Every time am driving on the road, am keen to look at the environment around me. This includes the vehicles. In Uganda, Toyota https://www.toyota.co.ug/ takes the biggest share.
Have you realized that for every Toyota vehicle, even for the same model, as long as the year of make is different there will be something new. Now “the new may be small or big”. For some cases, it is just a change in the shape of the lights. In other cases, a change in the engine. But at least there is a change. And I assume this change is for positive improvement.
Simplicity is part of me. Why should I talk about things that are far from me without personal contextualization. My fellow Geotechnical Engineer in Uganda, when you look at the reports, designs, or investigations you did a few years back and the current ones, is there any difference. Is there anything new added in the current ones? Are you like Toyota? Or you are just reproducing the same output year after year.
To me there is always a gap for positive improvement. And sometimes it does not have to be spectacular. It might be just a change in the design of the Cover Page. Most of the times, the audience for our reports is not that “technical”. And the only thing they are interested in is the “beauty” of the report. I have reviewed reports many times both in academia and consultancy. The appearance and lay out of the report contributes greatly to the reviewer’s attitude during the assessment.
Recently, I carried out some tests for a Ugandan client working for United Nations. I delivered the results within the week and meeting place we had agreed on. He wondered whether I was a Ugandan Engineer. It is now common practice in Uganda, among the engineers, to delay submissions. Sometimes to more than a few months. What brand are you building? This client promised to refer other people to me. And in less than two weeks, he has already.
I am reminded of The Law of Consistency in John Maxwell’s book The 15 Invaluable Laws Of Growth. Small improvements done consistently.
This episode is so insightful of things most people tend to underlook!
Thanks for sharing
This Serie, is insightful and very important. The need to explore and tap into Geotechnical Engineering’s vastness is a fear of most practitioners. We tend not to want to change or improve on what we already know. For fear of the complexity it may bring to the new projects.
Well, this Serie spells it out clearly…..
We need to evolve.
Thanks Eng. Samuel. This cup of wisdom u have offered has been taken in sip by sip… By me.