Specializing in Electrical Power, Controls & Instrumentation
Soft Skills - Things not taught in school!
project scheduling
So, where do I begin? Probably Detroit Stoker Company. I was one of two engineers in the company that was available and knew my way around a PC (1991). I was sent on assignment to St Charles Louisiana to a coking facility. My job was to keep our project schedule up to date and track progress daily! At the time I was briefly familiar with schedules and how to sketch a mini-schedule on paper. However, I was going to have to do ythis with software and Premivera was not an easy software to learn. Luckily, the lead contracting company had a scheduler that took me, "under their wing" and taught me enough to be successful in navigating the Ghant charts and manipulate schedule tasks. That was my first brush with scheduling.
Later, at Johnson Controls, upper management decided to cut middle management and my boss was cut loose! He did all the scheduling for the Elm Fork Water Treatment Plant project with Premivera and I was familiar with how he had set it up. My new boss (which was my boss's previously boss moved down a notch) did not know Premivera. So they put me in charge of coordinating our schedule with the City of Dallas's over arching schedule. Once again I was lucky enough to actually work with a Premivera Trainer that did the City of Dallas's scheduling. He was GREAT! He got me into areas I never knew existed! WOW what and experience to get free on the job training in a heavy duty scheduling software. That is where I really learned how to schedule Projects, Project Phases, asks, Sub-task and Activities.
Project Management
Project Management experience does not just happen over-night! It has taken me more than the 30 years of my engineering career to juggle the project planning, scheduling and execution with the influence of a bunch of different personalities on the projects and coordination between the engineering disciplines. Having all those personalities working together each with a different idea about how it should be done is a challenge!
I have found the key lies in your confidence, understanding of others and compassion for each perspective. Ultimately it is how you deal with people and conflict resolution that will make a person a successful Project Manager. Having the ability to perform the scheduling and required paper management task is also a fundamental aspect of being a PM but if you do not have the patience and respect of others, your projects will be sabotaged by those that feel you have not treated them fairly!
I bring people together (some times in conflict) and we all walk away feeling respectful of each other and a plan to overcome the conflicts.
I was brought into a project that had numerous electrical concerns and violations. We were called to a meeting by the client with the head contractor and the electrical sub-contractor. When we stepped into the meeting room, the tension was so thick you could just feel it! I could see that my project manager was hesitant to start the meeting and I think she was trying to find the words to start the meeting. I butted in and simply said, "We are all here to help each other resolve some of the electrical issues and I am the Electrical Engineer here to help! Where do we start and how can I assist you?" The tension in the room immediately dropped to great conversation and productivity.
Mediator and negotiator
<more to come>