Christian PhanBME 333T

Think Piece #1

Prompt: In your opinion, what are the two most important aspects of communication for engineers in the workplace? You may answer this from your personal beliefs and experiences and/or from what other credible sources say on the topic.

There are two major fronts where good communication skills becomes vital to engineers in the work field.

First and probably most importantly is on the actual development/engineering side of things where discussing and collaborating with your team is essential to not only expediting the process of building but also ensures that details fine-tuned to excellence and not just brushed over - details ranging from minor issues of specific taste to major ones that may inhibit other facets of a project that only compound on to the necessity of that detail’s intention.

Secondly, the presentation aspect of communication becomes of utmost importance once the project or design gets past its prototypical phase (or maybe even for the idea pitching to get funding for the project itself). In order to effectively market whatever it is you’re working or planning to work on, engineers need to focus on bringing the scope of the project to the eyes of funders/patrons (whether they be direct or indirect monetary sources) in such a way that will inspire those “banks” to invest in them.

Almost never do great projects take less than a small group of people. More often than not, they require large groups of different thinkers collaborating towards one ultimate goal – a goal that could lead to the development of something new brought to the world; something that could challenge the way we view our modern day possibilities. In order to smoothly run such feats of engineering, an idea that’s been had must be properly communicated so as to get it into the minds of each individual participating in the project. Either to get the goal into their heads or to let them know exactly what their role in the bigger picture is. For example, although a person in the marketing department of the group may not need to know the technical details and workings of a product, they should be well informed of what exactly it is that the product seeks to achieve so that they may go on to pass on that aspiration in all of its ambition to potential investors (be they financial or just motivational). This leads us back to the topic of presentational communication.

Communication in a presentational setting is imperative in that it’s the main way that these new ideas and projects will be shared with others. If not done so in a meaningful manner, these ideas may be rejected and fall into obscurity for either later generations to pick up on (stalling the advancement of such developments) or put back on the shelf, never to be touched again. Sometimes this can be good or bad. Who knows what the consequences of such events will be, but if we wish for these projects and ideas to become successful, blooming into the integration of modern day life, then we must properly ensure that they are communicated to

Christian PhanBME 333T

others. In terms of capturing the interest of others, this type of communication must appeal to a holistic audience and in favor of certain biases based on where the idea-holder wants the notion to travel. In any case, to state it again – The second (not necessarily hierarchically) most important aspect of communication in the work place is communication in presentation. The first of which being the cooperation of all the piglets working together under the different facets of the project.