Advice for Young Engineers

What would help you succeed in your career and life?

• Seeing the big picture on projects.

• Executing your tasks on time & budget.

• Developing people skills.

Or you can destroy your career.

It is great you have a technical degree. But what will advance your career are people skills. Be 10-15 minutes early. Meet people and find out about them. Work with customers and co-workers on their (or your) bad days to still get things done. Try to understand what the customer and your management really needs.

Be disciplined at work. Show up, work urgently, make promises conservatively, deliver early, be human, take feedback and adjust.

Learning how to communicate, marketing, project management and problem solving skills are great investments. My best contributions have often been asking good questions, not having all the answers.

Understand finance and accounting. Decisions are made based on value.

Protect your career by continuously learning. Get a Master's degree at night. Especially if your company pays for it. If they don’t, get the Masters at the lowest cost possible. Who needs more student loans?

Live within your budget. There will be times you can’t find a project and will have to live off savings. 40 years of working for the same company does not always work out. Planned to stay in my hometown, but actually working in state #7. Savings also lets you buy houses and make investments to retire or start your own business.

Have a life outside of work. Volunteer, make friends, raise good kids, help others, and give back. This is why you work hard, and what you will value in life.

Better way to manage your teams - Ask Better Questions

Doug Krug (http://elsolutions.com/) is challenging my focus on problem solving. He teaches managers to Ask Better Questions.

1.     “What is working now?” “Where are we already getting the result(s) we want?”

2.     “What is causing the results we are getting?”

3.     Re-clarify the desired outcome with questions like, “What is the goal/objective we want to accomplish?”

4.     “What will be the benefit(s) when we achieve the goal or outcome?” Or, “What will be the cost if we don’t achieve our goal?”

5.     “What can we do more of, better or differently to get closer to the goal?”

Instead of starting with "What is the problem?", start positive and build on what already works. It focuses your team to build on strengths and look for more ideas to combine.

Results come much faster. 

How to Collaborate

First thing to do: Let the people know you are there to help, not to point fingers. 

(Focusing on processes is my viewpoint. People fail when not given the proper tools or training)

Ask questions and Listen thoroughly!!! The people working day to day are the best source of information. More viewpoints are better.

Define the purpose of the collaboration. So much time wasted with solutions for the wrong problem. A clearly defined purpose will lead to the right actions.

Come up with ideas, alternatives and combinations of steps. Root causes are usually the result of several factors, not just one. (Good ideas come from anywhere)

Decide on a plan to mitigate contributing factors and plan tests and monitoring to study the changes. Take actions with responsible people and deadlines. (Project management)

Follow up with all the people involved (Make sure they know their input and efforts are valued).

Review results looking for more improvements.