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Perfection Is in the Details—or Is It?

By Dr. Alexander Laufer After I earned my engineering doctorate at the University of Texas, I accepted a teaching position at Texas A&M University. By 1982, I was ready to return to the field and put principles to practice.

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The Dream and Its Demise

By Dr. Alexander Laufer Chuck and Dave, two planning & scheduling engineers, meet at a project management conference and end up discussing the tricks of their trade.

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Communicating By Walking Around

By Dr. Alexander Laufer Lance, a very successful project manager of large engineering projects, writes only if he has good reason.

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Timing Is the Key

By Dr. Alexander Laufer When should one make decisions during project planning: early or late? Well, as the following two stories illustrate, the answer is simple: It depends.

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So Much Depends upon a Pickup Truck

By Dr. Alexander Laufer In one of my early studies, I examined the factors affecting the optimal size of a construction crew. My list of factors was very elaborate, and included worker’s experience, foreman’s training, complexity of work, and many others.

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A “Sweet 16” Of Rules About Teamwork

By Dr. Alexander Laufer The following “Sweet 16” rules included here derive from a longer paper by APPL Director Dr. Edward Hoffman and myself titled “99 Rules for Managing Faster, Better, Cheaper Projects.”

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From PowerPoint Slides to Powerful Stories

By Dr. Alexander Laufer An experienced NASA project manager was invited to talk at a Knowledge Sharing (KS) meeting sponsored by the Academy of Program and Project Leadership (APPL).

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Stories as Agents for Change

By Dr. Alexander Laufer Stories are Just for Children In 1971, when I started my career as an engineer, I would have laughed if somebody had told me that I would compose three professional books and lead a professional magazine for NASA — all focusing on stories.

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From Planned Football to Spontaneous Basketball

By Dr. Alexander Laufer Every year, all North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members prove their ability to repair the military airfields that support the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). Teams have exactly three hours to complete the more than 140 tasks necessary to get the airfield operational.

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