General question about reports

[killswitchengage]

Hey guys
I was just wondering , when you write a report do you exhibit the mechanics and causes of slope failures and so on ? i mean explain why the problem accrued with simple mathematical formulas ? or do you just give the solution and that's about it ?

 

[oldestguy]

The more complicated you make the report, the more likely you find the less they are able to use it. A simple report is really all most of my (our) clients wanted. It was up to me to examine things and resolve questions rather than them having any effort needed,to be able to get on with their parts of the projects at minimal thinking needed. This was very clear to me when one city engineer made a comment and question about his lift station job. He said it was a nice complete report, but what baring capacity should he use to design the foundations. The answer was buried in all those words. Also the fancy cover didn't seem to make it any easier to use.

 

[killswitchengage]

ok seems good
but if your report is reexamined or failure happens in the field during or after construction , justifying this or that solution in the report can help you to avoid problems say for ex who is guilty for the disaster

 

[oldestguy]

Out of thousands of reports in my 40 most active years and since ('96) when slowed down, not one report has been challenged. Obviously they were not just a page or two, but making sure the guts are clear, has done the job.

 

[oldestguy]

Whoops, one report was not read, apparently, since the recommendations were not fully followed.

 

[Ron]

KSE....As with OG, I've written thousands of reports, but unlike OG, most of mine get challenged because they are controversial. I'm usually in a position where I'm telling someone (in my humble opinion, of course) that they have screwed up. If someone told me that, I'd challenge it too!

Write your report assuming that other than engineers will read it...that means make it clear, concise and without a lot of jargon. Explain any premises, but you don't have to give a math class. Just say what you did and why you arrived at your conclusions.

If your report subject is calculation intensive, then provide representative computations as an appendix item. A cover letter on a bunch of calculations or computer printout is useless.

As for slope failures, stay with your standard of care in your evaluation and your analysis. While there's nothing wrong with being innovative, if you deviate at all from "standard practice", you damned well better be able to substantiate everything you did!

 

[killswitchengage]

Thanks guys
well its just that i feel professional explaining things a bit , for ex i have this slope failure that i explained by proper classification as well as , how the soil lost its shear strength just by saying for ex : in UU condition blblbla w/o writing any equations . Then , i continued by proving that gabion wall will not work in this case because etc . So there are no heavily explained math equations just physical explanation you know

 

[Ron]

Nothing wrong with explaining your position and how you got there. In my business, I write my reports knowing that some attorney will read it line by line and pick it apart with the assistance of an opposing expert.

 

[killswitchengage]

Yesss that was my primary concern , you see i live in the third world and geotechnical engineering is conducted in a primitive way . It amazes me that the so called expert that works with us never asked me what was the lab results !!! he just went on demanding the modeling of the slip surface and he was stunned to see that the soil profile is odd and no instability is foreseen !

But that dude was never an expert , in fact he cares less about lab results and proper classification of the landslide and that's why he got shocked . So , when i am writing my report down i will do the opposite and act professional by explaining what happened and if further instability occurs then that explanation will save me .

 

[fattdad]

tell the whole truth, even the technical stuff. Use simple sentences though!

f-

ípapß gordo ainÆt no madre flaca!

 

[killswitchengage]

fattdad my man