EECS Executive Speaker Series: Steve Muchlinski-Muchlinski Consulting, Inc.
About the event
Preplanning & Managing Highly Technical Projects
The Project Management Institute defines project management as “the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements”. However, ring binders full of templates and contrived recipes for success should not be capriciously applied in a cookie-cutter manner to the planning and management of a project. Similarly, there are no “one size fits all” set of rules and processes that apply to managing a project that will absolutely guarantee the scope, schedule and budget will be met. Project management tools are helpful but need timely and accurate data for them to produce usable information and trustworthy results. Each project is unique requiring the dedicated and rigorous application of effective project management practices to initiate and manage a project to a successful completion.
This talk focuses on various project phases from preplanning to closeout. Each phase will be divided into key stages through which the definition of project management terms, portrayal of real-life project situations and lessons learned are highlighted based on managing highly technical projects.
About the Speaker:
Steve Muchlinski is the owner and president of Muchlinski Consulting providing a broad range of consulting services to public utilities, private utilities and companies that supply products and services to the energy industry. He is a veteran industry executive with extensive leadership experience in utility management, project management, risk management, power management, consulting, information/operation technology, and operational oversight including asset management and operation & maintenance. He is knowledgeable of regional energy issues, national policies and regulatory matters.
He is highly experienced at managing within multifaceted organizational structures and has built and managed high performance departments and project teams. Steve specializes in complex engagements and projects and is skilled at fostering collegial interactions among team members, leadership and governance committees. He has created Project Management Offices for managing projects utilizing direct reports and contract personnel.
He has led and participated in industry governance and operating committees that include public and private utilities, government agencies and a wide range of stakeholder representatives. He was a two-term founding Governing Board member of the NIST sponsored Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (“SGIP”) and was active in supporting the transition to a new SGIP, Inc. organization as a member of the Board of Directors, Audit Committee Vice Chair, and Technical Committee member.
Steve is a graduate of Washington State University and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and serves on its Executive Advisory Board for the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He has been an EPRI project advisor, Project Management Institute Vice President – Seattle Chapter, and a speaker and panelist at university and industry conferences.