How to Effectively Manage Your Next Engineering Project

Put a Detailed Plan in Place

If you’re wondering why engineers need management skills, it’s all to do with the planning stage. Management skills are necessary throughout an engineering project, but even more so when a project is just getting started. 

Without dedicating a significant amount of time to pre-project planning, there’s an increased risk that large projects will not be completed within the client’s timeframe, to their specifications, and possibly not even to their budget. 

A common situation that plays out is that expectations are established between a construction company’s senior management team and the client. A project manager isn’t always involved, which means project specifics aren’t discussed or taken into account when establishing those expectations. 

In reality, project management for engineers should form a core part of those discussions early on to ensure that any discussions about expectations are going to be realistic. Several factors can form part of the engineering project plan, including:

• The client’s company and background
• Objectives of the project
• The project’s scope
• Timeframe and deadlines for the project
• Materials to be used
• Participants in the project – both in-house and external
• Expected budgets
• Reporting and communication avenues

Carefully Consider Your Project Team

As a project manager and engineer, part of your job involves ensuring that the right people are involved in each project based on their skill levels and attitude. No two engineering jobs are the same, which means you need to be able to tap into the talents of your workforce to find the most fitting people for the job. 

Part of this process can also involve making sure each team member knows their responsibility and role, while also having a firm grasp on what the end goal is and how their role contributes. 

During this team creation phase, it’s easy to choose your team based on who you have available. However, specific jobs may also require you to look outside of your company to get the people with the right skills for your unique project. 

Have the Right Attitude

Managing an engineering project is about more than having the right skills. It’s also about having the right attitude. How you communicate with others and approach a task can lay the foundation for success. 

If you have transitioned from the title of engineer to project manager, it’s also important to factor in each person’s role. Rather than focusing on how you will get things done within the project, you may need to start thinking about the most effective methods for having others within your team get those same things done. 

Often, this comes down to promoting an environment of positivity, communication, and teamwork so that everyone involved in the project can operate like a well-oiled machine.   

Keep Stakeholders Engaged

One of the most crucial parts of managing an engineering project is ensuring that stakeholders remain engaged through each step of the project. Rather than going full steam ahead from start to finish, you must create milestones for clients to sign off on. Typically, these are key stages such as a roof being put on a building or a bridge’s foundations being put in place. 

Given the size of the average engineering project, organization is key to making sure you can stay on top of when and how these key stages occur. Use calendar reminders, remain in constant communication with clients, and proactively deal with any issues or delays. Finally, don’t forget to celebrate milestone achievements with your team, for the entire project is a team effort.

Use Technology to Your Advantage

While our predecessors managed projects just fine without technology, there’s no denying it can be of great assistance with planning and organization. Project management software and other job management tools can help with each stage of engineering projects from start to finish while keeping everything in one place. 

Enjoy a more organized and cohesive approach to engineering projects with: 

• Quoting features
• Job costings
• Client management
•  Reporting functionality
• Document management options
• Time tracking
• Invoicing
• and more

Break Projects Down

Even the most seasoned project managers can be daunted by looking at a project as a whole. For example, a multi-story skyscraper is an intricate project involving thousands of worker hours over several weeks, months, or years. Seeing plans for it may make you think it’s outside of your area of expertise. 

However, one of the best things you can do for yourself and your team when managing your next engineering project is breaking it down into bite-sized pieces. By doing so, any complex problems become simplified and manageable, and you’re able to track your progress far easier. 

Fortunately, this process can be made more straightforward than you may have realized by using project management software. For example, you can track costs and time for each small task while keeping your stakeholders updated with that specific information at all times. 

Have Contingency Plans

Even the most skilled engineers and engineering project managers find themselves faced with issues that require remediation. In fact, you won’t find too many projects that don’t have at least a few hiccups along the way. 

You may be able to lower your stress levels by having contingency strategies in place. Identify the riskiest parts of your project and develop multiple options to rectify any problems you may face. This can form part of your early pre-project planning. You may not need to utilize your contingency plan, but at least you will have it there if you do. 

Making the transition from engineer to project manager can be a monumental occasion. However, making this step up can also require you to adopt new habits to ensure your projects go off without a hitch. Reach out to Finite Engineering for more insights on managing your next engineering project.