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To buy or not to buy, that is the question

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nuckollsr(at)cox.net
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Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 2:34 pm Post subject: To buy or not to buy, that is the question

 	  Quote: 	
		  As usual, Bob has succinctly assessed the problem.  If I looks at a

project or item and decide that "I can't build it for that" then it

seems far better to expend money than time--unless one undertakes it as

an educational endeavor and not to save money.  If we value our time

very highly (which we must not or we wouldn't be building airplanes!),

then with an embarrassingly high frequency, it truly is cheaper to buy

it then build it.


	


      This is usually the case . . . unless you're already skilled

      at the building part. On the other side, real education is

      truly expensive in terms of $time$ expended . . . often with

      no demonstrable expectation for return on investment.



      I'd hate to see a real spreadsheet on the $time$ I've expended

      purely for the fun of finding out something new or to try

      my hand at some new skill. I've often admitted to being

      "afflicted" with that strange disease where my vocation

      is also my avocation. I do this stuff for the boss under

      conditions that are often frustrating and then come home

      to do it some more where it's got to be fun or I wouldn't do it.



      I'm crafting a white paper for the new managers of

      Hawker-Beech dealing with the need for REAL IR&D

      facilities. The business case goes to several

      management issues but the one I like the most is to

      suggest that we (the company) should support an IR&D

      activity with tools, materials, facility and mentorship

      but to be utilized on the employee's OWN time. Shucks,

      everybody would show up if they had a work order.



      I've suggested that such a facility would be a valuable

      human resources "filter" . . . I would guess that out

      of 900 or so engineers and perhaps 1,000 more technical

      staff, there are perhaps 50-100 folks who have "the

      disease". I'm telling them that it would be useful

      to KNOW who those folks are and what they're REALLY

      good at. An IR&D facility provide a means by which

      folks could exercise their skills EVERY DAY. Further,

      we'd acquire valuable insight into skills that

      the most motivated individuals in our employ can bring

      to bear on the company's fortunes.



      The best thing is that such a facility can be operated

      on perhaps 2-5% of our total engineering overhead

      budget. A pittance.



      This is a generic document intended to identify and

      exploit simple ideas. I'll be pleased to share it

      with the List and get your feedback. Further, it's

      my hope that many of you may find the document useful

      in your own workplaces.  Watch this space.



        Bob . . .



        ----------------------------------------

        ( IF one aspires to be "world class",  )

        ( what ever you do must be exercised   )

        ( EVERY day . . .                      )

        (                  R. L. Nuckolls III  )

        ----------------------------------------

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nuckollsr(at)cox.net
Guest

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 6:24 am Post subject: To buy or not to buy, that is the question

At 07:43 AM 1/30/2007 -0600, you wrote:



 	  Quote: 	
		  

<rvbuilder(at)sausen.net>



   Try http://www.google.com/corporate/culture.html.  Google has a very

open attitude with their employees and follow the old mantra that a

happy employee is a productive employee.


	


    Thanks! Very useful data.



    About a year ago a survey was circulated around

    the department that stated, "We're trying to attract

    fresh engineering talent to Wichita and to the company.

    On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is it that . . ."



    Then followed with some inane items like:



    Wichita have a symphony orchestra?



    Wichita have a good bus system?



    The questions went on like that for a time before

    ending up with . . .



    "How important is it that the prospective employee have

    interesting and exciting work to do?"



    Well duh . . . I hope we didn't pay this company more

    than $10 to conduct this sophomoric piece of work. I wrote

    about two pages of critical review on the real issues

    for talent acquisition and retention and pasted it into

    the little comments box at the bottom of the survey.



    Don't know if anyone in the company ever saw it. The

    writing style was certainly identifiable as words coming

    from me. Never heard a peep about the outcome of the

    survey or my mini-dissertation on human resources management.



    Some days I think I'm in the Twilight Zone when perfectly

    serious folks make judgements and assign $high$ tasks that

    are completely detached from logical assembly of simple-ideas!



    Bob . . .

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nuckollsr(at)cox.net
Guest

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 5:19 am Post subject: To buy or not to buy, that is the question

At 08:08 AM 1/30/2007 -0800, you wrote:



 	  Quote: 	
		  



When your goal is to get it done, I always tell my engineers the same thing:



"Don't build what you can buy, and don't buy what you can steal".



It's very rare I can resolve a problem more effeciently than purchasing 

someone else's canned, tested and mass produced solution.  I tell them to 

let other companies concentrate on the support widgets...we'll concentrate 

on the REAL problems.


	


     Sure . . . but you do allude to "real" problems as opposed

     to what I might infer are "unreal"? There's little value - perhaps

     only losses of $time$ to be realized by re-inventing useful

     and already optimized wheels. These are the old-growth.

     Trunks and branches that are already in place and have

     stood the test of time. Your real engineering takes place

     out at the tips of the  branches where new-growth is

     expected to take place. Things that happen here cannot

     be purchased elsewhere because the goals of that work do

     not yet exist.



     The corporate cultures upon which we're doing critical

     review exhibit virtually no new intellectual growth. Whether

     for lack of resources (water, nutrients, sunshine) or is simply

     pruned off with some notion that doing so "conserves

     resources" for growth at the bottom line. While the practice

     appears fiscally efficient, it overlooks or ignores the

     fact that one of the resources needed for new grown comes

     in the form of talent from a relatively small segment

     of the total work force. Talent that either stagnates and

     becomes crippled or simply leaves to find more meaningful and

     satisfying endeavors.



     When you do the make-or=buy decision on your OBAM aircraft

     project there are two, independent and unrelated forcing

     functions at play. (1) get it done with the minimum investment

     $time$ (the MBA approach) or (2) take an opportunity to

     encourage some new growth that starts with personal achievement

     and just might ultimately  be reflected in the finished project

     (the skunk werks approach). The second path is never efficient

     in terms of $time$ compared to the first and never a sure bet.



     Further, there is probably an exceedingly poor return

     on investment even on a successful project UNLESS that

     new-growth becomes part of the trunks and branches of

     other folks projects. Your  achievements may become

     the "already invented wheels" for other folks projects.

     Only then can the potential for a healthy fiscal return

     on investment be realized. But for many, fiscal returns

     are not the goal. It is enough to know that your

     efforts have produced a useful variation on the art

     and science of OBAM aircraft development. "I did it and

     I like it" is sufficient.



     Bob . . .

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