How engineers can manage tomorrow's technology

Strategic planning has been the "whipping" boy in management for the last three decades. First, there was little planning. Then in the 1970's, planning could do no wrong - everyone jumped on the "planning bandwagon". However, due to environmental issues in the 1980's such as the energy crisis, detailed plans were missed and planning was once again put on the "back burner". Henry Mintzberg's book, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, led to the attitude of "just do it" in the 1990's. Emergent plans led to spectacular gains by the dotcom companies. However, what goes up, must come down and we had the crash of the dotcoms in 2000. Maybe a middle ground of some detailed planning plus emergent plans is a better formula! This combination has been called "strategic thinking". Due to the complexity of today's technology, engineers should drive the firm's strategic thinking. Engineers have been trained to look at all sides of the issues (system engineering). This process is a combination of detailed planning and emergent planning. As engineers take more of the lead in technology companies, their systems background is more in tune with the new planning style called strategic thinking. Combining an engineer's technical background with appropriate business training may be the "right ticket" for technology firms in the 2000's. The Project Management MBA program at the University of Texas at Dallas is uniquely designed to provide the necessary business training to practicing engineers. This program meets the professional development needs of individuals who already have significant program and project experience. By combining the traditional MBA courses with project management certificate training, this program provides leading edge information from both the academic and practitioner viewpoints. The UTD program offers both online and on campus versions to meet the needs of busy individuals