Shows
Business Practices for EngineersTurn Project Management into Relationship Management — and Leave Your Competition in the DustI just can’t stand them anymore.Those consultants and smart advisors who go from company to company telling everyone—whether they want to hear it or not—how brilliantly Chinese firms are making Western companies look old and foolish.But you know what?These consultants are right about one thing:Competition has gotten tougher, there’s no denying that.If we want to survive in this new world and thrive long-term, a whole lot needs to change in our companies.But the solution doesn't lie in copying...
2025-12-2915 min
Business Practices for EngineersInterpersonal Relationships - The Magic Formula That Makes 1+1 More Than 2It’s always about personal advantage!What’s your reaction to this statement?“Of course it’s about me! That’s always been my motto.”Or“Absolutely not, that’s antisocial! The common good must stand above the individual’s self-interest.”Let’s unpack this together. I hope we can agree on a common perspective.But if you have a different opinion, don’t hesitate to share it with me. You can use the comments or send me a personal message. I’m very curious!It’s About Creating V...
2025-12-1516 min
Business Practices for EngineersTrue Partnership Knows No Single WinnerI think very few people believed we could actually pull it off!It’s been 25 years now. We were a small team with a big mission:“Build a company, develop a portfolio of heavy commercial vehicle axles, and supply the American subsidiary’s serial production with high quality and deliver reliability in 3 years.”When we tackled this impossible mission, one thing was clear: We could only do it together with strong, competent partners. Alone? No chance!The path we chose was unusual back then and still isn’t standard practice today.But b...
2025-12-0112 min
Business Practices for EngineersWhy Equal Power Creates Better Project DecisionsA Counterintuitive Approach to Better Project OutcomesIn my last article, I made a provocative claim.Project team members shouldn’t report directly to the project manager. Instead, they should have a different supervisor.I know this goes against common practice. That’s exactly why I want to explain my reasoning today.The Core Problem: Power Imbalance in Conflict of Interest SituationsLet me get straight to the point:Projects have multidimensional goals. Trade-offs are inevitable. The problem arises when a single person must nego...
2025-11-1015 min
Business Practices for EngineersSmall Rudder, Large ShipSometimes it proves useful to explicitly clarify matters that intuitively seem self-evident.Upon closer examination of common project management terms, I find that not everything is as clear as assumed. This is precisely what causes misunderstandings in collaboration. People wonder why things don’t run as smoothly as they would like.For this reason, I want to discuss the following terms in this article:* Management* Manager* Project Management* Project Management Team* Project Team* Project Management Office* Project Management Support* Pr...
2025-11-0321 min
Business Practices for EngineersHow a Truck Manufacturer Lost Its ProductBack When a Truck Was Just a TruckIn the first half of the last century, trucks were beautifully simple. We divided them into three categories:* Light trucks* Medium-duty trucks* Heavy-duty trucksThey were universal tools. You hauled grain, coal briquettes, beer, milk, furniture, machinery—anything that needed to get from Point A to Point B found its ride on the flatbed of the same truck.For manufacturers, the product was crystal clear.One truck type = one bill of materials.You knew the pe...
2025-10-2018 min
Business Practices for EngineersFast Is the New Safe: Rethinking Vehicle Development TimelinesFor the most impatient among you, here’s the answer right away:In the commercial vehicle industry, I consider it fast to bring a new vehicle to market in 4 years.With the classic approach used in the past, new vehicle development took 6 to 8 years.In the article “Getting the timing right”, I explain that in the commercial vehicle industry, it’s possible to estimate market demand over a 3 to 4-year period with reasonable accuracy.In many cases, external influences limit the available time to just 4 to 5 years. So it has to b...
2025-10-0617 min
Business Practices for EngineersThe Transformation Framework: How to Organize Reformation That Actually WorksPicture this: You're the leader of an organization that desperately needs to transform. You've identified the problems, you have a vision for the future, and you're ready to make it happen. But here's the brutal truth—most transformation efforts fail not because of bad ideas, but because of bad organization.As a leader, my job isn't just to spot what needs fixing. It's to analyze my organization, leverage our strengths, address our weaknesses, paint a clear and realistic picture of where we're headed, and—when fundamental transformation is necessary—make sure it actually succeeds.That...
2025-09-2215 min
Business Practices for EngineersWhy It's Unwise to Start with Scrum as Your First StepAgile project management is based on Scrum. That's how it all started, so let's introduce Sprint meetings and Scrum boards first.Once that works, we can scale up and think about the higher complexity in projects.Makes sense, right? That's why I often see teams taking this approach.Noooo, that's not the right way to do it!I used to do something similar myself. Back then it wasn't called Scrum - it was called Shop Floor Meeting.But I found that it didn't really solve the problem...
2025-09-0816 min
Business Practices for EngineersToDo-Sprints: How Activity Planning Prevents Project DelaysAs a product development leader, I regularly attend project review meetings where we discuss the status of important product development projects. In these meetings, project teams typically present two very different types of topics to top management:1. Technical Concepts and Product Performance ReportsFor these agenda items, project teams seek management confirmation and approval for technical approaches and performance metrics. In these cases, management takes an active role in the decision-making process, providing valuable input, strategic direction, and meaningful oversight that actually adds value to the project.2. Project Delays and Missing Results
2025-08-2516 min
Business Practices for EngineersPlanning Needs to Be Planned — How the Drum Beat Deliverable Planning Process WorksThere are moments in work life that you never forget.I experienced one of these moments when we introduced our first Drum Beat in a pilot project.The project team sat together in a meeting, planning the Drum Beat deliverables.Everything should have been sorted out. Now we just needed to wait for everything to be implemented, and then we could celebrate our first successful Drum Beat.The review day arrived, and the project team gathered to check off the Drum Beat results.That's when a project management team...
2025-08-1816 min
Business Practices for EngineersDrum Beat Deliverables Create Clarity – and Deliver the Truly Relevant Results.For many years, I had a metric on my shopfloor board that was probably very unusual. At least I don't know any other manager who worked with this KPI.It was the "task completion speed" – the duration until completion of tasks that my management team had put on their task list.The primary goal wasn't to work faster. It was explicitly allowed to optimize this metric by simply taking on easier and shorter-term tasks if it contributed to finishing faster.I must admit that this metric was the most difficult one on the en...
2025-08-1118 min
Business Practices for EngineersFrom Chaos to Flow: The Drum Beat as the Key to Implementation QualityThere's something strange about vehicle development projects: they span years—yet time is always too short.Whether it was a complete redesign of the entire product portfolio or just a minor facelift, the pattern was always the same.* It starts off rocky.* The further the project progresses, the more my daily work transforms into pure chaos: task forces I suddenly find myself in, top management reviews that stress me out week after week, and micromanagement that drives me crazy.* What was planned as a structured project turns into complete chaos that so...
2025-07-2816 min
Business Practices for EngineersGetting the Timing Right: Planning Product Development Projects the Right WayI can still remember it like it was yesterday.In 2010, we launched the Mercedes Benz Atego Hybrid. The vehicle was a full-fledged Mercedes with mass production quality. It offered 20% fuel savings in distribution traffic – a value that customers would kiss our feet for.I was proud as a peacock: The world had never seen a truck like this. No competitor anywhere had anything like it in their lineup.And then? Nothing. Nobody was interested in the truck.I don't know how many were sold, but it was ne...
2025-07-0714 min
Business Practices for EngineersFrom Concept to Bestseller: How Products Mature Through Sample PhasesA -- B -- C -- D -- this is how the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) designates the sample phases in product development.The VDA defines these phases in its recommendation for maturity level assurance of new supplier parts in the product development process, to regulate cooperation between suppliers and vehicle manufacturers.(Reference: Verband der Automobilindustrie e. V. (VDA), Quality Management Center (QMC): Reifegradabsicherung für Neuteile -- Methoden, Messkriterien, Dokumentationen. 3rd revised edition, June 2022. Berlin: Verband der Automobilindustrie e. V. ISSN 0943-9412.)The VDA has good reasons t...
2025-06-3024 min
Business Practices for EngineersRisk Management — The Master Discipline That Determines Victory or DefeatPlans are only perfect until they meet reality. No plan survives contact with the real world.Experienced project teams understand this reality and prepare for deviations in advance, enabling quick course corrections through targeted countermeasures.The method for doing this is risk management, and it's actually not that difficult.Nevertheless, I regularly observe how projects get into trouble because risk management is inadequate, as it costs time and is exhausting.As Chief of Overall Vehicle Development, I made it a priority to regularly review project risk portfolios, always ensuring that all...
2025-06-1617 min
Business Practices for EngineersSuccess Factor or Just Mail Carriers: The Role of Functional Unit Representatives in Product ProjectsIn this article, I would like to introduce the last important role in the project management team and explain why it makes sense to invest the necessary capacity in this role.The Project OrganizationWhenever a new large project starts, the same question always arises:Can we set up a project house for the project where all the people working on this project sit together in one large area, communicate directly with each other every day, and work exclusively on this one project?And every time we come to the same...
2025-06-0914 min
Business Practices for EngineersChief Engineer, Product Architect, and Project Manager — Who is responsible for what?The project manager is responsible for achieving project goals—that much is undisputed. But does this responsibility also extend to ensuring that:* A high-quality product is developed?* All technical teams collaborate closely?* Necessary technical compromises are balanced and decided in alignment with brand promises?* Product quality remains high, and competitiveness is maintained?* Product design is executed efficiently and strategically for the future?* The right technologies—mature yet innovative—are applied and their benefits fully realized?* Components and systems are arranged for cost-effectiveness and optimal manufacturing?T...
2025-06-0214 min
Business Practices for EngineersMastering the Matrix* Is your organization still small enough that everyone knows each other?* Is your product still so simple that every team member understands it inside and out?Then, teamwork is easy to organize.You come together, discuss what needs to be done, and do it.However, successful companies grow, and inevitably, a point comes where the group becomes too large and the product too complicated for this simple approach.Now you must change how you collaborate because the simple way is no longer viable.Today, I will discuss...
2025-05-1316 min
Business Practices for EngineersLess Stress, More Success in Projects: Why a Project Management Master is Really Worth It.In classic project management, the Project Manager is a superhero.He is the general responsible person, responsible for everything that happens in the project, including delegating responsibilities and tasks to a team, which he usually cannot choose himself, and ensuring that everything gets done.This sounds logical and is convenient and clear for everyone.The project stakeholder has the same contact person for every concern, and if something doesn't work, the same person is always to blame.For the project manager himself, it also feels good.He has unlimited...
2025-05-0516 min
Business Practices for EngineersProject Manager – Master of All Domains or Hapless Underachiever?The moment an employee is assigned responsibility for a project, they know: Something extraordinary begins—from tomorrow onward, their world will never be the same!Does the Project Manager Know Their Responsibilities and Tasks?How does a project manager know what's expected of them?What determines their success or failure?And what decides whether they'll be celebrated as a hero or condemned as a failure in the end?Well, finding answers to these questions isn't simple. In some organizations, project managers have clear guidelines and best practices to follow, wh...
2025-04-2820 min
Business Practices for EngineersWhen the Waterfall Turns Red - Potential Triggers for Project AlarmAs a teenager, I tinkered with my motorcycle, always trying to improve it. Today, we call this tuning or customizing.It was my childhood dream to develop vehicles—a dream I almost didn't dare to have. In my twenties, it finally happened. I landed my first job as a design engineer in vehicle development, and shortly afterward, a new vehicle development project began.Can you imagine how proud and excited I was?Since then, I've had the privilege of contributing to many vehicle development projects, with increasingly greater responsibilities. I've tried other jobs, bu...
2025-04-1416 min
Business Practices for EngineersEndlessly Perfect Your Product, or Just Get It Done Now?It was one of those moments that stay in memory for a long time.I was invited to give a keynote speech, and I talked about project management and transformation. During my presentation, I mentioned the DCVI concept — a method that is very close to my heart and on which I have already written an article here.The session was engaging, with interested participants asking thoughtful questions and participating in stimulating discussions.During the Q&A, someone from the audience asked a question I had already thought about a lot in advance:...
2025-04-0822 min
Business Practices for EngineersOEM and Supplier – Marriage or Friends with Benefits?No manufacturer can succeed alone; suppliers are vital to every successful OEM business, directly contributing to the final product's success.In the last article, I discussed the various types of products and their development environments. In doing so, I described the series product as being developed even before its eventual customers are identified.If you’re a supplier or work for one, you might think: 'That doesn’t apply to us—we develop our series products together with the customer!'But who’s right?In this article...
2025-03-3122 min
Business Practices for EngineersThe different types of products — and what they mean for developers.Product development — sounds self-explanatory, doesn't it? But what exactly is a 'product'? I would now like to get to the bottom of this fundamental question and take a closer look at the special characteristics of products.I've worked on vehicle development my entire professional life, so I'm very good at how a vehicle product development process works and the environment in which it takes place.But there are other products, some of which are fundamentally different in nature and are therefore consequently developed with different approaches in a different environment. This be...
2025-03-2418 min
Business Practices for EngineersThe Perfect Project Start: 7 Essentials You Can't Afford to MissA project has a beginning and an end.This statement is an attribute of projects included in the widely accepted project definition.But when does a project really start? ... and what are the requirements for a successful project start? This is exactly what I want to discuss in this article today. If you are clear about this, you can start projects in a way that ensures a good prerequisite for a successful project progression.Be curious, some of my statements are once again controversial, others...
2025-03-1718 min
Business Practices for EngineersShifting Culture: My Top Priorities for a Successful TransformationIn my previous article, I explained how to successfully manage projects and emphasized the significant influence that company culture has on a project's success. I promised to discuss how a necessary cultural change can be achieved in a future article.I would now like to fulfill that promise.What is corporate culture?For me, the term “corporate culture” encompasses the values, beliefs, and convictions that are shared by the majority of a company's workforce. Based on these, leaders and employees assess what is “acceptable” and what is not — how things are done or not done...
2025-03-1018 min
Business Practices for EngineersThe Fundamental Approach to Effective Product Creation: DCVIHave you ever wondered if there is a secret formula behind successful and effective projects?Yes, there is—and in this article, I will explain it to you.It is the sequence of:* Definition* Creation* Validation* ImplementationIf you pay attention to it, it is actually simple and logical and should be self-evident. It is the basis of every project management method I know, from Classic Waterfall to Agile and SAFe. It is the basis of Lean and Continuous Improvement. It is found in...
2025-03-0312 min
HeldengeschichtenUpper Management @ Daimler Truck - Real Talk mit einem (Ex-)Chef der GesamtfahrzeugentwicklungIn dieser Folge spreche ich mit Uwe Mierisch. Uwe arbeitet seit vielen Jahren im Entwicklungsbereich bei Daimler Truck. Er machte hier Karriere und schaffte den Sprung bis zum Leiter der Gesamtfahrzeugentwicklung.
Ich rede mit Uwe daher über die gestiegenen Anforderungen im Entwicklungsprozess. Wir sprechen aber auch darüber, wie sich der Beruf des Ingenieurs im Allgemein gewandelt hat. Uwe teilt hier viele Insights aus seiner langen Karriere im Automotive Konzernumfeld.
Mehr über Ingenieurshelden findest du hier:
https://ingenieurshelden.de/
linkedin.com/in/dr-thomas-loebel
2024-01-1138 min