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From: Spehro Pefhany on 12 Apr 2010 13:36
On Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:30:27 -0700, Muzaffer Kal <kal(a)dspia.com>
wrote:

>On Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:23:21 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid>
>wrote:
>
>>Spehro Pefhany wrote:
>>> On Mon, 12 Apr 2010 08:10:56 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Other question: Does anyone know whether it's possible to order at
>>>> places like Digikey using a clients credit card? Or fill in a Digikey
>>>> order with shipping address and all, send to client, and they just need
>>>> to add their payment info but not have to enter all the parts again?
>>>> That would make invoicing less cluttered.
>>>
>>> Joerg:-
>>>
>>> You can send them a csv file and get them to do this:
>>>
>>> http://dkc3.digikey.com/RUD/US/OrderFileUpload.html
>>>
>>> You can set up an uncommitted order and grab the stuff off the screen
>>> with a bit of editing.
>>>
>>
>>That would be another option but I am going to try Muzaffer's method.
>>Looks like just a couple of numbers and the order pops up, if that
>>works. I guess the client could then enter their Digikey account number
>>somewhere.
>
>Actually it works quite and it's very easy. Whenever you start a new
>order, the two numbers you need are displayed at top of the page. When
>you are done entering, write the numbers down. Later you can go back
>to Digikey and click on "order status" to enter the numbers. You can
>check wheter your purchaser has paid for the order by the end of the
>day and even get a tracking number.

Ah, I see what you're saying.. the webID and Access ID isn't tied to
the customer number until you finish the ordering process. That's
handy. I would not want to allow anyone else to be able to access
historical order information.


From: Tim Wescott on 12 Apr 2010 14:12
Joerg wrote:
> Jim Thompson wrote:
>> On Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:57:25 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Tim Wescott wrote:
>>>> Joerg wrote:
>>>>> Tim Wescott wrote:
>>>>>> Joerg wrote:
>>>>>>> Hello Folks,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> -- snip --
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Other question: Does anyone know whether it's possible to order
>>>>>>> at places like Digikey using a clients credit card? Or fill in a
>>>>>>> Digikey order with shipping address and all, send to client, and
>>>>>>> they just need to add their payment info but not have to enter
>>>>>>> all the parts again? That would make invoicing less cluttered.
>>>>>> It would indeed make invoicing less cluttered, but then it makes
>>>>>> your timetable dependent on your client's purchasing department.
>>>>>> I wouldn't do it unless I knew that I could monitor the status of
>>>>>> the order and rattle some bars with the client if it wasn't
>>>>>> getting entered.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'd have to trust the client's purchasing department, and even
>>>>>> then I can already see the finger-pointing contest when my work
>>>>>> was late because their purchasing department didn't get around to
>>>>>> dealing with the order.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Clearly this would work well if whoever holds the credit card on
>>>>>> the client's end is motivated, responsive, and responsible. So
>>>>>> I'm not saying "don't do it, it'll be a nightmare" -- but I am
>>>>>> most certainly saying "think about it, it _may well_ be a
>>>>>> nightmare". Depends on the client, and you, on how much you trust
>>>>>> them to be speedy with ordering vs. how much you trust them to be
>>>>>> speedy with paying invoices, and on how willing you are to
>>>>>> bankroll their inventory.
>>>>>>
>>>>> Oh, I fully trust the client. Most clients are smaller companies,
>>>>> meaning they are highly motivated to get this done because it
>>>>> affects the time frame within which they have a revised and
>>>>> reliably working product. You just have to make sure the person
>>>>> doing this ordering isn't out of office but I usually know that.
>>>> I do appreciate working for smaller companies. There's a sort of
>>>> madness that sets in when the layers of management get too deep,
>>>> particularly when the top layer is all finance guys. It never fails
>>>> to astound me how some CEO who has no trouble demanding 100 times
>>>> the pay of a store manager at McDonald's can't imagine that some
>>>> engineers may be worth more than others.
>>>>
>>>> Smaller companies get the concept of "I ask for more per hour, but
>>>> even so I deliver more value per dollar". And they understand "you
>>>> do your part and everything will go faster". Etc.
>>>>
>>>> Etc.
>>>>
>>>> Etc.
>>>>
>>> The opposite happened at one client. Very efficiently run company,
>>> small, just my cup of tea. Needed an electronic design, quickly, the
>>> deadline set by one of their customers was in October last year. I
>>> delivered on time, all the docs, working and tested boards plus some
>>> spares, everyone happy. Their customer (big company) that was in such
>>> a rush to get this project done "hasn't gotten around to testing it"
>>> and now we have April ...
>>
>> I've had big company clients like that... hell-bent-for-leather design
>> and fabrication of the chip, then it sat for months "due to a change
>> in direction and priorities" :-(
>>
>
> Matrix management can quickly lead to such effects. That's why, when I
> was running a company, there was no matrix management.

I had a manager once who insisted that reorganizing a group into matrix
management every once in a while was a good thing, to blow out the
project-oriented management.

Just as long as you went back soon enough, without too much fuss & bother...

I don't know if it's true. Every time I've been involved with matrix
management it's always been the death knell of focused product development.

--
Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com
From: Joerg on 12 Apr 2010 14:13
Tim Wescott wrote:
> Joerg wrote:
>> Jim Thompson wrote:
>>> On Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:57:25 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Tim Wescott wrote:
>>>>> Joerg wrote:
>>>>>> Tim Wescott wrote:
>>>>>>> Joerg wrote:
>>>>>>>> Hello Folks,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> -- snip --
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Other question: Does anyone know whether it's possible to order
>>>>>>>> at places like Digikey using a clients credit card? Or fill in a
>>>>>>>> Digikey order with shipping address and all, send to client, and
>>>>>>>> they just need to add their payment info but not have to enter
>>>>>>>> all the parts again? That would make invoicing less cluttered.
>>>>>>> It would indeed make invoicing less cluttered, but then it makes
>>>>>>> your timetable dependent on your client's purchasing department.
>>>>>>> I wouldn't do it unless I knew that I could monitor the status of
>>>>>>> the order and rattle some bars with the client if it wasn't
>>>>>>> getting entered.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'd have to trust the client's purchasing department, and even
>>>>>>> then I can already see the finger-pointing contest when my work
>>>>>>> was late because their purchasing department didn't get around to
>>>>>>> dealing with the order.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Clearly this would work well if whoever holds the credit card on
>>>>>>> the client's end is motivated, responsive, and responsible. So
>>>>>>> I'm not saying "don't do it, it'll be a nightmare" -- but I am
>>>>>>> most certainly saying "think about it, it _may well_ be a
>>>>>>> nightmare". Depends on the client, and you, on how much you
>>>>>>> trust them to be speedy with ordering vs. how much you trust them
>>>>>>> to be speedy with paying invoices, and on how willing you are to
>>>>>>> bankroll their inventory.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> Oh, I fully trust the client. Most clients are smaller companies,
>>>>>> meaning they are highly motivated to get this done because it
>>>>>> affects the time frame within which they have a revised and
>>>>>> reliably working product. You just have to make sure the person
>>>>>> doing this ordering isn't out of office but I usually know that.
>>>>> I do appreciate working for smaller companies. There's a sort of
>>>>> madness that sets in when the layers of management get too deep,
>>>>> particularly when the top layer is all finance guys. It never
>>>>> fails to astound me how some CEO who has no trouble demanding 100
>>>>> times the pay of a store manager at McDonald's can't imagine that
>>>>> some engineers may be worth more than others.
>>>>>
>>>>> Smaller companies get the concept of "I ask for more per hour, but
>>>>> even so I deliver more value per dollar". And they understand "you
>>>>> do your part and everything will go faster". Etc.
>>>>>
>>>>> Etc.
>>>>>
>>>>> Etc.
>>>>>
>>>> The opposite happened at one client. Very efficiently run company,
>>>> small, just my cup of tea. Needed an electronic design, quickly, the
>>>> deadline set by one of their customers was in October last year. I
>>>> delivered on time, all the docs, working and tested boards plus some
>>>> spares, everyone happy. Their customer (big company) that was in
>>>> such a rush to get this project done "hasn't gotten around to
>>>> testing it" and now we have April ...
>>>
>>> I've had big company clients like that... hell-bent-for-leather design
>>> and fabrication of the chip, then it sat for months "due to a change
>>> in direction and priorities" :-(
>>>
>>
>> Matrix management can quickly lead to such effects. That's why, when I
>> was running a company, there was no matrix management.
>
> I had a manager once who insisted that reorganizing a group into matrix
> management every once in a while was a good thing, to blow out the
> project-oriented management.
>

That would probably a good time time to ponder "other avenues".


> Just as long as you went back soon enough, without too much fuss &
> bother...
>
> I don't know if it's true. Every time I've been involved with matrix
> management it's always been the death knell of focused product development.
>

That's exactly my experience as well.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.
From: Tim Wescott on 12 Apr 2010 14:29
Joerg wrote:
> Jim Thompson wrote:
>> On Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:57:25 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Tim Wescott wrote:
>>>> Joerg wrote:
>>>>> Tim Wescott wrote:
>>>>>> Joerg wrote:
>>>>>>> Hello Folks,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> -- snip --
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Other question: Does anyone know whether it's possible to order
>>>>>>> at places like Digikey using a clients credit card? Or fill in a
>>>>>>> Digikey order with shipping address and all, send to client, and
>>>>>>> they just need to add their payment info but not have to enter
>>>>>>> all the parts again? That would make invoicing less cluttered.
>>>>>> It would indeed make invoicing less cluttered, but then it makes
>>>>>> your timetable dependent on your client's purchasing department.
>>>>>> I wouldn't do it unless I knew that I could monitor the status of
>>>>>> the order and rattle some bars with the client if it wasn't
>>>>>> getting entered.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'd have to trust the client's purchasing department, and even
>>>>>> then I can already see the finger-pointing contest when my work
>>>>>> was late because their purchasing department didn't get around to
>>>>>> dealing with the order.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Clearly this would work well if whoever holds the credit card on
>>>>>> the client's end is motivated, responsive, and responsible. So
>>>>>> I'm not saying "don't do it, it'll be a nightmare" -- but I am
>>>>>> most certainly saying "think about it, it _may well_ be a
>>>>>> nightmare". Depends on the client, and you, on how much you trust
>>>>>> them to be speedy with ordering vs. how much you trust them to be
>>>>>> speedy with paying invoices, and on how willing you are to
>>>>>> bankroll their inventory.
>>>>>>
>>>>> Oh, I fully trust the client. Most clients are smaller companies,
>>>>> meaning they are highly motivated to get this done because it
>>>>> affects the time frame within which they have a revised and
>>>>> reliably working product. You just have to make sure the person
>>>>> doing this ordering isn't out of office but I usually know that.
>>>> I do appreciate working for smaller companies. There's a sort of
>>>> madness that sets in when the layers of management get too deep,
>>>> particularly when the top layer is all finance guys. It never fails
>>>> to astound me how some CEO who has no trouble demanding 100 times
>>>> the pay of a store manager at McDonald's can't imagine that some
>>>> engineers may be worth more than others.
>>>>
>>>> Smaller companies get the concept of "I ask for more per hour, but
>>>> even so I deliver more value per dollar". And they understand "you
>>>> do your part and everything will go faster". Etc.
>>>>
>>>> Etc.
>>>>
>>>> Etc.
>>>>
>>> The opposite happened at one client. Very efficiently run company,
>>> small, just my cup of tea. Needed an electronic design, quickly, the
>>> deadline set by one of their customers was in October last year. I
>>> delivered on time, all the docs, working and tested boards plus some
>>> spares, everyone happy. Their customer (big company) that was in such
>>> a rush to get this project done "hasn't gotten around to testing it"
>>> and now we have April ...
>>
>> I've had big company clients like that... hell-bent-for-leather design
>> and fabrication of the chip, then it sat for months "due to a change
>> in direction and priorities" :-(
>>
>
> Matrix management can quickly lead to such effects. That's why, when I
> was running a company, there was no matrix management.
>

The odd thing is that (as I mentioned in my other post) while matrix
management seems to be the death of projects, it does a better job at
hiring better people for the company. I used to work for a manager who
was just terrible at day-to-day management, but he was superlative at
hiring good, self-motivated people. Basically, he spent his time
getting into fights with other managers whether the situation warranted
it or not, and we went around making things actually work. It was a
very bizarre situation, but it did work.

I've often thought that the way to make matrix management work is in the
context of a Big group, where the discipline managers hire, train and
fire, while the project managers are given "monopoly money" to go "rent"
engineers from the discipline managers.

I think it's one of those "sounds good in theory" things that would go
down in flames, with severe battle damage from politics.

--
Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com
From: Joerg on 12 Apr 2010 14:37
Tim Wescott wrote:
> Joerg wrote:
>> Jim Thompson wrote:
>>> On Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:57:25 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Tim Wescott wrote:
>>>>> Joerg wrote:
>>>>>> Tim Wescott wrote:
>>>>>>> Joerg wrote:
>>>>>>>> Hello Folks,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> -- snip --
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Other question: Does anyone know whether it's possible to order
>>>>>>>> at places like Digikey using a clients credit card? Or fill in a
>>>>>>>> Digikey order with shipping address and all, send to client, and
>>>>>>>> they just need to add their payment info but not have to enter
>>>>>>>> all the parts again? That would make invoicing less cluttered.
>>>>>>> It would indeed make invoicing less cluttered, but then it makes
>>>>>>> your timetable dependent on your client's purchasing department.
>>>>>>> I wouldn't do it unless I knew that I could monitor the status of
>>>>>>> the order and rattle some bars with the client if it wasn't
>>>>>>> getting entered.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'd have to trust the client's purchasing department, and even
>>>>>>> then I can already see the finger-pointing contest when my work
>>>>>>> was late because their purchasing department didn't get around to
>>>>>>> dealing with the order.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Clearly this would work well if whoever holds the credit card on
>>>>>>> the client's end is motivated, responsive, and responsible. So
>>>>>>> I'm not saying "don't do it, it'll be a nightmare" -- but I am
>>>>>>> most certainly saying "think about it, it _may well_ be a
>>>>>>> nightmare". Depends on the client, and you, on how much you
>>>>>>> trust them to be speedy with ordering vs. how much you trust them
>>>>>>> to be speedy with paying invoices, and on how willing you are to
>>>>>>> bankroll their inventory.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> Oh, I fully trust the client. Most clients are smaller companies,
>>>>>> meaning they are highly motivated to get this done because it
>>>>>> affects the time frame within which they have a revised and
>>>>>> reliably working product. You just have to make sure the person
>>>>>> doing this ordering isn't out of office but I usually know that.
>>>>> I do appreciate working for smaller companies. There's a sort of
>>>>> madness that sets in when the layers of management get too deep,
>>>>> particularly when the top layer is all finance guys. It never
>>>>> fails to astound me how some CEO who has no trouble demanding 100
>>>>> times the pay of a store manager at McDonald's can't imagine that
>>>>> some engineers may be worth more than others.
>>>>>
>>>>> Smaller companies get the concept of "I ask for more per hour, but
>>>>> even so I deliver more value per dollar". And they understand "you
>>>>> do your part and everything will go faster". Etc.
>>>>>
>>>>> Etc.
>>>>>
>>>>> Etc.
>>>>>
>>>> The opposite happened at one client. Very efficiently run company,
>>>> small, just my cup of tea. Needed an electronic design, quickly, the
>>>> deadline set by one of their customers was in October last year. I
>>>> delivered on time, all the docs, working and tested boards plus some
>>>> spares, everyone happy. Their customer (big company) that was in
>>>> such a rush to get this project done "hasn't gotten around to
>>>> testing it" and now we have April ...
>>>
>>> I've had big company clients like that... hell-bent-for-leather design
>>> and fabrication of the chip, then it sat for months "due to a change
>>> in direction and priorities" :-(
>>>
>>
>> Matrix management can quickly lead to such effects. That's why, when I
>> was running a company, there was no matrix management.
>>
>
> The odd thing is that (as I mentioned in my other post) while matrix
> management seems to be the death of projects, it does a better job at
> hiring better people for the company. I used to work for a manager who
> was just terrible at day-to-day management, but he was superlative at
> hiring good, self-motivated people. Basically, he spent his time
> getting into fights with other managers whether the situation warranted
> it or not, and we went around making things actually work. It was a
> very bizarre situation, but it did work.
>
> I've often thought that the way to make matrix management work is in the
> context of a Big group, where the discipline managers hire, train and
> fire, while the project managers are given "monopoly money" to go "rent"
> engineers from the discipline managers.
>

Cross-charging makes it even worse. When running a division I sometimes
"matrixed" myself out to another division when they needed serious
analog help. But it was totally informal (that's key) and the payment
consisted of the occasional brewsky after work. The only thing we ever
cross-charged besides production output was one computer, from a guy who
transitioned to our division.


> I think it's one of those "sounds good in theory" things that would go
> down in flames, with severe battle damage from politics.
>

Oh yeah, it would :-)

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.
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