WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN RECRUITING A PLANNING ENGINEER
Who exactly do you want to employ? A planning engineer, an MS Project or Primavera P6 user? Do you know the difference? Well, many people do not. That is why this essay will enumerate what you need to look for when you set out to recruit a planning engineer.
For example, when I got my first job as a planning engineer, my interviewer 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 used.
And that was good for me; I had no idea what planning engineers do! 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 and installation, led project teams, attended pre-bid meetings and site survey, and rotated with the project engineer offshore. I was the company ‘utility man’.
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 whose responsibility it is, then it must be ‘planning’! And if you do not know who to blame for project troubles, then blame ‘planning.’”
Sometimes, when employers claim that they want to employ a planning engineer, the criteria that they set can only produce a software user or operator. Contrast that with the following example.
My friend used to work as a trainer with a Primavera consultant that trained us when Shell transitioned from P3 to P3e. But when he was offered a job as a planning engineer in the oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Guinea, he paid me to train him as a planning engineer. He knew the difference. But I doubt if his new employer did.
Of course, 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 depend too much on other engineers; they must identify the scope of work for him, supply a list of tasks and their sequence, along with the duration estimates, for him to “put in Primavera”. They employed a Primavera expert instead of a planning engineer.
That is why 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, to develop a plan for it.
Yes, I agree that planning requires team effort. But it becomes a very cumbersome exercise when the planning engineer does not have basic knowledge of work processes
For example, 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!
Therefore, to avoid making the same mistakes that many employers make, you need to consider the following when recruiting your next planning engineer:
- Understanding of work processes: At least a basic knowledge is required. You cannot fathom the time and cost savings you would make if the planning engineer were 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 and reporting.
- 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: 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.
As one would expect, many 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. Thus, they get really upset when the planning engineer demonstrates that actual progress is 10% instead of 90%.
For example, 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 this site he simply pointed to a building that was reported as completed but was not roofed!
Therefore, 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 must ask the planning engineer what he intended to convey.
- Primavera knowledge: This is obvious.
So, next time you want to employ a planning engineer, these are the qualities you should look for.
And if you aspire to becoming a great planning engineer then you need to acquire or develop the skills listed above, among others.
Fortunately, you now have opportunity to develop real world planning skills by signing up for our planning course.
We hope that this essay will guide prospective planning engineers in the skills they need to develop in their quest to becoming the best that they can be.
Sign up here to become a great planning engineer.
