The Engineer: Central to Project Management

Objectives The relationship between the engineer and other professionals.

When we think of the word “design,” we may imagine a lone engineer sitting in a cubicle at a computer terminal, or perhaps in a workshop, crafting some marvelous piece of technical wizardry. As a student, you may be eager to pursue this notion of the rugged individual—the sole entrepreneur who single-handedly changes the face of technology. You might ask, “Why do I have to take all of these other courses? Why can't I just take courses that are of interest to me or important to my career goals?” The answer to these questions lies in the multidisciplinary nature of engineering. At times, an engineer does work alone, but most of the time, engineers must interface with individuals who come from different educational backgrounds. Engineering projects can be complex undertakings that require teamwork and the coordination of many people of different skills and personality traits. An engineer must learn the languages of physicists, mathematicians, chemists, managers, fabricators, technicians, lawyers, marketing staff, and secretaries. It's been said that a good engineer acts as the glue that ties a project together, because he or she has learned to communicate with specialists from each of these varied fields. Learning to communicate across all these occupations requires that the engineer have a broad education and the ability to apply a full range of skills and knowledge to the design process.

1 The Well-Rounded Engineer

To help illustrate the breadth of communication skills required of an engineer, imagine that you work for the fictitious company depicted in Figure 8. Each person shown in the outer circle brings to the company a different professional expertise and is represented by a famous person with an appropriate background. Notice that you, the design engineer, are in the center of the organizational circle. Other engineers on your design team may join you in the center, but each of you can easily communicate with any one specialist in the outer ring. As an engineer, you've taken courses or have been exposed to each of their various disciplines. This unique feature of your educational background enables you to communicate with anyone in the professional circle and positions you as the individual most likely to act as central coordinator.

8. The professional circle with the design engineer at its center.The Physicist (e.g., Albert Einstein, best known for his theory of relativity).

The physicist of the company is responsible for understanding the basic physical principles that underlie the company's product line. He spends his time in the laboratory exploring new materials, analyzing their interactions with heat, light, and electromagnetic radiation. He may discover a previously unknown quantum interaction that will lead to a new semiconductor device or perhaps he will explore the potential for using superconductors in the company's product. Or, he may simply perform the physical analysis for a new micro-accelerometer. Because you've taken two or more semesters of basic physics and have learned some mechanics, thermodynamics, and electromagnetics, you can easily converse with the physicist and discuss how his basic discoveries relate to the practical interests of the company.

The Chemist (e.g., Marie Curie, who discovered radium).

The chemist analyzes materials and substances used in producing company products. She ensures that raw materials used for manufacturing meet purity specifications so that quality control can be maintained. In her laboratory, she directs a team of experimentalists who seek to discover improved materials that are stronger and more durable than those currently being used. She may perform research on complex organic compounds or perhaps work on molecular-based nanotechnology. As an engineer, you've taken one or more courses in chemistry and can speak her language. You understand such concepts as reaction rates, chemical equilibrium, molarity, reduction and oxidation, acids and bases, and electrochemical potential. Perhaps you're a software engineer writing a program that will control a chemical analysis instrument. Maybe you are a manufacturing engineer charged with translating a chemical reaction into a manufactured product. Whatever your role, you are an individual very well suited to bringing the contributions of the chemist to the design process.

The Mathematician (e.g., Grace Hopper, former Navy admiral, mathematician, and computer specialist responsible for the term “computer bug”).

The mathematician of the company, who might also be a computer scientist, worries about things such as modeling, statistics, databases, and forecasting. She may be involved in an intriguing new database algorithm or mathematical method for modeling an engineering system. Perhaps she uses mathematics to analyze the company's production line or to forecast trends in marketing. You converse easily with the mathematician, because you have taken numerous math courses as part of your engineering program. Although your emphasis has been on applied, rather than pure mathematics, you're familiar with calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, statistics, probability, vector algebra, and complex variables. You can easily apply the concepts of mathematics to problems in engineering design.

The Production Manager (e.g., Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary of State, former U.S. Army general, military planner, and co-architect of Operation Desert Storm).

Like the army general in top command, the production manager is responsible for mobilizing materials, supplies, and personnel to manufacture company products. The production manager may worry about things such as job scheduling, quality control, materials allocation, quality assurance testing, and yield. As the engineer who designs products, you work closely with the production manager to make sure that your design approach is compatible with the company's manufacturing capabilities. Your training as an engineer and your exposure to machining, welding, circuit fabrication, and automation has given you the ability to understand the job of the production manager and has provided you with the vocabulary needed to communicate with him.

The Lab Technician (e.g., Thomas Edison, famous tinkerer and experimenter, best known for inventing the incandescent light bulb).

The lab technician is an indispensable member of the design team. An habitual tinkerer and experimenter, the lab technician helps bring your design product to fruition. He is adept at using tools and has much knowledge about the practical aspects of engineering. The lab technician is masterful at fabricating prototypes and is likely to be the individual who sets up and tests them. The typical lab technician has a degree in engineering technology, hence you and he have taken many of the same courses, although your courses probably have included more formal theory and mathematics than his. You communicate easily with the lab technician and include him in each phase of your design project.

The Lawyer (e.g., Clarence Thomas, lawyer and Supreme Court Justice).

The lawyer worries about the legal aspects of the company's products. Should we apply for a patent on the XYZ widget? Are we exposing ourselves to a liability suit if we market a substandard product? Is our new deal with Apex Corporation fair to both companies from a legal perspective? To help the lawyer answer these questions, you must be able to communicate with him and share your engineering knowledge. The logical thought that forms the basis of law is similar to the methods you've used to solve countless engineering problems. As an engineer, you easily engage in discourse with the lawyer and can apply his legal concerns about safety, ethics, and liability to the design process.

The Director of Marketing (e.g., Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady of the United States).

The director of marketing is a master of imagery and style. Her job is to sell the company's products to the public and convince people that your products are better than those of your competitors. The marketing manager has excellent communication skills, some knowledge of economics, and an understanding of what makes people want to buy. You interface easily with the marketing manager because you've dealt with all aspects of design as part of your training as an engineer. Through this training, you have focused not only on technical issues, but also on things such as product appearance, the human-machine interface, durability, safety, and ease of use. Your familiarity with these important issues has prepared you to help the director of marketing understand your product and how it works. You can respond to her concerns about what the public needs from the product that you design.

The President/Chief Executive Officer (e.g., George Washington, first president of the United States).

The CEO of the company probably has an MBA (Master's of Business Administration) or higher degree and a long history working in corporate financial affairs. The CEO worries about the economy and what future markets the company should pursue or whether to open a new plant in a foreign country. It's the CEO who determines how your current project will be financed, and he needs to be kept up to date about its progress. The CEO also may ask you to assess the feasibility of a new technology or product concept. As an engineer, you have no difficulty conversing with the CEO, because the economic principles of profit and loss, cost derivatives, statistics, and forecasting are closely tied to concepts you learned in courses on calculus, statistics, and economics. You've learned to use spreadsheets in one or more engineering classes and have no trouble interpreting or providing the information that is part of the CEO's world. Likewise, your training as an engineer prepares you to communicate with the CEO about the impact of your design project on the economic health of the company.