“You have to be comfortable being uncomfortable.” That’s my one-line, takeaway quote to students and younger engineers when they ask for one piece of advice.
In today’s fast-paced, ever-changing world, if you stand still, you’re falling behind. Gone are the days when you could have a specialty and the design was basically “wash, rinse and repeat.” Artificial Intelligence will do those tasks.
When I’m speaking to a group, I illustrate this by asking everyone in the group who is a project engineer, project manager, program manager or project executive to raise their hands. Then I say, “if you can think of one day in the last year that you had a daily to-do list and you finished it within that same day, please lower your hand.” Rarely does any hand go down. Why? Because we have challenges on every project, every day, that require us to pivot because of differing site conditions, supply chain issues and human factors, just to mention a few.
Be More than Smart
Engineering is defined as an applied science and driven by creative problem solving. The theme of Informed Infrastructure this issue, “Smart Engineering,” is integral to our collective futures. I have great faith in our industry to adapt to changes in technology, innovations in materials and processes, and changes in client and stakeholder expectations. Our future cities, water and energy systems will find the solutions to our most pressing problems. I see that in the projects GHD delivers worldwide to public and private clients.
My greater concern is that we will dive deeply into the individual technical challenges and forget that it’s our job to lead the system of systems that makes a modern economy work. When we let other professions (e.g., legal, financial and political science) lead projects, companies and agencies, they don’t bring the vast knowledge and experience of the built environment as well as the opportunity costs of not optimizing systemic solutions. After all, engineers see the world in five dimensions—the 3D world plus the impacts of schedule and cost—and our lens is focused on 50 to 100 years in the future—not an election cycle.
Workforce Is Key
As a follow up to my last several columns, we really need to double down on workforce supply and retainage, as the number of qualified engineers isn’t growing enough to take on these systemic leadership roles.
Engineering procurement for federal or federally funded work follows the Brooks Act, a U.S. law passed in 1972 that requires the federal government to select engineering and architecture firms based upon their competency, qualifications and experience rather than by price. It was passed due to the specialized nature of the learned profession that consults on infrastructure. Beyond firms, the Brooks Act also applies to how we recruit and retain technical employees.
Under the Code of Federal Regulations, as of Feb. 3, 2025, Title 29, Subtitle B, Chapter V, Subchapter A, Part 541, Subpart D, Paragraph 541.201, the employee’s primary duty must be the performance of work requiring advanced knowledge in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction. This primary duty test includes three elements:
1. The employee must perform work requiring advanced knowledge.
2. The advanced knowledge must be in a field of science or learning.
3. The advanced knowledge must be customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.
The duty test confirms that we need to lead, and that’s the definition of smart engineering. Not just planning and doing the work, but setting the priorities; enabling higher-level engagements with communities and clients; encouraging new innovations in project finance; and delivery from planning to design to construction to maintenance and operations to decommissioning. Only when engineers sit at the decision-making table for the project lifecycle will we be able to deliver infrastructure that’s resilient, effective and efficient. The public deserves nothing less.
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) recently released the 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, and the nation’s cumulative GPA is a C, the highest grade ever since we started the system in 1998. We’re moving in the right direction. The summary of ASCE’s Report Card for America’s Infrastructure states: “ASCE urges a comprehensive agenda that sustains investment, prioritizes resilience and advances forward-thinking policies and innovations.”
Let’s get it done!
The post Engineering the Future: Engineers Need To Be Among the Leaders and Decision Makers first appeared on Informed Infrastructure.