The Seven Habits of Highly Successful Engineers

Highly successful engineers didn’t become that way by accident. The most successful engineers develop habits that improve results and the recognition of those results.

The seven habits listed in this article were developed from over years of experience, working with thousands of engineers around the world.

In this article, we’ll look at some of the habits that have ensured success for the most successful of these engineers.

The seven habits of highly successful engineers are:

• Know the process
• Focus only on the most important things
• Document the baselines
• Use tools to be more effective
• Network and communicate results
• Keep learning
• Share your knowledge

  Habit 1: Know the process

Knowing the process is the first and most important habit for engineers. To be effective in the automation and control of a process, you must first have a thorough understanding of the process.

To develop process knowledge takes time and effort. Start by studying process flow diagrams and PIDs.

Talk to operators. They work with the process day in and day out. They understand a lot about how the process normally behaves. They also know about the abnormal, unusual things that can happen during equipment failures, shutdowns, start-ups and shift changes. The process doesn’t always behave according to the textbook, so make sure you know what to expect in abnormal situations.

  Habit 2: Focus on the most important things

it is so easy to lose focus in a plant environment. There are daily disasters, firefighting, management meetings, projects, and a hundred other distractions. The challenge, of course, is to stay focused on those activities that will deliver the most value to the business.

In a process manufacturing environment, the ‘main thing’ is usually some combination of these factors:

• Unit cost
• Production rate
• Quality
• Energy costs
• Reliability
• Environmental and safety factors

It will be very difficult to prove success if you cannot link your work to one or more of these factors.

  Habit 3: Document the baseline

If you don’t know where you started, how will you know how far you have come?

Successful engineers always take time to understand the starting point. The starting point should always be measured in business terms. You can supplement with some technical measures, but you should always establish a good baseline of business metrics, such as those mentioned above.

Discuss the baseline conditions with an operations manager or financial person, to make sure that you understand what the numbers mean. This also helps ensure that you are working on the right things. Be sure to use exactly the same methods to measure these metrics. If they measure profit in dollars per truckload, then you should too.

The technical measures are a good supplement, but only if they can be linked to the business metrics. For example, if you are trying to improve quality (perhaps by reducing the percentage of rejects), it might be a good idea to track a technical metric such as variability.

  Habit 4: Improve your effectiveness with the right tools

If you love to solve problems, it can be easy to overlook that there may be some much simpler ways to get the job done.

Sometimes, too, you have to get your ego out of the way. All engineers think they can tune problems quickly by textbook knowledge, this is a recipe for disaster, you may solve the problem ‘Quickly’, yes. ‘Properly’, not very often. Use the right tools to get the answers quickly and properly.

These days, most companies have downsized their engineering staff considerably. You simply don’t have the time to be inefficient at any aspect of your job.

  Habit 5: Communicate results and network

This is probably the most important of these seven habits. If you do great things, and nobody knows what you did, you have lost.

Networking is a critical part of this. I’m not talking about computer networks, but people. Make sure you have credibility with a wide array of people. Think outside your normal workday routine. Let the key people know:-

• The plant IT manager
• Your counterparts in other departments
• The plant financial guru
• Instrument techs
• Operations managers
• Purchasing agents

This will be a challenge at first. But you will find that this helps you to develop stronger relationships in the plant. These relationships will be helpful as you communicate your results.

When you get some good results, you will need to communicate them clearly, concisely, and in business terms. Remember the baselining discussion above? Go back to your baseline measurements, and show how your work has had an influence on the bottom line.

  Habit 6: Keep learning

Today, you have a huge number of training resources available. You can take training course in your plant, at a training centre, or over the web. You can quickly find books and articles that delve into every possible subject.

Be careful! Make sure you are working with a credible source of information. Published authors and established companies are a great source of information. Some online sources, however, have little editorial control, and their accuracy is questionable at best.

  Habit 7: Share your knowledge

Process is not well understood by lay people. Even within the plant environment, there is often a vague mystery associated with process control. Sharing your knowledge with others can help to make you and them more effective. For your own success, if people understand what you do, they will have a better appreciation of the value you bring to the company. Because other people often have limited process control knowledge, even sharing a little bit of your knowledge may be tremendously useful.

Documented results are key to success. Make sure you have the right tools and training to be successful in your company.