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Aligning the Project to Meet Customer Objectives
Published in Jessica Keyes, Implementing the Project Management Balanced Scorecard, 2010
There are a variety of workplace structures that promote innovation: Cross-functional teams: Selecting representatives from the various functional areas and assigning them to solve a particular problem can be an effective way to quickly meld a variety of relevant perspectives and also efficiently pass the implementation stress test, avoiding, for example, the possibility that a particular functional group will later try to block a new initiative. Some variations include: “Lightweight project manager” system: Each functional area chooses a person to represent it on the project team. The project manager serves primarily as a coordinator. This function is “lightweight” in that the project manager does not have the power to reassign people or reallocate resources.“Tiger team”: Individuals from various areas are assigned and completely dedicated to the project team, often physically moving into shared office space together. This does not necessarily require permanent reassignment, but is obviously better suited for longer-term projects with a high level of urgency within the organization.Cross-company teams or industry coalitions: Some companies have developed innovative partnership models to share the costs and risks of these high-profile investments, such as: Customer advisory boardsExecutive retreatsJoint venturesIndustry associations
Developing innovative treatment technologies for PFAS-containing wastes
Published in Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 2022
Chelsea Berg, Brian Crone, Brian Gullett, Mark Higuchi, Max J. Krause, Paul M. Lemieux, Todd Martin, Erin P. Shields, Ed Struble, Eben Thoma, Andrew Whitehill
The presence of persistent per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the environment is one of the most pressing environmental issues of the 21st century (Lim 2019; Lindstrom, Strynar, and Libelo 2011; Pan et al. 2017; Sunderland et al. 2019). There is high interest in understanding and addressing PFAS contamination among industry, state and federal government, and internationally. In April of 2020, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) formed the PFAS Innovative Treatment Team (PITT) to explore innovative tools and methods for destroying all the carbon fluorine (C-F) bonds in PFAS-containing waste. This interdisciplinary team consisted of eleven scientists and engineers from the Office of Research and Development (ORD) and operated under the framework of a “Tiger Team” as used by The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Dempsey et al. (1964) or “Skunk Works” teams as used by corporations Lockheed (2021). During the team’s six-month lifetime, it investigated numerous technologies to address PFAS contamination in various waste streams, with a goal of exploring several promising and understudied technologies. The team was provided with financial resources to initiate the study of different treatment technologies at the laboratory, pilot, or field scales. The work resulted in improved understanding and advancement of four innovative technologies to supplement ongoing EPA research into PFAS treatment technologies. These technologies are electrochemical oxidation (EO), supercritical water oxidation (SCWO), mechanochemical degradation (MCD), and gasification and pyrolysis. Efforts were also initiated to quantify PFAS destruction in traditional waste treatment processes such as conventional thermal incineration. Results from laboratory and field work initiated by or supported by the PITT are ongoing and will be presented in future publications.