Management Archives - Being Brunel
Engineering Culture
July 28, 2016
Engineers are so damn practical; give them a problem and they’ll just get on a solve it. The ultimate pragmatists; it’s not too hard to see why it often takes an external force to change the industry. Forever, (it seems), we’ve…Read More
Metric Driven Design
June 30, 2016
Metrics; measurements with purpose. It’s a term I’d long left associated with those business managers that trade buzzwords with each other; inheriting, instead, the engineer’s standard unit- a deliverable. And…Read More
Building A Web App Part 1: Failing Fast
June 21, 2016 4
‘m willing to admit that this series of posts is going to be a little off topic, however I’ve had enough engineers ask me about the wonderful world of web apps and how to build one that I thought it’d be worth…Read More
Is Construction Agile?
June 16, 2016
In my last post about that buzzword ‘agile’, I introduced you to its history, and the twelve principles that underpin Agile Software Development. I like these tenets; they make it easier to get…Read More
What Conway’s Law Teaches Us About Engineering
May 31, 2016 4
Have you heard of Conway’s Law? It’s an observation put forward by computer scientist Melvin Conway in 1967 about the relationships between designs and the systems they’re created in- specifically…Read More
Agile Engineering
May 16, 2016 1
In 2001 a bunch of software developers went on a jolly to a ski resort in Utah, and that (in an extremely tight nutshell) is how the mysterious “Agile” process you’ve probably heard bandied…Read More
The Parable of the Leader and the Manager
May 10, 2016 2
A few weeks ago I was listening with half an ear to someone talking about their career as a contractor (lit. freelancer, rather than the “actually getting things built” kind). Counting off the different jobs he’s done for various firms, he paused at his time as a manager. Looking thoughtful he announced “and the funnyRead More
Warm Offices – Cold Sites
November 6, 2014
Civil Engineering? Ah. Yes. Well. I suppose it is great fun, and brings in a living for all those structural and civil engineers who dream the projects up while they are sat in their nice warm offices. But what about us poor guys…Read More
7 Habits of Dynamic Project Managers
July 8, 2013 6
I’ve put together 7 awesome habits that, by following, will make you into the most dynamic engineering project manager outside of this box! There’s no I in team, but there is a me[a/e]t! Touching base (for at least…Read More
