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
A management perspective to consider
Leadership insights to delve into
And more…
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Alright, let’s get into it.
Noteworthy Headlines
Construction starts rebound in 13% in March (Dodge)
Highlights:
Total construction starts rose 12.8% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.22 trillion.
Nonresidential building starts grew by 6.3% over the month; residential by 2.6%; and nonbuilding jumped 37.9%.
On a year-to-date basis, total construction starts were down 0.5% through March.
The state of facilities in higher education (Gordian)
Highlights:
The renovation backlog for college facilities has hit its highest point in years as institutions wrestle with budget pressures.
Deferred capital renewal reached $156/GSF in 2025, an 8% year-over-year increase and nearly double the 2007 levels.
Spending on existing buildings is only 73.5% of what is needed to prevent the backlog from growing even more.
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Management Perspective
I recently came across this quote from Woodrow Wilson.
“…government is not a machine, but a living thing. It falls, not under the theory of the universe, but under the theory of organic life. It is accountable to Darwin, not to Newton. It is modified by its environment, necessitated by its tasks, shaped to its functions by the sheer pressure of life.”
In other words, things that are Darwinian adapt and evolve; things that are Newtonian are fixed laws that remain the same.
It’s a simple yet profound model for thinking about organizations in general.
I think it’s particularly interesting when it comes to engineering organizations.
Engineers typically have their mindsets aligned with Newton. Universal laws of physics govern the systems that engineers inspect, design, and specify every day.
Darwin, on the other hand, relates closely to biology.
Engineering managers who apply their Newtonian thinking to their teams leave a lot to be desired in terms of organizational operations. And I believe that is likely to be exacerbated as project size, complexity, and technological change accelerate.
So here’s the question to consider: is your organization Newtonian with a fixed, unchanging structure? Or is it Darwinian, adapting to changes in the business landscape?
Management Insights
Philip Dormer Stanhope (Earl of Chesterfield) on reputation:
“A good reputation is acquired by many actions; and can be lost by one. Be upon your guard, therefore, against those weaknesses which may risk it. Nothing can be more unjust than to judge a person by one single action; but the world is seldom just.”
—
Ed Catmull (founder of Pixar) on trying things:
“It isn’t enough to pick a path—you must go down it. By doing so, you see things you couldn’t possibly see when you started out; you may not like what you see, some of it may be confusing, but at least you will have, as we like to say, ‘explored the neighborhood.’ The key point here is that even if you decide you’re in the wrong place, there is still time to head toward the right place. And all the thinking you’ve done that led you down that alley was not wasted. Even if most of what you’ve seen doesn’t fit your needs, you inevitably take away ideas that will prove useful. Relatedly, if there are parts of the neighborhood you like but that don’t seem helpful in the quest you’re on, you will remember those parts and possibly use them later.”
—
Keith Granet (business consultant) on pricing expertise:
“If you have talent, your time should be worth a lot. If it takes you ten minutes to design a detail, is it worth only ten minutes of your time? It’s taken you a lifetime to figure out that detail, and it should be worth more than the time you spent in drawing it.”
Management Resource
The future of billable hours (LinkedIn)
Many professional services firms sell their expertise in units of time. AI is significantly affecting how long it takes to complete work—this list of resources explores how some firms are experimenting with different pricing models.
Get in Touch
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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