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
ENR 2026 top 150 global design firms (ENR)
Highlights:
Unsurprisingly, most of the names on the top 20 are North American and European firms, but Chinese companies top the list, reflecting massive domestic and foreign infrastructure initiatives in China.
U.S. lost 23,000 jobs in July, while unemployment ticked lower (WSJ)
Highlights:
Despite the overall net losses, the construction sector added 22,000 jobs last month, likely reflecting the boom in data centers
Construction backlog plummets in July (ENR)
Highlights:
The ABC Construction Backlog Indicator declined in July, reaching 8 months, according to the survey recently released by the association.
That’s the lowest reading since January, and down 0.8 months from June as well as year-over-year.
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Management Perspective
Staff development in architecture and engineering firms is slow, and the reason lies in the feedback loops.
Feedback loops are how people learn. They perform an action, observe its consequences, and then modify future actions.
The common example of this is putting your hand on a hot stove. You feel the excruciating heat and remove your hand. In the future, you’re wary of putting your hand on a stove.
The most important parts of feedback loops are:
Short duration between action and consequence, and
High-fidelity feedback.
The tighter the feedback loop and the clearer the feedback, the more effective the learning is. And the quicker the behavior changes.
The stove example clearly illustrates both factors: the feedback time is immediate and the feedback is clear. The stove is hot; do not touch.
In architecture and engineering firms, however, the feedback loop is long and full of noise. This causes staff development to be slow.
Leaders can—and should—change paradigm. Those that do will see non-linear long term results that sets their firms apart from others.
So think to yourself: what do natural feedback loops look like in you organization? What can you do to shorten them and improve fidelity?
Management Insights
Simon Sinek (leadership consultant) on the importance of seeing results:
“As social animals, it is imperative for us to see the actual, tangible impact of our time and effort for our work to have meaning and for us to be motivated to do it even better.”
—
Laurence Endersen (author) on differentiation:
“Facts fill the mind; experiences open it. When you get the opportunity to experience something different, take it. Differentiate yourself through your diversity of experiences.”
—
The Dalai Lama on listening:
“When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.”
Management Resource
Why I stopped arguing with people (A Geek’s Page)
A software engineer’s take on technical correctness and the bigger picture of what is to be gained/lost by arguing, specifically around good vs. bad, right vs. wrong.
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
Engineering Echelons is a brand of Echelons, LLC
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