Engineering Project Management Best Practices 1

[gandersen]

Does anyone know where I can find a list of Best Practices for project management for the engineering profession?

Also, are there project management tools that have been widely deployed in the engineering community?

I have conducted an informal survey and have found that aside from managing project hours through time sheet programs and some client resource management, consulting engineering firms do not appear to have deployed project management platforms.

Can anyone point me in the direction where I can learn more about what is actually being used by practicing engineers?

 

[KENAT]

Have you browsed this forum?

Also be careful that 'project management' can mean slightly different things in different disciplines.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[gandersen]

Thanks Kenat:

Yes, I have read various threads here and see alot of suggestions. I am in Civil Engineering and in our profession, it appears that there are no universally accepted best practices and/or software packages.

There appear to be multiple obstacles to the large scale deployment of project management tools.

Do you know of a good source or sources for "Best Practices" in project management where I can go to understand underlying fundamentals?

 

[CAGmuer]

I happen to program as a hobby and wrote a web based project management system from scratch for my company. You are right, it seams like there is nothing out there tailored for Engineers (or engineers have such a wide variety of workflows that it is hard for vendors to target).

Christopher A. Gmuer, PE
CAUSSEAUX, HEWETT, & WALPOLE, INC.
Gainesville, Florida
ENGINEERS - SURVEYORS - PLANNERS

http://www.chw-inc.com

 

[hahor]

hello gandersen,

the PMI workflow diagram is not the worst thing to start with.

Kind Regards,
hahor

 

[EQguys]

I have been using Primavera Contract Management (formerly Primavera Expedition) lately. I must say it is one of the most efficient tools I have found out there for Project Controls. All of my previous Excel sheets I had developed have become obsolete, now that I have been using the above software.

But make sure you research every project management software, what it does and how is it useful for your needs before you make a commitment.

 

[Whitry]

I am not sure exactly what type of information you are looking for in project management; but the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) will give you insight into managing a project. As for managing in a certain field I do not know of one. You can always check youtube videos. I know it sounds funny but I learned a lot of information from how to videos on there when I was in college.

 

[eyec]

just ran across this, might prove useful.

Avoiding The 10 Most Common Mistakes in Energy Industry Project Management

 

[kontiki99]

I subscribe to the principles I've seen in systems engineering training.

 

[Qshake]

There are many project managment tools for Civil Engineering and especially for construction.

Many companies have their own project management seminars but the information contained therein is generally the same no matter what field your in. To properly manage a project you have to have:

Resources, Schedule, and a budget expectation. These items form a project management triangle. In visualizing this as a triangle and a flexible one at that, you'll see how pulling or pushing on the resources affects the schedule and budget. You can do this with the other two as well.

The project management institute is a good source of information and you can always search the internet. Find a text that is easy for you to read and understand. Stick with it.

Regards,
Qshake

Eng-Tips Forums:Real Solutions for Real Problems Really Quick.

 

[gandersen]

It is incredible to me to see all of the project management solutions that are available today. I have spent several hours reviewing some of these and it appears that in terms of capabilities, they are all starting to merge together.

There is quite an industry that has formed out of the drive for better project management tools. However, going back through the list of best practices that were developed in a prior thread in this forum (thread768-272259), I personally believe that all of these solutions are missing some pretty fundamental issues that prevent the wholesale adoption of a comprehensive project management solution by small to medium size engineering consulting firms.

Larger firms with larger projects of greater duration have much more extensive project management capabilities. But, these also miss some pretty fundamental issues that have been brought up in Eng-Tips.

I have tried to model my company after some of these best practices.

Thanks for all the input.

Glen R. Andersen, Sc.D., P.E.
Optimum Resource Engineering, Inc.

http://www.ore-engineering.com