Category

Team Building

Stop Working Faster. Start Working Better.

I’ve watched the engineering industry glorify speed over sense for years. We praise people who respond to emails at midnight. We celebrate those who jump from meeting to meeting without breaks. We reward constant availability over actual output. Let’s call this what it is. Broken. I recently came across an article on Nature.com that introduced me to slow productivity. This…

‘Because I Said So’ Is Not a Return-to-Office Strategy

Recent articles claim people are less productive when working from home. From my experience, this is far from true. But it’s not just my observations. Stanford University found a 5% productivity increase during remote work, and the University of Sydney reported similar findings. Another benefit of working from home is that the average worker saves four hours weekly by not…

The Skills Shortage in Australia’s Construction Sector – Strategies for Success

The Australian construction industry faces a significant challenge: a shortage of skilled workers. This issue is driven by an ageing workforce and the ongoing struggle to attract and retain talent. To address this problem, companies, governments, and educational institutions must work together. Effective Planning, Development and Partnerships Aligning HR with business strategy is important for identifying and attracting skilled workers….

Implementing Lean Solutions for Engineering Workflow Transformation

In my previous posts, we explored the challenges faced by engineering teams working with offshore design support offices and how lean principles can help streamline workflows. This week, we’ll look at specific lean solutions we implemented that can transform engineering workflows and achieve better outcomes. Streamlining Information Flow One major issue identified was the disorganised flow of information, leading to…

Improving Engineering Workflows with Lean Management

In my recent post “Lean Management in Design and Construction“, I provided an overview of how lean principles, originating from the Toyota Production System, can drive significant efficiency and performance improvements in the workplace. This week, I want to look into a specific application – optimising workflows between a local engineering team and their offshore design support office. The team…

Lean Management in Design and Construction

The first subject I studied as part of my Masters was lean management. I had only ever heard about lean management in a negative context, whenever I had heard people speak about it, they were talking about companies cutting staff to the point teams had to work steady overtime to keep up. So I was quite curious as to what…

The Planning Fallacy

Have you ever wondered why projects consistently take longer than originally planned? I touched on the topic in my Master’s dissertation and found that the answer may lie in a cognitive bias known as the planning fallacy, and I recently stumbled upon a fantastic article by Dave Stewart, “The work is never just ‘the work’” where he discusses his personal…

The Power of Knowledge Sharing

The concept of intellectual property and originality is always somewhat of a hot topic. Many people feel protective of their ideas and content, often becoming upset when they see others sharing similar thoughts or concepts. However, I believe that knowledge sharing is essential for personal and collective growth. In this post, I want to explore why I embrace others sharing…

The Right to Disconnect

It’s late. My wife is single-handedly managing dinner and cleanup, very much unlike our usual team effort, because I am stuck, glued to my screen, attending a work meeting that began at 6 pm and has stretched well beyond its scheduled hour. As I finally log off, my bowl of food sits on the table. I sit down and finally…

Understanding the Gender Pay Gap and Strategies for Equality in Engineering

The gender pay gap is a persistent challenge that reflects how we, as a society, value the contributions of men and women in the workforce. In Australia’s Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry, this disparity is particularly pronounced, with women significantly underrepresented in the field and often facing barriers to advancement. As a proud member of the AEC community, I…