Today, ENO “The People behind big transit projects” published a report that will help the agencies to recruit, train and keep the specialists who manage large transit projects more effectively. The publication takes place at a critical time, since many transit agencies across the country have difficulty recruiting and keeping managers who are able to successfully deliver large projects.
The report is financed by the Federal Transit Administration and examines the challenges with which project managers face and identifies the skills, experience and support you need to be successful. In order to inform his recommendations and to illustrate relevant lessons nationwide, the report contains case studies of transit projects, which differ in size, scope and location.
The report describes a wide range of project management resources, including conferences, German offices and documents as well as the American Public Transportation Association, ENO and the National Transit Institute. These resources can help transit agencies to pursue a strategic approach for the hiring, training and binding of project managers. You can also help future project managers to record their career paths.
Numerous managers in the transport industry have praised the report.
- Robert L. LundThe former deputy general manager of Septa said that the report “offers an informative look at the challenges that the country's transit agencies imagine in successful personnel projects in order to implement infrastructure projects effectively, and to be good administrators of taxpayers. It is not just a transit property guide, but for all who questioned the publicly financed projects.” “
- Jeff PaniatiaThe former executive director and CEO of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) said that the report was “a must for managers, donors and stakeholders from the transit agency and prepares the necessary resources for current and potential major project managers.” He added that it offers “transit agencies a blueprint for setting, developing and storing talented project managers”.
- Bruce PodwalThe author of the book “The Engineering is simple: Memoir of a Project Manager”, said the report, “deals with a significant gap in creating the team that is necessary for the execution of projects.
- Karen raSenior Strategic Advisor at STV, said: “This report offers valuable insights into the successful project provision. In particular, it underlines the critical need to the public sector in order to recruit, keep, keep and adequately surpassed talent to compensate for imperative imperative, which is too often overlooked.
- Cheri L. SoileauDirector of Planning and Program Development at the Capital Area Transit System said: “This report serves as a manual for transit experts – whether you are new to the industry or as experienced experts and whether you hire project managers or serve as one yourself.
- Bill Goodrich, The former senior vice president at MTA Capital Construction said: “A valuable source of information on the selection, development and storage of critical staff for lead project manager positions on large transit projects. Whether you work for the public agency, consultant or contractor is the most critical and challenged position to keep and retain during the life of a project.”
Skills required for success
Talented and experienced managers are important to keep the projects on schedule, to minimize the expenses and to satisfy the stakeholders. The report underlines the challenges of transit agencies in the search for qualified managers – mainly because of the broad and demanding skills that the role requires.
In addition to technical expertise, project managers must have large transit projects about strong communication, leadership, strategic thinking, interpersonal and problem -solving skills. The ability to make pressure under pressure is also of essential importance. As a transit officer explained, if a concrete mixer is on the way to the building location and the project team is still not sure to build the type of wall or the exact placement, you cannot simply say “a study committee”.
Given the Complexity of Major Transit Projects, One Member of the Study's Advisory Committee Somewhat Facetiously Identified the Following Attributes of A Great Project Manager: The Intelligence of Albert Einstein, Integrity of An Apolitical Supreme Court, Patiente of A Saint, Negotiating Skills of A Horse Trader, Savvy of James Bond, Planning Skills of a General, Communication Skills of Walter Cronkite, Drive of Bill Gates, Tough Skin of an Armadillo, and Ego from Mother Teresa.
Support and recruitment strategies of the agency
In order to make project managers easier to success, transit agencies must assign sufficient resources, determine suitable procedures and continuously support project teams. The report contains concrete recommendations for transit agencies, starting with the need to carry out a comprehensive review of personnel, processes and systems before the implementation of projects.
In order to help agencies recruit and select members of project management teams, the report tells strategies with which transit agencies develop job descriptions, spread information about open positions and carry out interviews. While transit agencies are often unable to compete with the private sector with the salaries, the report recognizes how they should highlight the different advantages of work in the public sector.
While experienced advisors for project management teams offer valuable know -how, this report indicates certain disadvantages that rely too much on consulting companies. For example, transit agencies report that their employees tend to have more ownership of a project and better relationships within their agencies and outside the stakeholders. In addition, an over -control of consultants can lead to a loss of institutional knowledge.
Keep and develop talent
The binding is a major challenge for transit agencies, since many project management employees are better paid in the private sector. The wage differences are larger for project managers than for junior employees, which makes it particularly difficult to keep top talents.
Agencies can do better jobs when binding employees by creating clear career promotion routes and offering them opportunities for long -term professional growth. A senior transit officer said: “One of our greatest resources is in our organization. We spend time to grow existing employees.” He found the advantage of a deputy project manager and emphasized how important it is to choose MPs who have the potential to manage a project. This requires combining them with the right person and preparing them at any time.
Without sufficient training, project managers may have difficulty controlling the complexity of transit projects, which leads to inefficiencies, cost crossing, delays and unnecessary tensions in stakeholders. This report shows that strong programs for professional development and mentoring play an important role in building a more capable workforce.
The training should be formalized and institutionalized in an agency. Since well-qualified project managers are of crucial importance, well-established consulting companies generally have more robust training and professional development programs as transit agencies. However, some agencies have extensive training programs. For example, the Sound Transit Eided ST (Sound Transit) University to train your entire workforce.
An important training element is learning from previous projects. Unfortunately, many transit agencies do not document the lessons that they have learned after completing a project. Agencies often hesitate to remind their mistakes because this could embarrasses personnel, management and organization. They also fear that documenting mistakes could endanger their ability to secure future means.
Building on research on the project delivery of ENO
This new report builds on knowledge from ENO's earlier research work to improve the delivery of transit projects. (See ENO project delivery resource.)
In 2021 ENO released Save time and make cent: a blueprint for building a better structureA report in which nine regions in the USA, Canada and Europe are profiled. While every region is clear, a clear similarities were created in project provision and unveiled important cost and timelines drivers that influence the project results. Eno later organized a four -day symposium to exchange results from the report from the report and to exchange best practice between transport experts, political decision -makers and researchers.
Eno published in 2022 On the right track: Rail Transit project delivery around the worldPresent A report that examined the project provision in ten peer nations all over the world. In this research, case studies were emphasized how the federal states rule, plan, regulate, finance and construct, projects in Australia, Canada, Chile, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, South Africa and South Korea.
ENO also publish another new report today. Analysis of the Federal Administration of the Federal Administration of the Federal Transit AdministrationPresent This evaluates the FTA capital cost database and gave recommendations to improve usefulness. In the past 40 years, the database contains the cost components of fundamentally financed transit projects.