In this role, I became the “bad guy,” required to periodically ask how the team was doing with their budget and scheduling. Based on their answers, I would update the master schedule and predict the impact to the overall budget and program end date. With the heavy responsibility on this role, I learned to forge friendships with the lead engineers, enabling me to gauge progress by the technical information they loved to share. Due to my ability to quickly assimilate the technical information and speak in management buzzwords, I was able to translate between the two groups, facilitating effective communication between each group.