Meeting Speaker Andy Pickard: Cooks, Recipes and Ingredients
Albuquerque , USA
Applied Technology Associates (ATA), 1300 Britt Street, SE
Abstract: To make a meal, you need ingredients and a recipe. A recipe defines sequencing, quantities, timing etc. This is analogous to a project’s processes (ingredients) and life-cycle (recipe). For a project, the attributes of cost, schedule and quality are properties that emerge from the recipes and ingredients. But how important is the recipe? The study behind this presentation found instances where a project’s recipe had a 16-fold cost difference using the exact same ingredients. This suggests that a good cook can make a great meal almost regardless of the ingredients. Many Project Managers inadvertently become chefs of their projects and create new recipes in their attempt to recover their project. However, few managers are aware of the outcome of the recipes they create. When things turn out unexpectedly, generally badly, they blame the ingredients and not the recipe. This presentation will show how a business can characterize a recipe to meet business goals, define it in a structured way (a reference model) and then use that definition to plan and monitor a project. The method has been used at Rolls-Royce since 2002 and has been shown to improve project success, halving the level of scrap and rework whilst holding schedule. In one case, this method brought a 45% cost reduction to a project with only a small increase to schedule.
Bio: Andrew Pickard, INCOSE Chief of Staff, Rolls-Royce Associate Fellow in System Engineering, a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, a Chartered Engineer and a member of SAE International and of INCOSE. He is Vice-Chair of the SAE Aerospace Council and represents Rolls-Royce on the INCOSE Corporate Advisory Board. Andy joined Rolls-Royce in 1977 after completing a Ph.D. at Cambridge University in Fatigue and Fracture of Metals and Alloys.