The thing that amazes me about project management in the engineering business is how little it gets used. We engineers are in control of the largest projects in the world, but most engineers have little more than a passing knowledge of project management processes. In this article, I will talk about the following items as they relate to engineering project … [Read more...]
Since I've become the manager of an engineering company, I've learned many things, but I will divide them into the following three categories. Business Management Client Management Project Management Business Management As a manager, you're responsible for making the business grow (or not grow!). This means you need to track work progress and make sure time is … [Read more...]
In structural steel design, the Torsion Constant, J, represents the ability of the steel beam to resist torsion, i.e. twisting. It's units are mm4 or inches4. Equation The bending resistance formula, in which the torsional constant is used, is: $$\theta = \frac{T\cdot L}{G\cdot J}$$ Where: θ = Angle of Twist T = Applied Torque (N·m or lb·ft) L = … [Read more...]
Jubail 2 is considered by many to be the world's largest civil engineering project. It consists of an 83 km2 industrial development started in 2005 in the city of Jubail, 490 km northeast of Riyadh. The current population of Jubail is 380,000. The new development, when complete, is likely to double the size of the current city. Jubail was a fishing village until … [Read more...]
In the engineering business, project quality is important. I've seen many projects that did everything right, but derailed based on one single issue the project team overlooked. Don't let that happen to you. The Project Management Institute (PMI) identifies project quality planning as the first of three steps to effective project quality management. In this post, I … [Read more...]
For engineering projects, document control is a big deal. Nobody has time to rework a design or report because a reviewer received the wrong copy, or document versioning wasn't kept up to date. At Roseke Engineering, besides using ProjectEngineer to manage our projects, we have a physical document control system in place. It resides in the project management binder … [Read more...]
The Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle, also called the Deming Cycle, is an important project management tool. How can this tool be used in a typical engineering project? Plan This step involves identifying and analyzing the problem. Planning is consistently underrated in most engineering projects. I've been involved with multi-billion dollar oil sands projects as well as … [Read more...]
For us engineers, quality is a big deal. Industry standard quality control dictates that most documents and designs require a "second stamp" i.e. a reviewer who takes as much responsibility as the designer. But what does a true project quality management plan look like? In this article, I will talk about project quality from the perspective of the project management … [Read more...]
Many engineers wish to give back to their profession, and one of the most noble ways is to volunteer your time overseas. I have done this multiple times, and I intend to do it again. Here I will give you some options for how to do it and what it looks like. First, let me list a few organizations: Engineers Without Borders ASCE Disaster Assistance … [Read more...]
The centroid of an area is the geometrical center, i.e. the average of all of the points in an area. It is always the same, regardless of how you turn the shape. It is also the center of gravity of a three dimensional object. Basic Shapes The centroids of common shapes are shown below: Shape Centroid Square/Rectangle Right-Angle … [Read more...]
