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Project management

A project log for PCB Lamp

A motion-activated lamp, entirely planned, designed and manufactured at the DesignLab

giovanniGiovanni 09/27/2019 at 19:382 Comments

This was meant to be a simple product from the beginning, but from the beginning it was clear that no manufacturing project is ever "simple".

I believe I mentioned this before. For the sake of organization you want the Manufacturing BOM separate from the Electronics BOM, but certainly, they live the same life. We may have planned everything smoothly for all the manufacturing, tool-making, etc, just to get a notification like this:

We do not want a notification like this. 

This is when services such as Findchips come in handy (Full disclosure, both DesignLab and Findchips are owned by Supplyframe Inc.). I am a Product Designer so I do not make the most of the service, but Erika does and that is really cool.



One of the tools that I use a lot is a Project Management application called Project Libre (https://www.projectlibre.com). It is a simplified version of Microsoft Project without the price tag. The biggest drawback would be the fact that it is difficult to share the information with anyone who does not have the software (along with a few glitches here and there), which could be an advantage if you look at it from a different perspective :)

I have tried creating complicated spreadsheets in Google or Excel together with Gantt charts, but I quickly end up missing the degree of control that you can have with a project management tool. Being able to select who works what days, how many hours, what tasks begin before, after, concurrently in relation to other ones, etc., are just a few things that you could have with a spreadsheet but would take a loong time.  If you want to estimate with some decent accuracy how long a project will take, I would say this is the way to go.

Discussions

styronmiguelstyron324 wrote 04/26/2024 at 06:33 point

It's great to see such a detailed update on the PCB Lamp project! I appreciate the complexities involved in managing such intricate projects. Speaking of project management, I recently came across an interesting article that discusses the use of AI in project management and thought it might be relevant here. The article https://www.epicflow.com/blog/ai-in-project-management-is-the-future-already-here/ from Epicflow explores how AI can enhance decision-making and efficiency in projects similar to ours. It could provide some valuable insights on integrating technology to streamline our processes and potentially reduce the risk of project delays. What are your thoughts on leveraging AI in our project management strategies?

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styronmiguelstyron324 wrote 04/20/2024 at 09:30 point

Thank you

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