Power of Experience Archives

How Span of Control Impacts the Quality of Work

Span of Control is a concept that I learned in my emergency services training both in the fire service and law enforcement corrections. Yet this topic is not something I read or hear about often, if ever, in the engineering community. The idea behind this concept is based on how many people a leader can effectively manage in a given scenario. In the emergency services world, this normally works best in the range from 2 to 5 people. In the business world this range may extend upwards to 10 subordinates to one leader. There are a lot of factors that go into determining how many subordinates one leader can effectively manage. Each and every situation will be different.

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Leadership / Quality Management

Leverage Your Quality System to Combat Burnout

I was concerned about where the civil engineering industry in March 2020 as shutdowns and emergency directives from the government sought to limit the spread of COVID-19. My mind reverted to the housing bubble pop of 2008. I remember the lack of development engineering work that was experienced, lasting well after the initial collapse. Yet as we move toward two full years of a pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 800,000 Americans*, the engineering and construction industries are strong and growing. For many, 2021 proved to be a year of challenges to deliver the work on time to clients. Keep in mind, as workload increases, so does the possibility of employee burnout.

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Engineering

The Challenges of Waiting on Your PE Exam Results

You just put yourself through the experience of taking the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exam. You spent countless hours studying and preparing followed then an exhausting day working through the 80 questions that stand between you and licensure as a Professional Engineer. Now you wait. As I think about my experience waiting weeks for the exam results, I think about the roller coaster of emotions I experienced in the time between giving it my all and passing the PE exam.

First off, no matter the discipline you choose, sitting for the exam is an accomplishment in itself. Whether it was 4-years of college, a decade or more of experience, or a combination of different paths, give yourself credit. Your hard work has provided you with an opportunity to advance your career. You earned it, don’t forget that!

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Social Media

Facebook Absence, What Next?

On October 4, 2021, the world experienced a widespread outage and absence of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp from our fingertips. It disconnected us from our friends, family, public personalities, and businesses. It appears to have cost Facebook and its investors billions. At the same time, I imagine the outage cost businesses who rely on ads, hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue. Even without these popular platforms, the world continued, time did not stop, and sales deadlines did not change. While some were affected more than others, this leads me to pose a question. What next?

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