Eric Mongelli

does quality control and project management

-it is necessary for engineers to do writing because
-Planning is writing
-design involves a lot of writing
-hiring someone else to do writing would create miscommunication and cost money
-The basic structure of writing at TDG is
-writing
-copy editing
-reviewing format
- final product
What makes good writing vs. bad writing?
-good writing is ability to convey work concisely and clearly
-bad writing is too many words, too flowery, or has bad sentence structure.
-Planners myst let facts drive writing rather than emotion
-this yields better, more honest writing
What problems does TDGs writing process have?
-There could be more time for Quality control reviewing
What strategies do you have to improve writing?
-they have a writing test during the interview
-its a hypothetical problem where they must write a solution
-they have 1 hour, they can do research, they can even make stuff up
-what the hiring committee is really looking at is how the points are being made, whether
they restated the conditions, etc. than the veracity of the solution
So what are Proposals?
-a call for proposals will be put out by county, city, federal group, or private entity (the client)
-They have a problem and want people to send in proposals with a general approach to the
problem, and a resume of sorts that proves that their company has the right people and
experience to take on the project
-They need a list of qualifications, staff resumes, and an estimate for the work
-Three people work on these: a technical lead, a marketing lead, and a final reviewer
-Most of this stuff is boilerplate - the same stuff has been asked for before, so they use the
same pieces of writing and edit them to fit the particular client
-Proposals specifically have:
1. Cover letter
2. understanding of project- you prove you know whats going on
3. Experience- examples of similar work

4. Staff Bios- edit to emphasize the topic

5. Work Plan- an intended schedule of work
6. Project Schedule
7. Team Organization
8. Necessary work forms
Is it individual or group written?
its broken up into pieces
-most review to make sure everything is done in the same voice
-You have to restate thing so they flow better, but cut extra words
-Matter of fact writing
-Whats the point
Conceptual design Reports are presented to the client
-first step in a big project
-May be written to bring in more stakeholders or community
-Justify the Design, pull together analysis and put statistics behind design
-Working from example is common
-Internal project communication
-comments and resolution on design, done by clients and then engineers
-these are written side by side with the company;s response to comments
-all of this communication is filed for their own use, and then turned into the client as well
How does a project team operate?
There are Sub-consultants, who work on a specific part of a project and are the responsibility of
the lead consulting firm.
The Lead is responsible for everything
-this means that there is a lot of back and forth communication over clarity and the
design, but as a professional respect they do not comment on stylistic differences
What is TDGs quality control process?
TDG is developing checklists of things they do often- creating procedure for generic pieces of
work
-for both engineering and writing process
-this is part of Erics job, as he over-sees Quality Assurance
- As part of their guidelines, they have created an editing/checking process. If the
product is a minor deliverable, it does level 1, Major it does both

-they make a quality control plan at the start of every project, Identifying everyones role.
Clients usually don't ask for this sheet, but they occasionally do internal audits of projects that
had mix-ups, to see where things went wrong
What other types of writing are done?
National guidelines
Design standards
Currently writing National Bike Guidelines (2017)
-These are mostly recommendations to designers like them, or companies that don't have their
expertise but are looking to design roadways so that it is safe for pedestrians and bicyclists
-for guidelines must still use matter of fact voice, and be carefully written so there is no room
for misinterpretation.
-guidelines dont always go through quality control, and are sometimes written only by a higher
level person, like the President or one of her partners.
-for example, the Vision Zero Policy, which envisions a world with 0 pedestrian/bicyclist
deaths.
-still must prevent plagiarism and vary diction, and must note that all of their works are public,
though they do not own the copyright to them.