Never Postpone the Chicken Test

By Steve Wetterling

When I manage projects, and when I teach project management, I know it's important to understand project risk and to evaluate, plan for and mitigate risk.

When I'm teaching, sometimes a class participant stares back at me in puzzlement when we get to discussing project risk. "What's so risky about doing a project?"  The Chicken Test helps them understand.

Chicken Tests are one or more must-pass tests a new product must pass in order for it to be allowed on the market. Different kinds of products have different test requirements, but in airplane, jet engine and high-speed train design, the test simulates actually hitting a large bird at full speed. A new jet engine, new airplane windshield and new train-driver's window all have to withstand a full-speed strike from a good-size chicken (substituting for a goose or pelican, which are actual flight hazards). Hence the name "Chicken Test." Most electronic and medical products have their own versions of the Chicken Test as required by the FCC, FDA and various government and private safety agencies.

Failing the Chicken Test is a showstopper.

Here is what the Chicken Test has to do with managing project risk well:

Catch Up On Your Reading

Did you miss the "Bullets Are Deadly" article in Engineering Momentum--the one about how bullet points lead directly to "death by PowerPoint"? Did you miss the one about a project manager you can't trust? Or the one about why engineering and marketing don't get along?

You'll be glad to know you can now find these, and everything Engineering Momentum has published, in our new archive!

Here's the link:  Engineering Momentum archive.