Prompt 3 - Interview with an Engineer: Writing in Engineering

By: Tyler Lahusky

Writing is involved in every field and every career. Many of us don't realize how big writing truly is in our fields. In order to learn more about what writing in agricultural engineering what it is like, I contacted Bill Begg, a Principal Instrumentation and Controls engineer. Begg is Vice President of As-Built Management engineering firm. His daily activities include proposal development, project scoping, developing design documents, device specification and PLC programming. Here are the questions I asked him about writing in engineering and the responses I received:

On a daily basis, how much writing is involved in engineering?

According to Begg, the amount of writing in engineering varies each day, but almost all of the communication that he does involves some sort of writing. He says there are five main types of writing that he does on a daily basis. These include the topics listed below. Begg also gives a brief overview of what accompanies these forms of writing in which I also describe below:

• Proposals to Clients
• This typically involves explaining a technical execution of a job in a non-technical language. In other words, it is a proposal to a client that involves a complete translation from engineering talk to everyday language. Proposals to clients usually involve five main areas - Overview/Background, Scope of Work, Deliverables (What exactly are we going to do), Execution, and schedule. 
• Design Basis
• Design basis is telling whoever needs to know what a process accomplishes right now, and what they want the process to accomplish upon changes. These include a large amount of information and are usually made up of mainly numbers. However, Begg says that explanation is often necessary to explain things to a non-technical person.
• Training Documentation
• Training documentation is the explanation of operation and maintenance of equipment. The audience of training documentation is the machine operator and is typically written in the consumer companies preferred format, according to Begg.
• Progress Reports/Updates
• Progress reports, Begg says, are usually an outline format of performance against the stated deliverables (what the machine is actually supposed to do).
• Notes and Journals
• Notes and journals are often used by Begg to capture his own thoughts. Many times he writes long winded notes to himself to organize and remember thoughts on a particular project.

What is the typical genre of writing that is involved in engineering?

Begg says that writings in engineering are most often done in a technical form. Many times the audience prefers highlights of a subject in the form of bulleted technical writing.

In general, who is the audience of most writing completed as an engineer?

According to Begg, there are six typical audiences for writing as an engineer. These include:

1. Project Managers
2. Other Engineers
3. Vendors or Equipment Providers
4. Corporate Management
5. Plant Workforce (ie. operations and maintance)

As you move up the company ladder, does the amount of writing increase or decrease?

In Beggs experience, the amount of writing in engineering increases as you move up the company ladder. Instead of verbalizing much of your explanation and communication, Begg says that as engineers mature and advance in the company, engineers will write more and use communication in the form of writing to their benefit.

Out of all the tasks you have as an engineer, is writing an enjoyable task for you?

According to Begg, writing in engineering has become an enjoyable part of his career. Begg says that throughout his engineering experience and company advancement, he has learned to greatly appreciate writing in engineering as a form of communication.

In your opinion, what are some common misconceptions about writing in engineering?

Begg says there are a number of misconceptions about writing in engineering. Some of these misconceptions might include that writing in engineering is too technical and difficult to understand. Many people believe that it is too difficult to turn writing in engineering into prose, and that all engineering writing is formulas. Lastly, many people believe that engineers do not know how to write, which is another common misconception according to Begg.

To end the interview, Begg left me with some tips for writing in engineering. He says to always state the conclusions first as that is what people want to know. Always support all of your statements, and lastly, writing in engineering should follow the same format as any persuasive writing format. After talking to Begg about writing in engineering, I gained a much greater insight to the type of writing that I will encounter as an agricultural engineer. I hope you also learned something new about writing in engineering from this interview, and a thank you to Bill Begg for allowing me to interview him.