One of the most difficult engineering processes to nail down is a complex design handoff from one team to another.  Awhile back, I discussed this briefly using a football analogy.  I want to expand on that a little today:

• What makes a handoff so difficult?
• Why does so much information get lost?
• Why do teams inherently place blame on each other when it goes poorly?

Other than the basic communication issues between engineers (that we’ve discussed ad nauseum here, here, and here), there are specific issues with an engineering handoff that make it difficult.

Read the rest of this entry »

Working with others is easy for some, difficult for others.  Engineers, in particular, often have a difficult time communicating clearly.  For many firms, the end goal (a finished product) isn’t finished until many, many engineers get their hands on the design.  Naturally, in the corporate world, this mandates that teams of technical gurus are created under the glorious umbrella of hierarchical chain of command. Read the rest of this entry »