DO YOU WANT TO EMPLOY A PLANNING ENGINEER? HERE IS WHAT TO LOOK FOR.
So, you want to employ a planning engineer? Or you want to employ an MS Project, Primavera or Suretrack user? Do you know the difference? Well, many people do not.
When I got my first job as a planning engineer, the person who interviewed me had no clue what a planning engineer does, much less what skills or aptitudes to look out for. He only asked if I knew how to use MS Excel! I am not sure he even asked about my proficiency with MS Project, the scheduling tool the company was using then. And that was good for me; I had no idea what a planning engineer does. If I saw one wearing a red hat and walking down the road, I wouldn’t recognize him!
The first day I reported for work as a brand new ‘Planning Engineer’, I was handed a box file of isometric drawings. I was required to prepare spools for piping fabrication! You see what I mean?
While my official designation was Planning Engineer, I supervised piping fabrication, supervised installation, led project teams, attended pre-bid meetings and site survey, and rotated with the project engineer offshore.
Some employers simply do not know what they want. Do you?
I used to make fun of Project Planning at some point in my career: “If you do not know who should perform a task, then it must be ‘planning’! And if you do not know who to blame for project troubles, blame ‘planning.’”
Some employers claim to look for a planning engineer but the criteria that they set can only produce a software user or operator. Contrast that with the following example.
My friend who is now working as a planning engineer in the oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Guinea, used to be a trainer with a Primavera consultant. They trained us when we were transitioning from P3 to P3e.
But when he was offered a job as a planning engineer in the oil and gas industry, he paid me to train him as a planning engineer. He knew the difference. But I doubt if his new employer did.
The training did not involve the use of Primavera. He was already an expert in that. So, what did the training involve? Everything from reading the Invitation to Tender (ITT) package, distilling the scope of work and planning requirements to preparing the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), task breakdown, activity duration estimating, task sequencing, schedule preparation, project control, reporting and closeout, etc.
You can now understand why many employers complain that the planning engineer is not delivering value to the organization. They complain that planning engineers are too dependent on other engineers for virtually everything; they must identify the scope of work for him, supply a list of tasks and their sequence, along with the duration, for him to “put in Primavera”. They probably employed a Primavera expert instead of a planning engineer.
I believe every employer needs to understand that it is easier to teach an experienced engineer how to use Primavera or any other planning tool than it is to train a software user to understand how the work is done, in order to develop a plan for it.
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 processes.
Many years ago, some fresh graduates and one experienced project engineer were assigned to me to develop 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!
To avoid making the same mistakes that many employers make, you need to consider the following when employing your next planning engineer:
- Understanding of the work process: At least a basic knowledge is required. You cannot fathom the time and cost savings you would make if the planning engineer is able to prepare at least a basic skeletal schedule of activities for the construction supervisor or engineer to review and update.
- Numerical and analytical skills: He should have good numerical skills including more than basic knowledge of Excel. This is critical for developing progress measurement systems.
- Presentation skills: He should be proficient in the use of PowerPoint. He will often be called upon to support the project manager in preparing presentations for management.
- Good collaboration (peoples) skills: The planning engineer relies on many people to do his work well. If he does not have good relationship with people, it will affect his efficiency, and may hinder the work.
- Humble and assertive but not arrogant: He should be willing to learn without feeling ashamed. Humility is the way to learn. Most professionals, I have discovered, are quite eager to explain if you show that you do not know. Nothing frustrates like discussing with a man who does not know and is unwilling to admit it.
Most construction people do not like planning engineers. For some construction folks, the work attains 90% progress the day it starts and stays there forever after. They get really upset when the planning engineer demonstrates that actual progress should be 5% instead of 90%.
A Planning Engineer friend reported a case where he visited a project site and the construction manager was quite upset with him. When the furious construction manager asked what he was looking for on site he simply pointed to a building that was reported as completed but was not roofed! The planning engineer needs to be assertive to deal with cases like that. My colleagues have told me, “just do what I tell you”. Another colleague had reacted angrily, “you cannot teach me how to manage projects”.
- Excellent Reporting Skills: Often, this is the only means for the client to know that the project is making progress. Sometimes it is the greatest challenge that the planning engineer faces – obtaining progress status or input from his colleagues. Consequently, most progress reporting is so poorly done that the client or contractor management is not able to say with any degree of certainty where the project is at, and where it is headed. This is often further compounded by poor communication skills or poor grammar. Sometimes the report is so poorly presented that you have to ask the planning engineer what he intended to convey.
I remember some time ago when we had to relocate to a contractor’s base to ensure that the project was delivered. Sometimes the contractor planning engineer would ask me for the status of the project. He simply did not know how to measure progress and report project status.
- Primavera knowledge: This goes without saying.
So, next time you want to employ a planning engineer, these are the things you need to look for to obtain what you desire.
Hopefully, this will also guide prospective planning engineers in the skills they need to develop in their quest to becoming the very best that they can be.
I hope that helps.
