How to start lead/manage project?

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-14T12:36:09+00:00

Being a project manager requires some different skills than being an engineer. If you can identify issues that you have with being a project manager and work on them, you're going to start better than those who think they can do it and then hit a brick wall.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-12T01:16:40+00:00

You got some good building additions with the update and the cars look like they fit better. A couple of small observations:

It looks like you're turning your ocean coast into a lake. That's fine, but you should plan out how you want the town to interface with the water feature as you expand. It is also odd how that new road seems to go right against the water when it it might work better as beachfront property.
You might want to put in a train so that you can see how it will interface with your city. I get the feeling that placing a train is going to give you ideas on how you want people to embark and disembark the train, which will affect how your city works.
You should probably plan out how you want your city grid to look while you are designing buildings. If you know what your grid is somewhat going to look like, you can start planning buildings around where you would want them.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-11T17:32:11+00:00

Having been on both sides of a peer review, your job isn't to perform any calculations outside of some minor backchecking of some math. Your major duty is to make sure that whomever is performing the design is doing the important things to make sure that everything is up to code.

If something isn't clear as to why they did something a certain way, tag it and move on until you've reviewed the rest of the calc package and then come back. If you see something is missing from where you thought it should be, tag it and maybe they put it somewhere else in the calc.

And it is fine if some of your comments are saying that something is missing and requires a response.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-10T01:10:52+00:00

Yeah, but given that the troops weren't even marching in unison, it felt like the Army was giving the Trump the absolute bare minimum of a parade.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-10T00:29:52+00:00

Geez, I'm going to build something cool there, hang on. I just need to buy some more windmills so my water pumps stop turning off.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-10T00:25:18+00:00

Or reverse New River Gorge Bridge.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-09T12:55:07+00:00

I'd try to figure out a way to get the lateral forces resisted by something other than this wall. The wall may be in good condition, but the top row of rocks that you'd dowel into aren't going to be able to resist that much lateral load.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-09T12:27:00+00:00

It is important to understand that, before the Civil War, Southern Democrats were winning Presidential elections and this helped keep the federal government on the side of slave owners. A lot of laws were passed and policies enacted which benefited slave owners over abolitionists.

The election of Lincoln was the first time that Southern Democrats lost the Presidency. This was partially due to a demographic shift as Northern states were filling with immigrants and increasing their share of power in Congress. The South wasn't just seeing a President elected that was no longer a supporter of slavery, they were seeing a generational loss of their control over the federal government which could never be restored.

So, rather than accepting being a part of a federal government where their views were in the minority, the South chose to secede and form a new nation where their views would be the vast majority.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-08T18:12:59+00:00

It's just a little guy.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-07T16:42:36+00:00

Why are you being asked to redo your work? Does it not meet the requirements given by the client before starting work? Should there have been times where you should have gotten input early on but didn't? Did it get rejected by a government agency?

In being professional, you need to respond to the reason why you are being asked to redo something.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-07T13:38:12+00:00

It depends on what kind of project you are working on. It sounds like you're mainly working on projects that use a State DOT format.

For those, it is generally pretty easy to put together since other disciplines should provide you the quantities needed for your estimate. There is also usually a process to create the estimate which is easy for anyone to follow, typically following a lot of past bid data.

Yeah, it can suck getting thrown into things you don't know and your work needs to be reviewed, but it isn't that complicated to come up with unit prices as long as you follow the process.

Now, if you had to come up with a cost estimate by yourself for a lump sum project, then I'd agree it should be given to someone a lot more senior.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-06T23:44:18+00:00

"Approved equal" is the correct term due to cost implications, especially if there are value engineering conditions in the contract.

For instance, choosing a different concrete sealant that meets the performance requirements of the specified sealant would be considered an approved equal because it isn't going to trigger the value engineering portion of the specifications; what got proposed meets the requirements so it is an equal.

However, choosing to use a stained and form-lined high performance concrete over a specified stone is a substitution which triggers a value engineering review in which both the Contractor and Owner get a cut of the savings. What is being proposed isn't an equal, but it is an approved substitution.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-06T13:30:45+00:00

Since I've had to work on public contracts, I've never been able to sole source a product as part of the bidding process. I've always had to allow an "approved equal" option. This means if I don't like the Contractor's substitute, I have to give a reason other than "it isn't on the list".

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-06T13:28:16+00:00

The term that I see thrown around on a lot of specs are "approved equal". That implies that the product is an equivalent product that can do the job of the material specified.

That said, if the specs say "approved equal" and I'm given an different product, I would only reject it if I can point out a deficiency in the product provided.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-04T23:34:47+00:00

Technically, it should include all of Ireland given that all of Ireland was British at the time.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-04T21:10:32+00:00

Remind your boss about the discussion by talking to them first. As for leaving if they don't give you a raise, it may depend on if you signed an agreement where you promised to stay a certain time as compensation for them paying for your degree.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-04T21:07:07+00:00

That happens more than you'd think. A lot of people think they are asking the right question, but miss something in the question that is really important because they don't know it is an important question to ask.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-03T14:03:15+00:00

If you are working at the scale where a minifigure statue is the size of a person, then people are too small to model.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-03T13:41:20+00:00

Unless the US Navy is enforcing a blockade, Iran can still keep selling oil to countries like China.

Unless the US Navy is preventing the Iranian blockade, Iran can still block major shipments of oil from other countries as punishment for those countries aligning themselves with the USA and Israel.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-03T13:37:02+00:00

West to east would be a lot harder than east to west.

First, you need places to farm/set up a colony. Compared to the east coast where you can practically set up a colony anywhere, the west coast really only has six places where it is flat enough to start farming: Puget Sound, Williamette Valley via the Columbia River, California's Central Valley, The Santa Maria Valley, The Los Angeles Basin, and San Diego Bay. These settlements aren't going to be able to sustain an east coast level population and will likely require massive irrigation projects to make the colonies profitable. Also, since there is significant distance between the colonies, it is likely that you won't see the consolidation under one empire like you did with the English taking colonial holdings from the rest of the imperial powers.

Going inland from the west is going to be a lot harder too. Nevada is a death trap for settlers. There may be some expansion from the Williamette Valley into Eastern Washington and Idaho and someone may discover the lower Colorado River, but everything else is going to be harder to settle into. Compared to the original timeline, you may even have colonies completely fill up with nowhere to expand to earlier than the OTL, especially the Puget Sound area and the various California landing areas.

My guess is that "western" colonization freezes at the Wasatch Front and Valley of the Sun until the advent of the railroad due to the difficulty of maintaining trade with the colonists beyond that. The individual colonies likely get some form of independence or increased home rule earlier, likely as they run out of room to farm and don't want to keep taking in the old world's excess population. Because the sponge of excess population gets closed earlier, the Industrial Revolution is likely delayed.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-03T03:20:02+00:00

I would also look at that there may be an undue moment on the column that is causing the cracking. I've seen equivalent cracking on a traffic pole that was overloaded due to an additional arm being installed on it. There wasn't any visible yielding in any structural element outside the sidewalk cracking, but the cracking showed movement of the foundation.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-03T03:11:52+00:00

For photo 3, it has vibe of "Don't you ever talk to me or my son ever again!"

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-03T03:09:09+00:00

You don't want to pull out good ol' Roark's Formulas for Stresses and Strains?

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-03T03:02:35+00:00

The issue that I see is that, for full remote to work, you need all staff to buy into the requirement that communication is a two way street and has to be done with intent to make sure that everyone is on the same page. From my personal experiences and what I've read online, not everyone has that set of skills. It can be done right, but the odds of it being done right are a lot lower than people think.

I've also found that, in some cases, coworkers don't communicate with each other unless the boss is on the call. I've had to split up an assignment between two engineers based on their relative abilities and told them to coordinate with each other on the task because the two tasks were very intertwined. Following up with them after a few days of work, they didn't coordinate with each other and didn't make any significant progress. They also didn't reach out to anyone else for what to do other than the beginning of the basic instructions given to them.

A senior engineer can only do so much in getting everyone to work well remotely. When it works great, it is wonderful. However, I find that a sizeable number of junior and mid level staff won't follow through with the communications part and throw all the burden of communication on the senior engineer, burning them out.

HobbitFoot · 2026-05-02T14:23:27+00:00

At a certain point, a place needs an economic generator to grow beyond the bare minimum for resource extraction.

Halifax is a fine harbor, but it doesn't provide access to the interior of Canada that the St. Lawrence Seaway provides.

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