Hey, it’s Collin. Welcome to Engineering Echelons, a newsletter full of ideas and insights to help engineers excel at management.

Here’s what I’ve got for you this week.

• New and noteworthy news

• Something to consider

• Some insights to delve into

• And more…

First time reading? You can subscribe here.

Alright, let’s get into it.

Noteworthy Headlines

Robots are installing solar arrays (ENR)

Overview:

• Massive productivity gains by deploying robots to semi-automate solar array installations.

• Traditional ground-mount installations achieve 100-120 modules installed per 10-hour shift.

• Field trials of robot-assisted ground-mount installations achieved ~600 modules installed per 10-hour shift.

1Q2025 North American Engineering & Construction Industry Overview (FMI)

Highlights:

• FMI projects that after expanding more than 40% since 2020, growth will slow in the overall construction industry between 2025-2028 (some segments and geographies will perform above average).

Construction Jobs Crawl Upward by Just 4,000 (ENR)

Highlights:

• Shared in last week’s edition, ABC forecasts a need for nearly 440,000 construction workers in 2025.

• The year started with just 4,000 jobs added.

• Builders in residential and nonresidential buildings industries added jobs.

• Heavy infrastructure construction jobs declined.

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Management Perspective

You’ve probably participated in a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) exercise before. It has become a management favorite for assessing where the company is and where it can/should go.

Let’s focus on the threats part of the SWOT analysis.

There are all types of threats to your business. But in simplest terms, they can be grouped into two types: commission and omission.

Threats of commission are from action.

• Doing the wrong things leads to undesirable consequences (overworking and underappreciating star employees cause those employees to leave and work at a competitor).

• Doing something doesn’t work out (investing time and resources in acquiring a new client but they don’t hire you).

Threats of omission are from inaction.

• Failing to do what is needed (Not investing in technology, which severely impairs your productivity compared to competitors).

There’s an asymmetry with these types of threats. Commission threats are much easier to identify and track because there are actions/events, and usually few of them.

Omission threats lurk as opportunity costs, which are not as easily quantified and understood.

To combat this, try putting a “C” next to threats from commission and an “O” next to threats from omission during your next SWOT analysis. How many of each do you have?

Here are some questions to identify threats from omission.

• What do we absolutely have to do to stay competitive/maintain our competitive edge?

• What is one thing that will put us out of business if we don’t do it?

• What are other companies not doing that they probably should?

• What skill/expertise gaps do we have that will be needed?

• What regulatory changes are possible that will hamper our operations?

There are many other examples. From those questions come answers that identify what needs to be done. They no longer remain in shadow. Now you have to act on them.

Management Insights

General Jim Mattis on the role of a leader creating harmony:

“I don’t care how operationally brilliant you are; if you can’t create harmony—vicious harmony—on the battlefield, based on trust across different military services, foreign allied militaries, and diplomatic lines, you need to go home, because your leadership is obsolete.”

—

Sean Goedecke on having someone responsible for the shipping (delivery) of a project:

“In my experience, projects almost always ship because one single person makes them ship. To be clear, that person doesn’t write all the code or do all the work, and I’m not saying the project could ship without an entire team behind it. But it’s really important that one person on the project has an end-to-end understanding of the whole thing: how it hangs together technically, and what product or business purpose it serves. Good teams and companies understand this, and make sure every project has a single responsible engineer.”

—

Will Guidara on doing your job with color:

“‘Black and white’ means you’re doing your job with competence and efficiency; ‘color’ means you make people feel great about the job you’re doing for them. Getting the right plate to the right person at the right table is service. But genuinely engaging with the person you’re serving, so you can make an authentic connection—that’s hospitality.”

Management Resource

5 Mistakes Managers Make When Giving Negative Feedback (HBR)

As a manager, you have to have difficult conversations. Some of those take the form of providing feedback that isn’t positive. It can be tough for anyone, including engineers.

Here are the 5, but I encourage you to read the article to gain context for each.

1. Waiting too long to have the conversation

2. Not preparing enough

3. Not asking the right questions

4. Making the issue about the person

5. Not creating a roadmap for improvement

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Did something strike a chord? Tell me about it.

Or…

• Let me know if you’ve found something worth sharing.

• Let me know what challenges you’re having as a manager.

• Let me know what challenges you see other managers having.

Send me an email at [email protected]

Looking forward to hearing from you. See you next time.

Collin

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