6 Steps to Becoming a Great Planning Engineer
Project management, project control and planning professionals have asked me how to become a great planning engineer. Some complain that they had attended ‘planning’ training, but it had been practically useless. These 6 Steps to Becoming a Great Planning Engineer is my response to them and advice to prospective planning engineers or anyone else who is interested in project planning, The steps are not necessarily sequential. You may even call them the 6 factors that make a great planning engineer.
Although I will limit myself to these 6 steps in this essay, I will address the content and requirements of an effective project planning course in a follow up essay. It should serve as a guide for prospective planning engineers in selecting training programs that should deliver value for money.
Now, the Time Management Knowledge Area of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide has outlined the core content of project planning. However, some training providers are still unable to make use of it effectively, partly because they are not practitioners themselves.
That said, this essay will outline the basic education, training and development, and personality traits required to perform well as a planning engineer. In doing so, I will concentrate on engineering and construction project planning although it applies everywhere else.
For a person to perform successfully as a planning engineer the following are essential:
- Technical Education:
A planning engineer without technical or engineering training will struggle to cope. Therefore, technical or engineering training or qualification is essential.
Technical training gives at least basic knowledge of processes and systems that make up the project. It teaches the language and terminology of the profession.
Can one be a good planning engineer without technical background? Yes. But he will struggle in the earlier years to learn if he is willing to show humility and ask questions without shame.
- Engineering/ Construction Experience
There are many ‘Office Planning Engineers’ out there who are planning software experts but ignorant of steps needed to complete the task. They are a nuisance for construction supervisors and engineers. Detailed steps must be provided otherwise they cannot ‘plan’.
Yes, I agree that planning is a team effort. But it becomes a very cumbersome exercise when the planning engineer does not have basic knowledge of the work.
You cannot fathom the time and cost savings possible if the planning engineer could prepare at least a basic skeletal schedule of activities for the construction supervisor or engineer to review and update.
Let me illustrate with an example. Some fresh graduates and one experienced project engineer were to be developed into planning engineers. The shortest development process was with the project engineer, because he only needed to learn how to use MS Project to do the work he already knew how to do. He won commendation from the client on his very first project assignment!
- General Project Management Knowledge
Many planning engineers do not know project planning context. Consequently, they take actions that cost their employers money.
Project management training provides the larger context within which project planning is carried out. Such training introduces project management concepts and explains how they apply to actual practice.
In one of the companies I worked, obtaining inputs from team members for monthly reports was a herculean task. Some would not give you report no matter what you did.
Then the manager provided project management training for the whole team. Before we had completed the training some colleagues said to me, “I now understand why you ask for those reports.”
- Planning/ Software Competency
This is obvious. There is no way one can be a good workman without proficiency in using the tools of the trade.
In the same way, a planning engineer needs to be properly trained and proficient in using applicable planning software and other planning tools. He must also be able to understand, interpret, and apply various reports that the planning software generates.
- Interpersonal Skills
As already mentioned, producing a good project plan is a team effort. Therefore, the planning engineer must have requisite team or people skills. The following skills are essential:
- Networking skills
He must be able to build and maintain relationships with people of different races or cultures. Planning engineers rely on many people to do their work well. If they do not have good relationship with people, it will affect their efficiency, and may hinder the work.
- Communication Skills
Communication forms a large part of planning engineers’ job, just like that of project managers. Therefore, they must have good verbal and written communication skills. They also need to have good presentation skills, including proficiency in the use of PowerPoint because they will often be called upon to support project managers in preparing presentations for management.
- Numerical and analytical skills
They should have good numerical and analytical skills including more than basic knowledge of Excel. This is critical for developing progress measurement systems and detail level planning.
- Business Mindset
A great planning engineer must think like a businessman. Although he may not be a cost engineer, he should understand the cost and cashflow implications of his decisions and actions.
For example, he needs to consider the cost or cashflow implications of some progress measurement systems or rule of credit.
- Excellent Reporting Skills
Often, this is the only means to inform the client that the project is progress as expected or otherwise. Unfortunately, some progress reporting is so poorly done that the client or contractor management is unable to say where the project is at, and where it is headed. This is often further compounded by poor communication skills or poor grammar that you must ask the planning engineer what he intended to communicate.
- Humble and assertive but not arrogant
He should be willing to learn without shame. Humility is the way to learn. Most experienced professionals are quite eager to explain if you show that you do not know.
But a planning engineer must also be assertive, able to stand his ground and be firm without being disrespectful. Sometimes it comes to standing alone and being the lone voice.
“It is easy to stand in the crowd, but it takes courage to stand alone” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Most construction people do not like planning engineers. For some construction folks, the work proverbially attains 90% progress the day it starts and stays there forever after. They get really upset when the planning engineers demonstrate that actual progress is 30% instead of 90%.
“It is easy to stand in the crowd, but it takes courage to stand alone” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
- Continuous Personal Development
This includes the continuous updating of your technical and soft skills to improve yourself and stay current.
I conclude with this story. My friend, a planning engineer in the Gulf of Guinea, used to be a Primavera consultant and trainer. They trained us when we were transitioning from P3 to P3e.
But when he got a job as a planning engineer in the oil and gas industry, he paid for training as a planning engineer.
The training did not involve the use of Primavera. He was already an expert in that. So, what did the training involve? The items that most planning engineers training do not cover. Click here to find out
“Your personal growth today is the only guarantee that tomorrow will be better.” ~ John C. Maxwell
Click here to start your journey to becoming a great planning engineer.
