VectorXProEngineer

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Getting Started

What Vector Engineer does, and the few words it uses.

The idea

Vector Engineer runs stage-gate projects from the bottom up. Every piece of work is a deliverable with one owner, who agreed to its date. The schedule is calculated from those promises, not drawn by a planner. When something slips, everyone downstream sees why, and who owns the delay. Every request, promise, signature and gate decision stays on the record.

Every deliverable goes through five steps

  1. Request itWhat's needed, from whom, and by when
  2. Promise itThe owner accepts, or proposes a date they can hit
  3. Work itThe definition of done, files and versions as it moves
  4. Sign itSomeone else signs it complete, and technically correct where needed
  5. Pass the gateThe gatekeeper decides Go, Hold, Recycle or Kill

Getting around

  • My WorkWhat's waiting on you
  • ProjectsLists the projects you can see, with their teams and their reviews
  • GatesShows each project's gates and what's left before each one
  • ScheduleThe calculated timeline
  • ReportsHolds each project's Gate 6 report and, for leadership, the company report

Gates and Schedule open on the project you last opened, and closed and killed projects are folded away at the bottom of the lists. On the web these are down the left side, with Company setup for admins, leadership and the gate-process owner, and Settings opens from your name at the bottom left. On iPhone, My Work, Projects, Gates, Schedule and Settings are tabs along the bottom, and reports open from Projects and from each project.

vectorxpro.com/engineer/app
Vector Engineer on the web: the sidebar, and My Work with promises kept, date conflicts, Your next move and the lists

Three words to know

Date B is the date the owner committed to finish. Duration X is the owner's own working time, so their latest start is Date B minus X. Date A is when a piece of work is needed by the work that depends on it.

Everything is numbered from the project's code, so anyone can find it: deliverables ENG-05, reviews ENG-R3 (R for review), findings ENG-F11 (F for finding) and defects ENG-D2 (D for defect).