Project Management Techniques For Engineers

Should you try Google’s famous “20% time” experiment to encourage innovation? We tried this at Duolingo years ago. It didn’t work. It wasn’t enough time for people to start meaningful projects, and very few people took advantage of it because the framework was pretty vague. I knew there had to be other ways to drive innovation at the company. So, here are 3 other initiatives we’ve tried, what we’ve learned from each, and what we're going to try next. 💡 Innovation Awards: Annual recognition for those who move the needle with boundary-pushing projects. The upside: These awards make our commitment to innovation clear, and offer a well-deserved incentive to those who have done remarkable work. The downside: It’s given to individuals, but we want to incentivize team work. What’s more, it’s not necessarily a framework for coming up with the next big thing. 💻 Hackathon: This is a good framework, and lots of companies do it. Everyone (not just engineers) can take two days to collaborate on and present anything that excites them, as long as it advances our mission or addresses a key business need. The upside: Some of our biggest features grew out of hackathon projects, from the Duolingo English Test (born at our first hackathon in 2013) to our avatar builder. The downside: Other than the time/resource constraint, projects rarely align with our current priorities. The ones that take off hit the elusive combo of right time + a problem that no other team could tackle. 💥 Special Projects: Knowing that ideal equation, we started a new program for fostering innovation, playfully dubbed DARPA (Duolingo Advanced Research Project Agency). The idea: anyone can pitch an idea at any time. If they get consensus on it and if it’s not in the purview of another team, a cross-functional group is formed to bring the project to fruition. The most creative work tends to happen when a problem is not in the clear purview of a particular team; this program creates a path for bringing these kinds of interdisciplinary ideas to life. Our Duo and Lily mascot suits (featured often on our social accounts) came from this, as did our Duo plushie and the merch store. (And if this photo doesn't show why we needed to innovate for new suits, I don't know what will!) The biggest challenge: figuring out how to transition ownership of a successful project after the strike team’s work is done. 👀 What’s next? We’re working on a program that proactively identifies big picture, unassigned problems that we haven’t figured out yet and then incentivizes people to create proposals for solving them. How that will work is still to be determined, but we know there is a lot of fertile ground for it to take root. How does your company create an environment of creativity that encourages true innovation? I'm interested to hear what's worked for you, so please feel free to share in the comments! #duolingo #innovation #hackathon #creativity #bigideas

How to compare your eng team's velocity to industry benchmarks (and increase it): Step 1: Send your eng team this 4-question survey to get a baseline on key metrics: https://lnkd.in/gQGfApx4 You can use any surveying tool to do this—Google Forms, Microsoft Forms, Typeform, etc.—just make sure you can view the responses in a spreadsheet in order to calculate averages. Important: responses must be anonymous to preserve trust, and this survey is designed for people who write code as part of their job. Step 2: Calculate your how you're doing. - For Speed, Quality, and Impact, find the average value for each question’s responses. - For Effectiveness, calculate the percent of favorable responses (also called a Top 2 Box score) across all Effectiveness responses. See the example in the template above. Step 3: Track velocity improvements over time. Once you’ve got a baseline, you can start to regularly re-run this survey to track your progress. Use a quarterly cadence to begin with. Benchmarking data, both internal and external, will help contextualize your results. Remember, speed is only relative to your competition. Below are external benchmarks for the key metrics. You can also download full benchmarking data, including segments on company size, sector, and even benchmarks for mobile engineers here: https://lnkd.in/gBJzCdTg Look at 75th percentile values for comparison initially. Being a top-quartile performer is a solid goal for any development team. Step 4: Decide which area to improve first. Look at your data and using benchmarking data as a reference point, pick which metric you believe will make the biggest impact on velocity. To make this decision about what to work on to improve product velocity, drill down to the data on a team level, and also look at qualitative data from the engineers themselves. Step 5: Link efficiency improvements to core business impact metrics Instead of presenting these CI and release improvement projects as “tech debt repayment” or “workflow improvements” without clear goals and outcomes, you can directly link efficiency projects back to core business impact metrics. Ongoing research (https://lnkd.in/grHQNtSA) continues to show a correlation between developer experience and efficiency, looking at data from 40,000 developers across 800 organizations. Improving the Effectiveness score (DXI) by one point translates to saving 13 minutes per week per developer, equivalent to 10 hours annually. With this org’s 150 engineers, improving the score by one point results in about 33 hours saved per week. For so much more, don't miss the full post: https://lnkd.in/grrpfwrK

🚧🚧🚧 Project running late? Don’t panic. Every planner, engineer, or PM has faced this moment: 👉 The deadline is slipping. 👉 The client is asking tough questions. 👉 You need a rescue plan—fast. Good news: you’ve got two weapons in your toolkit. ⏱️ Fast Tracking or 💸 Crashing. But the trick is knowing when to use which. 🔹 Fast Tracking ✔️ Run activities in parallel instead of sequentially ✔️ No extra cost, but you risk rework ✔️ Perfect when time is the top priority and scope is stable ✔️ Example: Overlapping design & construction phases 🔹 Crashing ✔️ Throw in extra resources to speed things up ✔️ Cost goes up, but time goes down ✔️ Best for critical path activities where resources are available ✔️ Example: Adding shifts or doubling manpower on key tasks 🧠 Pro Tip: Don’t just throw money or effort at the schedule. 👉 Always analyze the critical path first. Otherwise, you’re just “crashing” non-critical work while the delay stays untouched. 📌 Bottom line: Fast Tracking = Time over Risk Crashing = Cost over Time Choose wisely. That’s the difference between a controlled recovery and a budget disaster. #ProjectManagement #Construction #PrimaveraP6 #Scheduling #DelayAnalysis #Planning #ProjectControls #PMO #ProjectEngineer #CareerGrowth #FromSiteToOffice #ConstructionLife #PlanningEngineer #EngineeringJourney #RealTalk #KeepLearning #ProjectManagement #SiteToProject #pmp #pmi

𝟳 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗦𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀 Effective deployment strategies are critical for maintaining stability, minimizing downtime, and ensuring a smooth user experience. Whether you're rolling out new features or updating existing ones, the right approach can make all the difference. Here’s a quick look at the top deployment strategies and their use cases: 1. 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀    - Roll out new versions to a small, select group before a full launch.    - 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲: Early issue detection with minimal impact. 2. 𝗕𝗹𝘂𝗲/𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀    - Run two identical environments in parallel, seamlessly switching between them.    - 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲: Zero-downtime releases and immediate rollback options. 3. 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗲𝘀    - Enable or disable features dynamically with feature flags.    - 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲: Phased rollouts and risk mitigation by toggling features without redeployment. 4. 𝗔/𝗕 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴    - Test different versions of a feature with real users to gather data-driven insights.    - 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲: Understand user preferences and optimize features based on behavior. 5. 𝗗𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀    - Release features in production without exposing them to users immediately.    - 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲: Validate new features while minimizing user impact and risk. 6. 𝗥𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁    - Gradual updates across servers, ensuring continuous availability.    - 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲: Incremental, controlled deployment for reduced downtime and disruption. 7. 𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘂𝘁    - Deploy in structured phases to progressively larger user groups.    - 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲: Controlled exposure to monitor performance and address issues gradually. Each strategy serves a unique purpose and provides flexibility to adapt to different deployment scenarios, helping teams balance stability, risk, and user satisfaction. This cheat sheet can serve as a handy guide for anyone managing or planning deployments. Which strategy has been most effective for you?

“There is a place where we IMAGINE THE IMPOSSIBLE…” 🚀 I’m leading an innovation session today inspired by SKUNK WORKS and the work IBM is doing with Lockheed Martin.   Lockheed Martin are now integrating IBM’s “Granite” large language models into the tools used in their AI factory by over 10,000 developers and engineers. It's a really impressive partnership.   Building impossible projects like Granite, the SR-71 Blackbird or the F-35 Lightning II is not easy. Especially when you have impossible deadlines, tight budgets, limited resources and bureaucracy.   At Skunk Works – it comes down to “MISSION CRITICAL COMMUNICATIONS”.   In 1939 Skunk Works founder Kelly Johnson wrote a set of rules which laid the foundations for how Lockheed Martin consistently outperform their competitors.   They're interesting because many of these rules are as relevant to PROJECT MANAGEMENT today as they were back then. (I like no. 3!)   1. The Skunk Works® manager must be delegated practically complete control of his program in all aspects. 2. Strong but small project offices must be provided both by the military and industry. 3. The number of people having any connection with the project must be restricted in an almost vicious manner. Use a small number of good people (80-90% less than usual). 4. A very simple drawing and drawing release system with great flexibility for making changes must be provided. 5. There must be a minimum number of reports required, but important work must be recorded thoroughly. 8. The Skunk Works inspection system should be used on new projects. Push more basic inspection responsibility back to subcontractors and vendors. Don’t duplicate so much inspection. 9. The contractor must be delegated the authority to test his final product in flight. He can and must test it in the initial stages. If he doesn’t, he rapidly loses his competency to design other vehicles. 10. The Skunk Works practice of having a specification section stating clearly which important military specification items will not knowingly be complied with and reasons therefore is highly recommended. 11. Funding a program must be timely so that the contractor doesn’t have to keep running to the bank to support government projects. 12. There must be mutual trust between the organization and very close cooperation and liaison on a day-to-day basis. This cuts down misunderstanding and correspondence to an absolute minimum. 13. Access by outsiders to the project and its personnel must be strictly controlled by appropriate security measures. 14. Because only a few people will be used in engineering and most other areas, ways must be provided to reward good performance by pay, not based on the number of personnel supervised.   “We are defined not by the technologies we create but the process in which we create them.” – Kelly Johnson, Skunkworks

Glen Palmer, PSP, CFCC, FAACE and I are honored by AACE publishing another of our Top Ten series of papers in the Cost Engineering Journal. Resource management sits at the heart of project success—and, too often, at the root of costly construction claims. Why Focus on Resources? Most construction schedules are built on assumptions about production rates, durations, and quantities. But when resource planning falls short—whether due to unrealistic manpower peaks, lack of skilled labor, or poor coordination—projects risk delays, cost overruns, and disputes. Rather than waiting for claims to arise, Palmer and Carson argue for a proactive approach: plan, validate, and monitor your resources from day one. Key Takeaways from the Top Ten Approaches: 1. Validate Resources by Discipline: Go beyond surface-level schedule checks. Detailed resource validation—using field-experienced personnel—can identify unrealistic resource peaks and prevent unachievable schedules. 2. Formalize Punch and Warranty List Management: Avoid never-ending completion and warranty periods by developing comprehensive, early punch lists and using structured warranty management systems. 3. Check Resource Earning Curves: Ensure planned progress is actually achievable by comparing planned manpower curves and production rates to real-world constraints. 4. Manage Schedule Compression: When compressing schedules, understand the risks and costs of acceleration and recovery. Use structured analysis and documentation to avoid disputes. 5. Review General Conditions Labor: Monitor and budget field overhead costs carefully, and avoid relying on variable, hard-to-track level-of-effort activities. 6. Use Constructability Reviews: Always have experienced field experts review “fast-tracked” project schedules to spot resource and constructability problems early. 7. Address Trade Stacking and Overcrowding: Analyze crew concurrency and area usage to prevent inefficiencies from too many workers or trades in the same space. 8. Specify Resource Requirements in Schedules: Include resource histograms and percent curves in scheduling specifications to enable thorough schedule reviews. 9. Plan for Resource Availability: Evaluate the availability of skilled labor and specialty resources, especially on large or geographically constrained projects. 10. Minimize Inefficiencies from Disrupted Trade Work: Align procurement, sequencing, and trade starts to reduce disruption, and use targeted planning to ensure work is completed efficiently on the first attempt. Conclusion: Resource-related claims are often avoidable with disciplined planning, honest schedule validation, and ongoing monitoring. By following these ten approaches, project teams can dramatically reduce the risk of disputes, keep projects on track, and protect both profit and reputation.

I am constantly thinking about how to foster innovation in my product organization. Building teams that are experts at execution is the easy part—when there’s a clear problem, product orgs are great at coming up with smart solutions. But it’s impossible to optimize your way into innovation. You can’t only rely on incremental improvement to keep growing. You need to come up with new problem spaces, rather than just finding better solutions to the same old problems. So, how do we come up with those new spaces? Here are a few things I’m trying at Duolingo: 1. Innovation needs a high-energy environment, and a slow process will kill a great idea. So I always ask myself: Can we remove some of the organizational barriers here? Do managers from seven different teams really need to say yes on every project? Seeking consensus across the company—rather than just keeping everyone informed—can be a major deterrent to innovation. 2. Similarly, beware of defaulting to “following up.” If product meetings are on a weekly cadence, every time you do this, you are allocating seven days to a task that might only need two. We try to avoid this and promote a sense of urgency, which is essential for innovative ideas to turn into successes. 3. Figure out the right incentive. Most product orgs reward team members whose ideas have measurable business impact, which works in most contexts. But once you’ve found product-market fit, it is often easiest to generate impact through smaller wins. So, naturally, if your org tends to only reward impact, you have effectively incentivized constant optimization of existing features instead of innovation. In the short term things will look great, but over time your product becomes stale. I try to show my teams that we value and reward bigger ideas. If someone sticks their neck out on a new concept, we should highlight that—even if it didn’t pan out. Big swings should be celebrated, even if we didn’t win, because there are valuable learnings there. 4. Look for innovative thinkers with a history of zero-to-one feature work. There are lots of amazing product managers out there, but not many focus on new problem domains. If a PM has created something new from scratch and done it well, that’s a good sign. An even better sign: if they show excitement about and gravitate toward that kind of work. If that sounds like you—if you’re a product manager who wants to think big picture and try out big ideas in a fast-paced environment with a stellar mission—we want you on our team. We’re hiring a Director of Product Management: https://lnkd.in/dQnWqmDZ #productthoughts #innovation #productmanagement #zerotoone

The difference between a good design doc and a great one is usually clarity. Technical writing should be crisp and to the point. So, it is always better to treat every sentence like it has a cost. After writing, cut aggressively. Remove extra words. Then check if a line can go. Sometimes even a full paragraph is unnecessary. One thing I always do is to start the doc with the conclusion; this way, the reader/reviewer knows where we are heading. This is contrary to how most engineers write docs - listing every approach first and only concluding at the end. That slows readers down. I avoid this because long explanations make people lose track; most readers want the conclusion quickly. So, always start with the answer and why it matters. Then add details and alternatives below for those who want depth. A habit that helps is a quick editing pass like this: - Remove filler words and repeated ideas. - Break long sentences into smaller ones. - Prefer bullets when listing options or steps. - Check if the first section clearly states the outcome. - Add a link or short explanation where a reader may pause. Empathy matters more than most people realize. Try to read your document as someone new to the topic. Ask yourself what might confuse them. Add the missing context. Add the helpful link. Let the ideas evolve naturally from problem to solution. This skill develops over time. Use simple language and fewer buzzwords. The goal is to communicate, not impress. Simple documents get read more. More readers means better alignment and better visibility for the work. Finally, always provide enough context. A short setup about the problem, constraints, and prior decisions goes a long way. It helps readers understand why the decision exists, and, of course, it prevents unnecessary back and forth later. Hope this helps.

"𝗪𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗯𝘆 15% 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿." Many product teams hear this from leadership, and then immediately jump to brainstorming features.  𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝘄𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵? I came across this fantastic chart that perfectly illustrates how to connect high-level business goals directly to tangible customer opportunities and UX metrics. It’s a masterclass in building a coherent product strategy. Here’s the breakdown: 1️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲: It starts with a broad 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹 (e.g., Increase revenue with stable NPS) and narrows it down to specific 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀. This provides clarity and focus. 2️⃣ 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀: Instead of guessing, we identify the primary business impact levers. To increase revenue, do we need to focus on 𝗔𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (more paying customers) or 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 (increase average contract size)? This is a critical strategic choice. 3️⃣ 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 "𝗪𝗵𝘆": This is where it gets interesting. We move from what is happening (e.g., low retention) to why it's happening. The chart points to crucial insights like "New users aren't reaching the 'aha' moment" or "New users aren't upgrading." 4️⃣ 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿: The framework forces us to translate business problems into 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀. "New users aren't upgrading" becomes "Everything I need is in the free plan." This shift is vital for building products people love. 5️⃣ 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲: Finally, we connect these customer opportunities to concrete 𝗨𝗫 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 like Engagement, Comprehension, or Visit Frequency. Now your design and engineering teams have clear, measurable targets that ladder all the way up to the company's top-line goal. This approach transforms product development from a feature factory into an impact-driven engine.

After spending three decades in the aerospace industry, I’ve seen firsthand how crucial it is for different sectors to learn from each other. We no longer can afford to stay stuck in our own bubbles. Take the aerospace industry, for example. They’ve been looking at how car manufacturers automate their factories to improve their own processes. And those racing teams? Their ability to prototype quickly and develop at a breakneck pace is something we can all learn from to speed up our product development. It’s all about breaking down those silos and embracing new ideas from wherever we can find them. When I was leading the Scorpion Jet program, our rapid development – less than two years to develop a new aircraft – caught the attention of a company known for razors and electric shavers. They reached out to us, intrigued by our ability to iterate so quickly, telling me "you developed a new jet faster than we can develop new razors..." They wanted to learn how we managed to streamline our processes. It was quite an unexpected and fascinating experience that underscored the value of looking beyond one’s own industry can lead to significant improvements and efficiencies, even in fields as seemingly unrelated as aerospace and consumer electronics. In today’s fast-paced world, it’s more important than ever for industries to break out of their silos and look to other sectors for fresh ideas and processes. This kind of cross-industry learning not only fosters innovation but also helps stay competitive in a rapidly changing market. For instance, the aerospace industry has been taking cues from car manufacturers to improve factory automation. And the automotive companies are adopting aerospace processes for systems engineering. Meanwhile, both sectors are picking up tips from tech giants like Apple and Google to boost their electronics and software development. And at Siemens, we partner with racing teams. Why? Because their knack for rapid prototyping and fast-paced development is something we can all learn from to speed up our product development cycles. This cross-pollination of ideas is crucial as industries evolve and integrate more advanced technologies. By exploring best practices from other industries, companies can find innovative new ways to improve their processes and products. After all, how can someone think outside the box, if they are only looking in the box? If you are interested in learning more, I suggest checking out this article by my colleagues Todd Tuthill and Nand Kochhar where they take a closer look at how cross-industry learning are key to developing advanced air mobility solutions. https://lnkd.in/dK3U6pJf