode.  Convincing research oriented engineers and scientists that they can direct their work to a
schedule and a plan is a challenge that I very much enjoy undertaking and have been successful at.  

These are challenges I particularly enjoy.  While I have worked in a number of different technology areas, I have
found that the leadership issues are always similar and are usually the major cause of problems.  The leadership
techniques that I have developed have proven to be very successful with both customers and development
teams.  

My teams have characteristically turned out to be high performers with great morale and very high retention.

Bootstrapping new teams

Starting new teams is a lot of fun.  This is where the rubber really meets the road because what you sow is what
you reap and I enjoy having this responsibility on my shoulders.  I formed a new software and SQA team at Bose
Corporation in with a charter to clean up a couple of earlier projects and simultaneously put together a new
architecture to meet immediate product needs.  Needless to say, this all had to be done while meeting Bose'
extremely high standard of quality.  

We succeeded and put out a family of highly successful home theater products with a high percentage of reusable
code and a number of accessories including a video remote, wireless speakers, and a new network capable version
of the venerable Wave Radio.
Leadership
Product Success Through Innovative
Engineering Solutions