How can you ensure your aerospace engineering team stays within budget?

I would assume that this would also require a strict contractor management plan in this industry if contractors are integrated with a company team. This increases the management challenge and requires a strong competitive bidding program and scrutiny of all billables, as well as close supervision of the entire integrated team with fully aligned goals.

Objectives should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound (SMART). This ensures that everyone is on the same page from the get-go when the team sets out to achieve a goal.

Well, in my 40 years experience in the aerospace contracting business, I have seen many managers set deterministic goals that are quantifiable by metrics to measure cost and schedules. Most of these are doomed to disappointment or failure. This is because the humanity that you are dealing with is changeable, tenuous, sought through with emotional swings. Accept this rather than fight against it. Plan a schedule based on the probabilities of completing a task rather than the uncertain guesswork that goes into filling out Gantt charts. One way is to use queue theory to determine the probability of meeting a goal with many people working together, each with their own understood personal sensibilities, like factored quotients as it were.

True, having a realistic plan for all the three factors that is schedule, scope and cost will ensure we stay on budget. Have contingencies for known unknowns. And review these plans periodically. It is best to realise the chances of something going wrong at initial stages than realising it after it goes wrong. So having a risk management plan is essential. Tackling high impact risks as early as possible over delaying it to a later stage of the life cycle is preferred.

Isto é para a vida e para todas as engenharias !!! Estabeleça metas que sejam mensuráveis ! Crie indicadores, busque eficiência, tenha foco… Em cada fase do projeto meça os entregáveis e seus indicadores , previsto vs. realizado !!! Faça um plano de ação para acompanhamento das atividades !! Identifique os caminhos críticos e os riscos !! Comunique-se com seus stakeholders sobre o andamento e “tendências” do projetos informando os pontos positivos e negativos bem como as suas ações !! Quem não acompanha e não mede não gerencia !!

One act of measurement upon the project is a work flow chart broken down to all foundational trades as milestones to be complete not just hard turnovers to accomplish

Following along with the process approach idea, having control limits (i.e., reaction limits) in place also will help here in the monitoring phase. Many times projects or process can get derailed because unnecessary actions were taken (either actions that were not warranted or were not warranted when they were taken).

This is most effective, a PMBOK staple. I absolutely concur. The monitoring and managing steps also help create awesome CPI, or repeatability, models from the strick aerospace plan budgets.

We hold a daily stand-up meeting (must be less than 15 min, that's why you're standing), to discuss the current status, budget, schedule, and the day's plan. All stakeholders attend. All important messages are given at that time.

Listening to your team is the key to gaining their buy-in, and support. Some of the best ideas come that way. We have saved 10's of thousands buy listening to what others may call a crazy idea, but turns out to be a logical and efficient way to doing things. The people doing the actual work usually know where the inefficiencies lie. If you start "telling" instead of listening, they will stop giving ideas.

100 percent on this one. While this is the 3rd step listed, it encompasses all of the steps. Communication from beginning to end helps with team buy in and encourages collaboration and reduces conflict.

Um das Know-How, das Fachwissen und die Fähigkeiten in Bezug auf die Ergebnisse des Projektes effektiv weiter zu nutzen oder besser zu archivieren, kann es helfen die Ergebnisse von einem Team aus Externen Kommunikationsexperten und einem Luftfahrt Experten aufarbeiten zu lassen. So kann das Ergebnis effektiv für und von einem größeres Spektrum bzw. Kreis an Menschen zukünftig genutzt werden.

Having itemized your choice of compatible teammates of the same mind , with the same drive of passion in completing and achieving a successful mission in not only the over-all objective but success that ensures complete effectiveness of empowerment feeding the glow of confidence in each mind as the flow charts fill with the vision of complete team work

This is a key; set egos aside and focus on the process/project, not the person. Look for the best idea, not the idea from the highest ranking person. If the culture doesn't naturally support that, a great way to encourage collaboration can be through anonymity. That way, great ideas won't be stifled due to cultural shortcomings. As a side effect, if great ideas submitted anonymously are used, it could actually aid in cultural development.

Agree. Must be a plan for success and not success based planning. The former assumes that not everything will go as planned and thus the plan must have contingencies built in while looking in “side view mirrors” as well as “120’ in front of the car” to use a defensive driving now analogy. The critical path of the project must be clearly defined with fully integrated plans that are parallel efforts but layer into the critical path at different times. Not managing all of the parallel path efforts will hold up the critical path.

Leading back to the recycle stages implemented in spaced out intervals to keep the think tanks fresh. Discarding the clutter that always slows the minds down when diversity is a variable in more than not different areas

A thorough risk assessment ideally would be done well before the project is initiated and at regular intervals throughout. As more information is learned, new risks and opportunities will arise. Regularly reviewing a project risk register that outlines risks, opportunities, responsible parties, mitigation strategies, etc. will help minimize unforeseen problems.

Rewards and motivations don't have to be big, huge parties at the end of a project. By the end, it's too late. Pizza is cheap, but it buys so much. The morale improvements gained by such a small effort from leadership make a huge difference in buy-in and support from the team. It should be done early and often.

This is the best part and most rewarding of any project, but like having a culture of openness and communication, it starts before the project. You can't motivate a team very well, but you can remove obstacles that would hurt their own internal motivation. That's also why team selection and forming is so important. Support and recognition will help clear that path for greater success, but you've got to have the right people on the bus with you first. Then, recognition and motivation will come naturally and from within the team - not just from you.

Voice of the customer - internal and or external is key for the success of the program and product development as well as following a stage gate process with bi-weekly coreteam meetings as well as monthly stakeholder reviews. Keeping the budget within +- 10% as well as ahead of schedule with qualification and cert testing while tracking all the risks.