Yesterday marked the 10-year anniversary of when I received my official designation as a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.).  It’s now been 15 years since I graduated with an engineering degree, so I guess I’m in a bit of a mood of reflection.  Here’s 10 lessons learned, in no particular order:

1. Relationships Matter – I think I meant to say “relationships matter more than ….”, but put a full-stop on it.  Whether working relationships with colleagues, bosses, clients, family, or friends, relationships are basically everything.

2. Let The Client Decide – this gem came from Mr. Doug Allen, P.Eng., a remarkably accomplished man who was appointed to the Order of Canada.  You can read more about him here.  Whether your client is a customer or your boss, your job is to present the facts with the implications of the various options available.  This advice was second-hand actually, as I never worked directly with him.  Good advice gets handed down.

3. The Cost / Quality / Time Triangle –  It’s desirable to have a product/project/widget at low cost, delivered quickly, and with high quality.  Consider these three things as points on a triangle, and know that you get to pick two.  If you want high quality and low price, it will take longer.  If you want high quality and quick delivery it’s going to cost a lot.  If you want it done fast and cheap, the quality is going to suffer.  Think about some of the engineering designs you’ve been part of, or a consumer product you enjoy, or even restaurant options out there and see if this doesn’t hold true.

4. What Gets Scheduled Gets Done –  This mantra comes from one of my podcast “mentors” Michael Hyatt.  You can check out his podcast “Lead to Win” here.  Email inboxes and stacks of paper on desktops are horrible for productivity.  Scheduling time to do things is key.  Whether it’s setting time aside to batch-process emails or just crank out a project you’re working on, there is no substitute for focused effort.

5. ARTW > ERTW – In my university days the engineering student society had these T-shirts that said ERTW, which stands for Engineers Rule the World.  Sure, we come up with all kinds of stuff that make the world a better place, but if you think engineers don’t have to answer to accountants, you probably haven’t been doing engineering for very long!

6. Family First – this is why I left work on a remote tropical island to live in Winnipeg, and also the primary reason I left a good job with great colleagues to become self-employed.  Careers and individual jobs provide satisfaction and pay the bills, but if your home life is a mess for whatever reason, it will catch up with your work, guaranteed.  If you need to make a change to make “it” work for your family, whatever that “it” is, do it.  By the way, Winnipeg is a great city!  The mosquitos are not as bad as everyone outside of Winnipeg thinks, and the winters are a dry cold.

7. Get It In Writing – This will help you avoid scope creep in projects and get paid for your work.  Agreements and instructions in writing avoid many problems!  I’ve paid some tuition to the school of hard knocks on this one.

8. Under Promise and Over Deliver – everyone you deal with will be so much happier than the flip side, which is over promise and under deliver.

9. You Can’t Pull a Rabbit Out of a Hat – I’m not talking about illusionists here.  There are some things that are simply not possible/feasible/practical, etc.  This pairs nicely with #2 & # 3 above.

10. Every Good Soldier Has a Plan ‘B’ –  Engineers can take a page from the playbook of Dennis Haysbert’s character Jonas “Snake Doctor” Blane from the TV Show “The Unit”.  Sometimes things go sideways in work and in life.  Never be caught without a backup plan!