Greetings, friend!
How many times have you said to yourself, “I’ll never make that mistake again!”, only to find yourself in the same pickle just weeks or months down the road? I’m guilty!
This typically happens to me in the middle of a project — things are getting behind schedule, I’m waiting on something from the client (again!), and I’m not sure this job is even worth the trouble.
I’m telling myself “NEVER AGAIN!”
But those feelings seem to vanish the second you get the final invoice paid and mark it complete in your project management system — and it’s onto the next! But if you don’t memorialize those feelings and mistakes, it’s really easy to find yourself in them again.
To try and get myself out of this cycle, I’ve developed a simple “Post-Project Assessment” form that I’m going to start using at the completion of every project.
A few of the questions can be rated on a scale of 1-5:
- “Did the project stay in scope?”
- “Did the project meet the deadline?”
- “Did the project meet objectives?”
- “Was the project profitable?”
- “Would you do this project again?”
A few of the questions require a bit more detail:
- “What went well on this project?”
- “What was most challenging?”
- “What could I have done better?”
And thanks to the magic that is Excel, these assessments can be conducted via a quick and easy spreadsheet, and even produce an overall “score” for each project.
My aim for this assessment is to evaluate projects so that I can better recognize the types of projects that are a good fit, and the kind I should avoid. Kind of like an internal case study on how good a project was for me, rather than how the project benefited the customer.
It’s a 5-minute task that I know could save me hours of frustration down the road. If nothing else, it will force me to make an assessment of myself and the types of projects I’m best suited for.
If you’re interested, I’ve created a thread in the forum where you can download my simple Post-Project Assessment Excel spreadsheet.
🔥 Inside the forums
Rotated lots, overlaps, fences… oh my!
Our office did a property boundary for a ranch 30+ years ago. It was sold with our boundary and developed as a Subdivision, lots, streets, multiple phases. Anyway, we were hired by an adjacent landowner to…
Magnetic personality
I am a layperson and wondering… Is it unusual for surveys to be based on magnetic north as opposed to true north?
Monumental percentages
Here in the colonial state of Kentucky, doing a mix of urban to rural surveys, I believe my average of finding property corner markers is…
Read: Percentage of monumented corners
Courting bullets
Got an email. Seems two landowners have been in a long-term battle and the survey work will almost 100% end up in court.
Pulled it off
After a weekend of research and digging I had the PC pull another monument. It was an early on GPS monument and I thought…
What a binch
Good thing we tied down the binch mark…processing field data this morning and came across this.
Lawyer up
“We don’t need a boundary survey, just a plan showing the new lots.”
Read: Email reply from client’s lawyer
Mark it on the calendar
Beautiful photos of the varieties of work we all do. No one will be tearing off the pages and turning them into airplanes. High quality product.
Read: That 2022 SurveyorConnect Calendar is outstanding
Not quite philately
Just got my state exam results back… Looks like I’m in the market for a stamp! Any recommendations?
Have a nice trip
What a great way to end a job! It was a pain on paper, probably took time off my life trying to make it fit and in the end it didn’t. But when running the last lines in…
Dedicated worker
I work for local government and a neighboring municipality who does not have a surveyor on staff has asked me to review their standard plat dedication language and provide comment.
Appalachian adventuring
I am bidding on a couple thousand-acre boundary deep in the Appalachian Mountains that apparently has a bit of a trail system through it already.
Workin’ it
If I have an employee who spends 80% in office drafting, computations and admin and 20% in field surveying, is that person rated (for workmans comp) as: ‘Drafting/Clerical’ or a ‘Surveyor’?
Getting bombed in the field 📸
I found this Union Schenkl artillery shell while looking for property corners in the right of way a few years back. Was found in rural Virginia. Anyone else find anything interesting?
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🦺 From the marketplace
For sale: Spectra Focus 35RX 3” Robotic Total Station
For sale: Topcon hiper v & Sokkia Grx2 base rover
For sale: Seafloor Hydrone RCV Survey Kit
Want to buy: Topcon GPT 3000 series
📰 In other news
NGS Extends Deadline for GPS on Bench Mark Submissions
NOTICE: NGS has extended the December 31, 2021 cut-off date for GPS on Bench Mark submissions! The new cut-off date to submit GPS on Bench Mark data for use in the 2022 Transformation Tool is now December, 31, 2022.
👋 Before you go
I’m going to blatantly remind you of the 2022 SurveyorConnect Wall Calendar one more time. Ok, I know I said that last time, but there’s still time to get your calendar(s) so don’t miss out!
We’ve gotten tons of great feedback about the calendar in regards to the high-quality stock used for the pages, the surveyor-specific dates, and the amazing, collaborated photos provided by none other than our own SurveyorConnect members.
One of our long-time members even started a new thread to point out how amazing these calendars really are. Check it out here!
Happy traversing,
Wendell T. Harness
Founder
