| The buck should stop with the project manager
The buck stops here' is a phrase popu- larised by US President Harry S Truman, who kept a sign with that phrase on his desk in the Oval Office. There were some project managers but they were mostly in the industrial world related to industrial or petrochemicals project construction. Now, on every contract, there is a project manager. But, somehow, the architects were ousted and the modern project managers arrived. Some are good, some very good and some just plain awful. very, very briefly. " For some project managers, the sign should read: "The buck stops here . Thus, in the same way that you don't give the consulting electrical engineer the interior design, don't give the inside designer the electrical design. Nope, I'm being sarcastic. Trust me, very little of it has been necessary or of value in the long run. But do accept that, in my life, I have (as have several others) worked through nights, had very early starts and worked over weekends. What this means is that my opinion on an electrical matter should have a lot more weight than that of an electrical contractor, a young engineer or a design technician. please remember that I have been an electrical engineer for 34 years and a professional engineer for 28 years. They may be able to argue better but, in general, in a dispute, I am right. " Don't you be one of the latter. The sign on the US President's desk read: "The buck stops here. Finally, if things go wrong . My practice gets work from project managers. So, all you out there, assume that, if I have been under your guidance or on your project, I regard you with a reverence close on adoration. However, I have some general thoughts that I would really like to get off my chest and hope you'll not be too offended. you will be sorry. Thirdly, in electrical work, there are very few 'nice to haves', apart from types of light fittings. Unfortunately, electrical systems are deviously cunning. Ignore my recommendations and . you are the project manager. So, if you use cheap plastic distribution boards with cheap plastic circuit breakers, jammed with wiring since they are too small, the whole thing will fail- often on a long weekend, when the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system has gone down. If there need to be changes to a design, then allow sufficient time to be sure those changes are not a stuff-up. Fourthly, in general, inte- rior designers know nothing about lights, light fittings, socket outlets, wiring, data points, cable trays, cable terminations, UPS systems, power poles or the SANS 10142 standard. |
Friday, 8 June 2012
The buck should stop with the project manager
