No advertising, just down to earth embedded talk. Last month I talked about developing quick prototypes of software systems. Embedded systems are a unique nexus in computers where the hardware and the software are one. We can never stray far from the electronics that form the physical part of our products. In many ways hardware is harder to prototype because you actually have to build something.
Planning is one of any manager's main goals.
Too often, though, managers do planning that more properly belongs to the engineers. There are lots of great justifications for a project to run late. However, lousy planning is simply an unacceptable, though all too common, reason. I think engineers spend too much time doing, and not enough time thinking about doing. Try spending two hours every Monday morning planning the next week and the next month.