A-E | F-M | N-R | S-Z |
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Not Invented Here. A reluctance to use outside parts, vendors, processes, etc.
The application of more people or other 'help' than a job can efficiently use in the hope of accelerating schedule. Supposedly comes from the NASA method of making a baby.
A negative answer.
Non recurring Engineering - The cost of designing something. Normally amortized over the production run of a system.
"Let's discuss that off line." Used to deflect any question that is to complex or to embarrassing to discuss in front of the group present.
A common assumption used to meet 'success oriented' schedules.
Unlikely.
A method of tracking activity by explicitly listing every action and every milestone for that activity, and reviewing it weekly or even daily. Normally, a bad sign. P&L meeting can consume enormous amounts of time.
The first formal presentation of a design concept to a customer. In theory, the detail design is not yet complete, and changes can be made easily.
A collection of memos or other documents defending your decisions. Kept in case of suprise attack.
The company allowed amount of money one will be reimbursed for food/ other expenses while traveling. Get creativity goes into either getting by on less than per diem, or getting the company to pay much more than allowed.
A group of people who update schedule charts and help allocate resources. A successful program requires good planning. An unsuccessful program requires more planning, as more schedules have to be updated.
Pissing Contest - A long protracted argument over a non-issue.
Getting a customer so involved financially and technically they will do almost anything to keep your job going. Normally implies that not all problems were completely reveled up front.
Person with overall business responsibility for a system. Often was the proposal manger. Usually has a business degree.
a Company with lead design responsibility. Usually a big corporation, such as Boeing, Lockheed, Hughes.
to move up a scheduled event (such as delivery). Generally not very successful.
A group of people who verify that something is built correctly, or at least according to a large set of mutually conflicting documents. Very nebulous function. You never see a Quality officer on the Starship Enterprise.
Quality Program - A new method for reducing waste, rework, errors, failures, etc. A new quality program is introduced to most companies about every 2 to 3 years. The introduction is greeted with great fanfare, coffe mugs, posters, and manditory training classes for every one. After a few months, the program begins to fade away, with only a few wilted posters remaining. In my mediocre career, I have been through Commitment To Excellence, Teaming, Product Managn\ment teams, Empowerement, ans a few others that escape me righgt now.
to build a system out of commercial, catalog items, applies especially to test sets.
1.commercial grade parts 2. Common parts, such as resistor or diodes.
Groups assembled to review proposals prior to submission to the customer.
A carefully calculated probability that a given part will fail at a given time. These numbers are used to run massive Monte Carlo simulations to determine MTBF or MTTF.
Rework - To repair something that was built incorrectly in production. Rework is bad. RFC - Read the f***ing contract! A term used to squelch irrelevant discussion between a prime and a sub. RFM - Read the f***ing manual! An internal term from Hewlett Packard.
Rough Order of magnitude. Less accurate than a SWAG.
I am actively soliciting terms, phrases, and definitions.
If you have any, please email it to me at
arfnotz@geocities.com
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