IStructE Core Objective 09: Management

This objective now encompasses two of the objectives from the old system:

• 3.1 Management Skills, and
• 3.6 Quality Systems 

This kind of give you a broad sense of what this objective covers, but essentially, as a Chartered Engineer you are expected to demonstrate experience of:

• Project management and leadership
  i.e. delegating and managing the workflow of junior colleagues, and CAD technicians. For example, you could be the one managing the project and coordinating with the architect / design team, whilst supervising the work of more junior engineers assisting on the project.
  
  
• Programming and project control
  If you are planning your internal resourcing and tasks for a specific project over the upcoming days/weeks, you are programming your work. This could be a Gantt chart or a OneNote record which helps you consider deliverables, deadlines and resourcing.
  
  
• Liason and Interface Management
  Communication and interfacing with other members of the design or construction team. You can demonstrate this with agendas and minutes of meetings/workshops or RFIs you have done with those external teams.
  
  
• Working within a quality management system
  If your company is complying with the requirements of ISO 9001, your company should have produced an internal Quality Management System (QMS). This sets our how your company incorporates quality control into their processes. For example, this could be in the form of design reviews and design checksheets,.

What to say in your Final Report

A few different items to describe in your report include:

• Describe how you have been responsible for managing other people in your project team
• Maybe you are in charge of an internal focus group or research group. Describe how you plan workload, time management, and coordinate focus group activities.
• Give an example of your experience in programming and project control
• Describe some examples of how you have worked with external design team members, like architects or contractors. Maybe you have produced agendas and meeting minutes.
• If you have produced CAD/BIM markups for technicians, you could describe these in your report
• Do you maintain project notes and to-do lists using OneNote or other apps? How do you track project tasks and deliverables? This is something you could center around a specific project.
• Were you a nominated project manager for any projects?
• You could write about any investigations or experimental testing you have been involved in. For example, geotechnical testing, intrusive structural investigations, wind tunnel testing, etc.

What to Include in your Portfolio

• Gantt charts or project resourcing schedules you have produced
• Agendas or minutes from any meeting you may have hosted
• Drawing markups or sketches you may have produced for CAD technicians or other team members
• Examples of communication between you and others, such as RFIs with contractors, emails with architects/clients, other stakeholders like utility companies, building authorities, transport authorities and more. In the UK, these could also include Building Control, Thames Water, Transport for London, National Rail, and more.
• Any design reviews you may have hosted for one of your projects
• Any design checksheets you may have produced or filled out
• Any RFPs or testing specifications you may have produced, issued and managed (e.g. CCTV surveys, geotechnicla investigation scopes, intrusive structural investigations, wind tunnel testing, and more).

What kind of questions to expect in your Interview?

Here are a few example questions which you might be asked for your Professional Review Interview:

• How does your company meeting ISO 9001?
• What is your team structure?
• Do you manage other people in your team?
• Have you been guiding any graduates or other project engineers?
• What have you done in terms of project management?
• Tell us about your drawings and report checking procedures.
• How do you document project reviews?