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Project Management Insights: Managing Remote Teams (Or During a Pandemic)

April 13, 2020 - in Articles, Column

Depending on where you live and work, there may be a stay-in-place order recently issued by your state or local government. Your firm or office building manager may have closed facilities out of abundance of caution. Whatever the situation, you are more than…

Infrastructure Outlook: Cloud-Based CMT Makes Social Distancing and Remote Work Possible

April 9, 2020 - in Articles, Column, COVID-19

The majority of U.S. states consider construction and building material suppliers essential. This means many testing labs are still open. It…

CARES Act Impacts Engineering and Construction Sector

March 31, 2020 - in Articles, Column, COVID-19

The CARES Act does not provide direct relief for additional costs and delays to individual projects.  COVID-19 precautions continue to impact construction…

ReEngineering the Engineer: Curiosity: Engineers Do Better than the Cat

March 30, 2020 - in Articles, Column

To date, my engineering firm has been a team member for two different Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) projects. Both included many regularly scheduled “Big Room” meetings. Almost all of those meetings start with an ice-breaker question to allow everyone…

Construction Contractors Are Working to Manage Coronavirus Risks

March 27, 2020 - in Articles, Column, COVID-19

Contractors are staggering shifts and crews are cleaning tools, handles and hands in cities where projects continue. Zurich North America Construction crews in many cities continued to raise cranes and swing hammers as much of the world shut down to stem the…

Now is the Time to Increase Investment in America’s Critical Infrastructure 

March 20, 2020 - in Articles, Column, Featured

The scope of the coronavirus pandemic is something we haven’t experienced in our lifetime. Each of us has been recruited to fight an unseen enemy that is disrupting our lives, businesses, and overall economic health. State and local leaders have called on…

Infrastructure Outlook: Power Distribution Networks Must Perfect Data Quality and Governance

February 26, 2020 - in Articles, Column

The electric utility industry is undergoing a major transformation driven by new sources of energy generation (solar and wind power), consumer demand for faster and more-affordable services, cybersecurity, and Big Data. Gathering data to harvest insights and…

Project Management Insights: Delivering on Brand Is Integral to AEC Marketing and Management

February 21, 2020 - in Articles, Column

How you deliver projects either supports or hurts your branding. At a rudimentary level, the role of marketing is to create awareness and generate demand for a company’s product or service. The brand is the link to the buying marketplace, and it’s the…

Executive Corner: What’s a Good Outside Board Director Worth?

February 17, 2020 - in Articles, Column

So you’ve finally decided to add an outside, independent director to the board of your privately held A/E firm. You’ve even identified several candidates. Now the question is what (if any) compensation to offer them. For an independent party to take on…

Thoughts From Engineers: A River Runs Through It: When Green Infrastructure Is More Than a Bit Player

February 5, 2020 - in Articles, Column

Urban water management is on course to complete an evolutionary circle. When cities began to modernize more than 100 years ago, the goal was to dispose of wastewater as quickly as possible. Engineers studied the physics of natural systems with an eye toward…