Category: Middle Game (Page 1 of 2)

Many engineers relate better to equations than to language, so let us bring up an important example of the former that influences our choice of words in our letters, proposals and reports.

The Trust Equation, presented by Maister et al (2001) in The Trusted Advisor, states the following parameters are essential for building (T)rust: (C)redibility, (R)eliability, (F)amiliarity (or Intimacy, but the latter feels uncomfortable) and (S)elf-focus (or -orientation).

The equation might apply broadly to all sorts of relationships but here we are primarily focusing on Engineering advisors/consultants and their clients.

Building trust with clients and within teams to move projects forward is essential. Let’s discuss how for any communication personal pronouns are weapons that should be shouldered with care, when viewed using these parameters.

Like the protagonists of Damnation Alley (a contender for best science fiction film of 1977), you will face in your career a long, deadly journey across hostile terrain in a vehicle that hopefully will allow you to reach your personal goals. I recently attended an excellent retirement planning seminar which described many of the things I should have been doing over the past decades. This seemed like sub-optimal timing: like explaining to someone how to drive after the trip is virtually complete. How better it would have been to outline some key features on how to engineer your Financial Assault Vehicle in your 20-30s, where you can take advantage of lessons learned and the compounding of time to have far greater impact. In that spirit then let’s set out some tools for younger engineers that may not have had some of these aspects explained to them to date.

To illustrate these concepts, we’ll do a walkaround of the magnificent Landmaster vehicle from Damnation Alley. Like you and your assets, the Landmaster is a rugged, multipurpose and resilient vehicle capable of handling all manner of threats. Like us, it faces challenges at times – internal and external, but with a flexible approach to problem solving and access to scrapyards it can convey its cargo to a refuge. These observations and lessons learned are from my experience with a specific country and company, so they may or may not be broadly applicable, but should be useful for those folks navigating similar terrain. Let’s step through each of these seven aspects of the Landmaster, with some actionable tips.

Your Landmaster

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“When a dog runs at you, whistle for him.”

Quote by Henry David Thoreau; a favorite writer and life experiencer. What does this have to do with engineers on business travel, especially to construction sites?

The Man

Thoreau highlights the importance of nature, simplicity and living in the present. You non-arguably could do no better than immediately throwing the electronical device you are reading this with against the wall and instead picking up Walden. If you persist in this insanity however, let’s talk about gritty business travel for engineers and how it waits with life lessons.

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There is a lot written about how to prioritize your work tasks. Everyone tries to develop a matrix where we sort the urgent and the non-urgent; the important versus the unimportant. We may try to avoid or fall into the trap of “last come, first served” to the cubicle. We have a host of lists and tools to organize our day. There is a steady stream of emails, Outlook Calendar reminders, people at the coffee machine, etc. It is hard being white collar.

Now here is a very simple algorithm for deciding which tasks should leapfrog which, in your office work as an engineer: supporting your people in the field is the top priority.

Prize: figure everything out while sweating in 40 deg C on 2 hours of sleep

How does this make for a reasonable principle?

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