Part 1 of 10-The Book that Most Impacted My Career-Excellence in Engineering

 

Shortly after starting my career at the Long Island Rail Road, NY, I discovered a book in the Equipment Engineering library and have used it as a constant reference.

Every Engineer, Project Manager and Construction Manager should own a copy of Excellence in Engineering by W.H. Roadstrum.   One of the mantra’s throughout the book includes “Engineering work is project work.”

Since most Engineers design assets to be built and Project Managers manage the project processes and performance through its design and construction lifecycle, the book can be equally useful to under graduates, recent graduates, experienced professionals and business leaders in manufacturing and construction.

Roadstrum, an alumnus of Worester Polytechnic Institute, concisely lays the framework for the Engineering profession.   Similar to more recent writers of management texts, he provides insights that have not faded with time.  The Chapters cover engineering roles, responsibilities, processes and products, and each chapter typically provides multiple one line statement summarizing good and poor practices.

The book reflects the knowledge and best practices in the profession at a time the United States had finished its participation in the World Wars and other conflicts leading into the cold war era.   Having built infrastructure during and following military action in Europe and Asia,, the US was transitioning to a world leader in major projects involving government and privately funded endeavors such as expanding the interstate highway and bridge system; constructing water control and power generating systems; developing vehicles and equipment for space exploration; creating an airline system catering to passengers; building ports and facilities for faster movement and transfer of products and people; and improving facilities for the production of automobiles, aircraft, and consumer and household goods. 

Although published in 1967 by John Wiley & Sons, the content is still current today.  While the Preface starts “This book is intended primarily as a tool for the young engineer”, Roadstrum covers the entire sphere of ethics, qualities, attributes and skills necessary for an Engineer to succeed. 

This blog will cover sections of Excellence In Engineering and relate them to Project Managements Institute’s Project Management  Book of Knowledge (PMBOK).

In Excellence in Engineering, Chapter 1-What Engineering Is, the engineering cycle is defined as:

• Conceive-Get new ideas
• Experiment-Try them out
• Design-Work out the details and record on paper
• Make-Build one or more from the design
• Test-Try out
• Recycle-Repeat and improve as needed.

In PMBOK Chapter 3, the project life cycle is defined as:

• Initiating-Define new project
• Planning-Establish scope, objectives, and actions to achieve objectives
• Executing-Define the project management plan
• Monitoring and Controlling-Track, review and regulate progress and performance, and identify and process changes
• Closing out-Finalize all activities and document realization of project deliverables with objectives.