Category Archives: Management

Stories from the gray side of life.

Good Example of the Economy of Scale

Posted on 28-April-2015 by mathscinotes

Yesterday, I saw an interesting article in the Journal of Light Construction (JLC) that does an excellent job of showing how the per-square foot cost of a deck construction drops as the total area of the deck increases (Figure 1). I found this interesting because I am going to have a structure built on my lake property in northern Minnesota. I thought this data would provide a good illustration of how I use Mathcad generate product cost models. Continue reading →

Posted in Construction, Management | Comments Off on Good Example of the Economy of Scale

I Would Not Like to Have Worked For Frank Lloyd Wright

Posted on 17-February-2015 by mathscinotes

Because my wife and I are designing a cabin to replace our hunting shack in northern Minnesota, we have been looking at various house designs. Many of the designs we have looked at show the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright, who was the most famous member of the Prairie School of architecture. I know that Frank Lloyd Wright (Figure 1) is considered America's greatest architect (according to American Institute of Architects, 1991), but I do not think I would have wanted to work for him. Continue reading →

Posted in History of Science and Technology, Management | Comments Off on I Would Not Like to Have Worked For Frank Lloyd Wright

Asimov's Guide to Creative Thinking

Posted on 20-December-2014 by mathscinotes

Quote of the Day Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs. — Charlotte Bronte I just read an interesting article written by Isaac Asimov (Figure 1) on the creative process. The article … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Comments Off on Asimov's Guide to Creative Thinking

Management By Nuns

Posted on 16-December-2014 by mathscinotes

Quote of the Day Propose to any Englishman any principle or instrument, however admirable, and you will observe that the whole effort of the English mind is directed to find a difficulty, a defect, or an impossibility in it. — … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Comments Off on Management By Nuns

Industrial Design Sometimes Defies Logic

Posted on 2-December-2014 by mathscinotes

I just had one of those moments when my entire career flashed before my eyes – I hate when that happens. We have worked hard to make sure that our wireless products have only internal antennas because our product design experts said that we needed a "clean" external design. That means no external antennas sticking out. As part of this design effort, we have become very good at making internal antennas perform about as well as external antennas. Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, Management | 2 Comments

The Legend of the Management Cookies

Posted on 22-October-2014 by mathscinotes

I love having young engineers on my team. I also love cookies and we occasionally have cookies at some of our meetings – people might not attend otherwise, including me. However, our cookie selection is generally not particularly inspired. One … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Management | Comments Off on The Legend of the Management Cookies

Using an Excel Calculated Item to Breakout Vacation Time

Posted on 12-October-2014 by mathscinotes

In the fiber optic business, there are always more potential projects than we can execute, and we choose those projects we staff based on their Return On Investment (ROI). To generate these ROI analyses, I have to generate preliminary schedules … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial, Management | Comments Off on Using an Excel Calculated Item to Breakout Vacation Time

Risk Evaluation Math

Posted on 9-October-2014 by mathscinotes

Introduction I am always looking for ways to evaluate the risk of the projects that I am undertaking. Project planning can be very complicated (see Figure 1) and things do not always go well. It is important to understand the … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Comments Off on Risk Evaluation Math

A Lone Engineer in a Marketing Meeting

Posted on 9-April-2014 by mathscinotes

My staff is passing this video link around that illustrates what it is like being the lone engineer in marketing meeting. There is quite a bit of truth here. Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Management | 2 Comments

The Old Two Coat Trick

Posted on 19-December-2013 by mathscinotes

Quote of the Day Everything we call real is made up of things that cannot be real. — Niels Bohr I had a déjà vu moment this morning. One of my staff members was looking for another staff member and … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | 4 Comments