It might just be a stereotype, but engineers have a reputation for being methodical, detail-oriented and organized.
Vancouver industrial engineer Bern Roy dislikes such generalizations. However, he also noted, “If you go in to any kitchen that an engineer has designed in his or her own home, you’ll find it extraordinarily organized.”
Roy, along with Kevin Brodt, his partner in Kom Lynn Associates Ltd. industrial engineers, are also partners in Lean Innovations Inc., a consulting firm that offers public workshops in lean management principles as pioneered by Toyota.
“The principles certainly apply to every human endeavour, including engineering practice.”
Business in Vancouver asked Roy and three other Vancouver-area engineers to pass along a few suggestions for how they organize their workloads. Among Roy’s recommendations are to hold “5S” events:
•Sort – purge unnecessary equipment and data.
•Set in order – organize and identify everything that needs to be in the workplace.
•Shine – clean everything.
•Standardize – implement processes to support the new order.
•Sustain – apply those standardized processes to ensure the new order “sticks” and things don’t slip back to the old ways.
Ian Boyle, an engineer and associate with Fast + Epp structural engineers of Vancouver, said he lives and dies by Outlook on his iPhone.
“Granted, I’ve only used it for the last five years in this way, but it’s really allowed me to handle much more work flow and keep on track with upcoming deadlines as well as meetings,” Boyle said.
Boyle is also starting to use the Evernote app on an iPad to transfer notes from a desktop computer to a mobile device and tablet.
Anja Lanz, a junior engineer at Autopro Automation Consultants, said having a plan or road map is essential to staying organized. And that involves breaking down tasks “into smaller steps that are measurable.”
“The plan and goal alone is not enough,” said Lanz, who is president of the Vancouver section of Women in Engineering. “I think the driving force needs to be motivation. If one is motivated to get organized, the tasks will flow much easier.”
Clinton Yiu, an engineer and partner with Ennova Structural Engineers Inc., said he is using technology to stay organized.
“It’s a lot easier to scan documents and file them away in a logical manner digitally than physically now,” he said.
Yiu’s company has developed a computer folder system, not unlike what Roy recommends, that enables everyone at the office to access documents efficiently.
His firm also takes full advantage of the decreasing cost of computer storage to do that. On the other hand, he has not fully migrated his organizational strategies to the digital realm.
“One problem with even computers or Outlook is that information that’s not at hand is usually forgotten,” You said. “So I still have a Post-it note on my desk that I write down what I need to take care of every day.
“We still use pens and pencils and highlighters, of course, because we still have to physically manipulate some of the drawings by hand,” Yiu said. “So we haven’t been able to eliminate paper all together.” •
