Are you a Project Manager?

Well if you’re running any kind of machine vision implementation activity, the answer is “Yes, you are.” So how are your project management skills?

I don’t mean can you use MS Project. That’s just a tool for managing projects; it won’t do the actual management for you. To come in on time and budget you need to understand project management disciplines and best practices. For an excellent discussion of why this is such an important, and overlooked, issue for manufacturing professionals, read “Manufacturing needs project management skills too,” published on the IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) web site, November 3rd, 2009.

Now it’s fair to ask if managing a machine vision project is different to managing any other project, and I think the answer is yes, and no.

Machine vision has its peculiarities, but the fundamental disciplines are the same. Define exactly what you are going to do, and also what you will not be doing. Figure out who the stakeholders are and what they want. All good PMI (Project Management Institute) stuff. In fact I’m thinking of writing a book on managing machine vision projects. Anyone want to collaborate?