Project Engineering is aimed at the young engineers just starting out in the real world with their first professional responsibilities. Written by a seasoned engineer with a long successful career at one of the worlds leading corporations (Exxon Mobil Corporation), this book will offer a helping hand to young engineers who need to understand the essential role of an engineer in any team-project effort, including how to quickly assess his/her role, common pitfalls to avoid, and how to navigate one’s way to a successful project completion.

The Author Frederick B. Plummer, Jr. becomes a virtual mentor to the engineer in need of practical guidance and wisdom when often that help is nowhere to be found onsite. This book will help the novice engineer define his/her role as a project engineer within the context of a large, complex project, including organizational structure, company politics, and the interface with other operational groups. It will become the essential engineering management toolbox!

Preface

When you think of a toolbox, you imagine a collection of handy implements organized well enough that you can find them when you need them. They’re durable and collected over time -- some handed down from generation to generation. Most of them are essential, for without them you couldn’t imagine starting a tough task. If you add to your collection as the need arises, and if you keep them sharpened, rust-free, and maintained, they’ll serve you well for a lifetime.

I view this book as a “starter set” of tools for the engineer just arrived at his or her first job, and for the engineer with a few years experience (I won’t draw the line on how many) who wants to make the transition from a technical assignment to a leadership position.

Project engineering is a chance to lead and coordinate the efforts of others on a project or part of a project. Especially in smaller companies, you may be thrown into the middle of a significant task shortly after you’ve walked in the door and found out where the restrooms are. It’s crucial to be prepared and not be caught flatfooted. That’s when this book can help you the most.

The book is organized in the order you need the information. The first half presents the fundamentals of project engineering. It begins where you begin when you take on your first job. It then lays out what you have to do as a project engineer in terms of fundamental duties that are common to almost every project engineering situation. A crash course in management gives the essential principles of leadership and the basic skills for getting along with co-workers and management. An overview of how projects work helps you visualize how project engineers fit into the big picture. A case study takes theory into practice for a young project engineer in a realistic situation; it’s like a transfusion of practical experience.

Fundamentals are one thing but success is another. The second half of the book moves to the broader and perhaps more important topics of being successful and managing your career. Being effective in the performance of your job, competing with contemporaries, and dealing with office politics are balanced against the values of ethical business conduct. Tools for working internationally add the cultural skill-set needed to compete in our global business world. That’s followed by a chapter of advice from project engineers and managers -- wise guidance specifically tailored for young project engineers -- addressing the points those project pros feel are most important. The book ends with a description of the most powerful asset you can have: confidence.

I hope you will find this unique collection of technical, business, personal effectiveness, interpersonal skill, and leadership tools of value in getting you off to a good start and headed in the right direction on your career journey. The book doesn’t cover all aspects of project management; it just explicates what over thirty years of coaching and counseling young engineers has shown me to be essential. These pages are filled with what a friend called high-end common sense.

To keep it short and to the point, I’ve used the criteria that the material must be essential. When you find the book going into more detail on one topic or another, it’s because most engineering schools don’t teach it, but you need to know it. If you don’t need to know it right now, I predict that you will. So mark the passages you find most useful now, and make sure to glance back over the rest of the book a little further along the road.

In addition to making the material essential, I strive to always present something you can actually do to solve the challenges confronting you. Use what you need when you need it and seek important training. You won’t want to change your entire style overnight, but over time your performance and effectiveness will improve.

Like any good, basic toolbox, I expect you will use the book many times during your early years, and less as time goes by. But even as an accomplished project engineer you may find yourself coming back to put your hands on the basics every so often. And just as good tools get loaned to someone who has a job to do, someday you may lend the book, or advice from it, to other people.