Engineering Processes

• Skills
March 2018
Contents
• Basics of Project Management
• Document Control
• Report writing
• Communication skills

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Project management basics
• Most management models identify three basic management processes that
serve to organize the ongoing activity of the enterprise:
• Planning-devising a workable scheme to accomplish an objective;
• Executing-carrying out the plan;
• Controlling—measuring progress and taking corrective action when
necessary;

NOTE: These processes occur at all levels of the enterprise, in many different
forms, and under many different names. For example, planning is a constant,
not a onetime event.
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Project management basics
• Management as an ongoing activity with neither a clear beginning
nor an expected end (except as an event to be avoided). Projects,
however, are temporary; they have both an identifiable starting
point and an emphasis on timely future termination. Projects thus
include two additional basic management processes:
• Initiating—setting overall project direction and defining project
objectives
• Closing—formalizing acceptance of the product of the project and
bringing the project itself to an end
• These additional processes also occur at all levels of the project, in
many different forms, and under many different names. For
example, the initiating process may be called feasibility analysis
while the closing process may be called turnover or start-up.

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Project management basics
• What techniques are you using ?
• What can we implement in our daily
work?
• How can we better manage our time?

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Document control basics
Questions to Ask?
• So why is this type of document control important?
• Why do companies that use filing systems need to have rules about how
employees can create and use documents?

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Document control basics
Answers:
• Since documents contain proprietary ideas, personnel data, information about company
processes, and even intellectual property concerning “new or expanded business
opportunities,” they can damage a company significantly if they fall into the wrong
hands or are deleted without backup!!;
• Protecting the value of the content of company files is reason number one to adopt
comprehensive document control policies;
• To make the information included in those documents accessible and useful to the
people in the organization.
• Eliminating waste of resources; ensuring validity of information; keeping information up-
to-date; protecting confidential, classified, or proprietary information; retaining
information to create opportunities, avoid errors, and dodge litigation; and more

© Reinforced Earth India Private Limited | 2018

Document control basics
Answers:
• Since documents contain proprietary ideas, personnel data, information about company
processes, and even intellectual property concerning “new or expanded business
opportunities,” they can damage a company significantly if they fall into the wrong
hands or are deleted without backup!!;
• Protecting the value of the content of company files is reason number one to adopt
comprehensive document control policies;
• To make the information included in those documents accessible and useful to the
people in the organization.
• Eliminating waste of resources; ensuring validity of information; keeping information up-
to-date; protecting confidential, classified, or proprietary information; retaining
information to create opportunities, avoid errors, and dodge litigation; and more

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Document control basics
• What systems do we have in place?
• What can be done better?
• What are the company procedures?

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Report writing basics
• A technical report is a formal report designed to convey technical
information in a clear and easily accessible format.
• It is divided into sections which allow different readers to access
different levels of information.
• This presentation explains the commonly accepted format for a
technical report; explains the purposes of the individual sections; and
gives hints on how to go about drafting and refining a report in order to
produce an accurate, professional document.

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Report writing basics

STEPS FOR WRITING REPORTS

• Step 1: Decide on the 'Terms of reference'
• Step 2: Find the information
• Step 3: Decide on the structure
• Step 4: Analyse your findings and draw conclusions
• Step 5: Make recommendations
• Step 6: Draft the executive summary and table of contents
• Step 7: Compile a reference list

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Report writing basics

Step 1: Decide on the 'Terms of reference'

• To decide on the terms of reference for your report, read your instructions
and any other information you've been given about the report, and think
about the purpose of the report:
• What is it about?
• What exactly is needed?
• Why is it needed?
• When do I need to do it?
• Who is it for, or who is it aimed at?

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Report writing basics

Step 2 Find the information

• The next step is to find the information you need for your report. To do this
you may need to read written material, check previous designs, and/or talk
to people.
• Make sure the information you find is relevant and appropriate. Check the
project requirements and guidelines.
• What you find out will form the basis, or main body, of your report – the
findings.

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Report writing basics

Step 3 Decide on structure

• Reports generally have a similar structure, but some details may differ. How
they differ usually depends on:
• The type of report – if it is a research report, laboratory report, business
report, investigative report, etc.
• How formal the report has to be.
• The length of the report.

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Report writing basics
Step 3 Decide on structure
Depending on the type of report, the structure can include:
• A title page.
• Executive summary.
• Contents.
• An introduction.
• Procedure.
• Findings.
• Conclusions. NOTE:
• Recommendations. The sections, of a report usually have headings and
subheadings, which are usually numbered
• References/Bibliography.
• Appendices.
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Report writing basics

Step 4 Analyse your findings and draw conclusions

• The conclusion is where you analyse your findings and interpret what you
have found. To do this, read through your findings and ask yourself:
• What have we found?
• What's significant or important about my findings?
• What do my findings suggest?
• Your conclusion may describe how the information you collected explains
why the situation occurred, what this means for the organisation, and what
will happen if the situation continues (or doesn't continue).
NOTE: Don’t include any new information in the conclusion.

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Report writing basics

Step 5: Make recommendations

• Recommendations are what you think the solution to the problem is and/or what you
think should happen next. To help you decide what to recommend:
• Reread your findings and conclusions.
• Think about what you want the person who asked for the report should to do or not do;
what actions should they carry out?
• Check that your recommendations are practical and are based logically on your
conclusions.
• Ensure you include enough detail for the audience to know what needs to be done and
who should do it.
• Your recommendations should be written as a numbered list, and ordered from most to
least important.
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Report writing basics

Step 6: Draft the executive summary and table of contents

• Some reports require an executive summary and/or list of contents. Even
though these two sections come near the beginning of the report you won't
be able to do them until you have finished it, and have your structure and
recommendations finalised.
• An executive summary is usually about 100 words long. It tells the readers
what the report is about, and summarise the recommendations.

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Report writing basics

Step 9: Compile a reference list

• This is a list of all the sources you've referred to in the report and uses APA
referencing

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Report writing basics
• What are we doing wrong?
• How can we improve?
• What skills do you require?

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Communication Skills - Basics

• Know what communication really

is?
• Communication is the process of
transferring signals/messages
between a sender and a receiver
through various methods (written
words, nonverbal cues, spoken
words). It is also the mechanism
we use to establish and modify
relationships.

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Communication Skills - Basics

• Have courage to say what you think.

• Be confident in knowing that you can make
worthwhile contributions to conversation.
• Take time each day to be aware of your
opinions and feelings so you can adequately
convey them to others.
• Individuals who are hesitant to speak because
they do not feel their input would be
worthwhile need not fear. What is important
or worthwhile to one person may not be to
another and may be more so to someone else..
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Communication Skills - Basics

• Practice.
• Developing advanced communication
skills begins with simple interactions.
Communication skills can be practiced
every day in settings that range from the
social to the professional. New skills take
time to refine, but each time you use your
communication skills, you open yourself
to opportunities and future partnerships.

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Communication Skills - Engaging Your Audience
• Make eye contact.
• Whether you are speaking or listening, looking into the eyes of
the person with whom you are conversing can make the
interaction more successful. Eye contact conveys interest and
encourages your partner to be interested in you in return.
• One technique to help with this is to consciously look into one
of the listener’s eyes and then move to the other eye. Going
back and forth between the two makes your eyes appear to
sparkle.
• Another trick is to imagine a letter “T” on the listener’s face
,with the crossbar being an imaginary line across the eye
brows and the vertical line coming down the center of the
nose. Keep your eyes scanning that “T” zone.

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Communication Skills - Engaging Your Audience
• Use gestures.
• These include gestures with your
hands and face. Make your whole
body talk. Use smaller gestures for
individuals and small groups. The
gestures should get larger as the
group that one is addressing
increases in size.

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Communication Skills - Engaging Your Audience
• Don’t send mixed messages.
• Make your words, gestures, facial
expressions and tone match.
Disciplining someone while smiling
sends a mixed message and is
therefore ineffective. If you have to
deliver a negative message, make
your words, facial expressions, and
tone match the message

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Communication Skills - Engaging Your Audience
• Be aware of what your body is saying.
• Body language can say so much more than a mouthful of
words. An open stance with arms relaxed at your sides
tells anyone around you that you are approachable and
open to hearing what they have to say.
• Arms crossed and shoulders hunched, on the other
hand, suggest disinterest in conversation or
unwillingness to communicate. Often, communication
can be stopped before it starts by body language that
tells people you don't want to talk.
• Appropriate posture and an approachable stance can
make even difficult conversations flow more smoothly.

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Communication Skills - Engaging Your Audience
• Manifest constructive attitudes and
beliefs.
• The attitudes you bring to communication
will have a huge impact on the way you
compose yourself and interact with others.
• Choose to
be honest, patient, optimistic, sincere,
respectful, and accepting of others. Be
sensitive to other people's feelings, and
believe in others' competence.

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Communication Skills - Engaging Your Audience
• Develop effective listening skills: Not
only should one be able to speak
effectively, one must listen to the other
person's words and engage in
communication on what the other
person is speaking about. Avoid the
impulse to listen only for the end of their
sentence so that you can blurt out the
ideas or memories your mind while the
other person is speaking.

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Communication Skills – Using words
• Enunciate your words.
• Speak clearly and don’t mumble. If
people are always asking you to repeat
yourself, try to do a better job of
articulating yourself in a better manner.

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Communication Skills – Using words
• Pronounce your words correctly.
• People will judge your competency
through your vocabulary. If you aren’t
sure of how to say a word, don’t use it.
Improve your vocabulary by reading
new words in daily routine. Look in the
dictionary to help you learn how to
pronounce a new word.

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Communication Skills – Using words
• Use the right words.
• If you’re not sure of the meaning of a
word, don’t use it. Grab a dictionary and
start a daily habit of learning one new
word per day. Use it sometime in your
conversations during the day.

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Communication Skills – Using words
• Slow your speech down.
• People will perceive you as nervous
and unsure of yourself if you talk fast.
However, be careful not to slow down to
the point where people begin to finish
your sentences just to help you finish.

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Communication Skills – Using words
• Develop your voice.
• A high or whiny voice is not perceived
to be one of authority. In fact, a high
and soft voice can make you sound like
prey to an aggressive co-worker or
make others not take you seriously.
Begin doing exercises to lower the pitch
of your voice.
• Try singing, but do it an octave lower on
all your favorite songs. Practice this
and, after a period of time, your voice
will begin to lower.

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Communication Skills – Using words
• Animate your voice.
• Avoid a monotone and use dynamics.
Your pitch should raise and lower
periodically. Radio DJ's are usually a
good example of this..

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Communication Skills – Using words
• Use appropriate volume.
• Use a volume that is appropriate for the
setting. Speak more softly when you
are alone and close. Speak louder
when you are speaking to larger groups
or across larger spaces.

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© Reinforced Earth India Private Limited | 2018