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SpETHICations
- 1. Spethications: An Ethical Perspective of Specifications Matt Short, P.E., LEED AP, HFDP
- 3. Goals for today Gain a broad brush understanding of the mission of the specifier & purpose of the specification. Relate specific TEPA ethics rules to the practice of writing specifications. Challenge those involved in writing specifications to apply these rules.
- 4. YOUR MISSION…IF YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT “To communicate clearly, concisely, correctly & completely the design intent as expressed on the drawings.” First, assist in determining the project’s technical requirements and then document them in the specs (this includes aesthetic, spatial relation consideration as well). Second, specify equipment and material appropriate for the project…not necessarily the latest and greatest (but not outdated either). SUCCESS = Fair competition among contractors and manufacturers. Submittals descriptively and accurately represent design intent.
- 5. ARE YOU PURPOSE DRIVEN? What are the specs for??? Specs are the qualitative component of the documents. Ways to specify: Descriptive, Performance, Reference Standard & Proprietary Most common format: MasterFormat 1995 & 2004 They express experiences, lessons learned, standard of care and technical beliefs.
- 6. ARE YOU PURPOSE DRIVEN? What are the specs for??? Anatomy of a Specification, Walter Scarborough, AIA
- 8. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS What does the Texas Engineering Practice Act and Rules Concerning the Practice of Engineering and Professional Licensure have to do with writing specifications??? Let’s take a closer look...
- 9. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS Rule §137.55 (b)
- 10. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS QUESTION: How can specifications support “generally accepted engineering standards or procedures”?
- 11. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS Rule §137.55 (b) - “Generally accepted standards or procedures” Keep your master specifications updated. Write project specifications with the intent of meeting the purpose of the specifications. Get involved up front or at least early on – but definitely do not make it a last minute effort.
- 12. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS Rule §137.63 (b) (2)
- 13. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS QUESTION: How can one “exercise reasonable care or diligence to prevent [others] from engaging in conduct [that violates these rules]” in regards to writing specifications?
- 14. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS Rule §137.63 (b) (2) – “reasonable care or diligence [of others]” Be the example. If you aren’t the one writing the specifications, assist and encourage the ones who are. Educate and empower the younger, less experienced to begin understanding and assisting in writing the specifications.
- 15. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS Rule §137.63 (b) (4)
- 16. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS Proposed change:
- 17. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS QUESTION: How can one “act as a faithful agent” when writing specifications?
- 18. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS Rule §137.63 (b) (4) – “Faithful agent” Don’t just administer a “keep up with the Jones’” mentality. Exercise “good engineering practice”. Be technically sound with integrity. Do you work well with others?
- 19. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS Rule §137.63 (b) (6)
- 20. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS QUESTION: What does it mean to “practice engineering in a careful and diligent manner” when writing specifications?
- 21. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS Rule §137.63 (b) (6) – “Practice in a careful and diligent manner” Carefulness takes effort. “Showing close attention to accuracy & detail” “Taking reasonable care to avoid risks” “Watchful & protective about something” Diligence takes time. “Persistent effort” “Legal carefulness”
- 22. WHAT CAN YOU DO? Communicate quality - not fear – through the effort of producing a clear, concise, correct & complete specification. Don’t worry about what others will do or not do but understand their role. Believe in the power of the specifications. What you say in them is as important as what you say in the drawings.
- 23. In Summary… The specifier is the communicator of quality. Communicate clearly, concisely, correctly & completely. We, the professional engineer, have an ethical responsibility in all that we do – including writing specifications. When our task in writing specifications takes on less of an adversarial role and more of a quality role we minimize risk in a more effective way.
- 24. Questions…
- 25. Thank you.
Editor's Notes
- Thank you, Ben. Thank you for coming. First let me say that the thoughts, opinions and content expressed in this presentation do not necessarily represent the views of the Dallas ASHRAE chapter or its the board members. There, I’ve indemnified these guys from any claims stemming from this presentation – you and your lawyers can breath now.OK, by a show of hands who here is or will be, at some point in their career, directly or indirectly involved with the development and/or authorship of specifications? All engineers, designers, contractors, manufacturer representatives, & developers/owner representatives should have raised their hand.Did I miss anyone? Archs.? Code officials?I would say there have been numerous specs that have been written, enforced, utilized or executed by those that raised their hands. In other words there are a lot of handlers of the specs here today.I would be remiss to say that there are probably a few of you who are just here to pick up your ethics credit today.Regardless, I am glad you are all here. Today we will touch on some of the ethical considerations of writing, enforcing & understanding specifications. I hope you all leave today with something you didn’t have when you came – and not just a full stomach.So here’s what we’ll be covering today…
- Broad overview: The 5 Cs. Why is this important?
- MasterFormat 1995/2004 – 16/33 Divisions
- Now that we’ve gotten a broad brush overview of the role of the specifier and what the specs are for let’s start tying it into the State’s ethics rules…
- FOUNDATION: Remove the log from our eye before we try to remove the speck from another’s eye. Theact of removing is not judgment it is assistance/being of help.This is our document. These are the excerpts we will be focusing on.But, before we move on we need to shed some excess baggage.First, the specs is not a weapon of mass destruction. Specifications are not meant to be wielded to hurt or obliterate others. This sounds harsh but think about it… They are to be used in a complimentary way and assist the construction effort – not shore up a bunker. Why do we think about what others (i.e. the contractor) do or don’t do with the specifications? We should first think what can I do with the specification that will help make this a successful project. Alone they are incomplete…with the drawings they truly live up to the saying, “the sum is greater than the parts.”Second, we can’t get hung up on the excuse of not having enough time. It doesn’t reflect well on anyone. Yes, we will face the challenges of fast track projects, GMPs, etc. but we must find ways to address these challenges too.Another way to say this is don’t put off writing specs. We don’t do this with the drawings. In the interview or initial meetings we express our best intent. Shouldn’t that be followed up with our best effort? If we do, then there’s not much more anyone can ask. The specs are just as much of a priority as the drawings. Don’t sacrifice quality. We need to consider that a constant – internally non-negotiable.Finally, we can’t be afraid of not being the expert. This statement is for everyone in this room. No one is the expert in everything. If we were then perfection would be more the expectation. No contract that I have seen requires this – in fact, all projects have mechanisms in place to address the imperfect nature of design & construction. Although perfection is not required, I would suggest perfection is desired as a goal. There will always be situations that we can’t control and we have to deal with them as we go. But this shouldn’t mean quality be willfully sacrificed. “Schedule, Cost or Quality” chose 2 of the 3. Who’s tired of having the initial “team approach” meeting where everyone gets in a room with the owner’s rep and says how they are all going to be proactive, be team players, not point fingers and work together. Then the first conflict that comes up everyone starts pointing fingers and defending how it isn’t their fault but how it does affect their work and steps back to isolate the conflict as someone else’s problem? Who’s tired of this fickle mentality and ready to be part of a more diligent era?
- FOUNDATION: Good stewardship. Protecting the public. (Ex. Police officers, courts, parents.) Not just knowing the rules but knowing the intent and being a good steward of them.[Slides first]Why is this last statement so important? How is this good stewardship? In addition if the need of simply getting a spec produced & out the door outweighs the intent of properly writing a spec then I would contend that the purpose of the spec may not be met and therefore leads to greater risk and time spent rectifying the documents.When it comes to editing specifications and the generally accepted standards and procedures there is probably a consensus in general. But as we dig down to the specifics we broaden in our perspective and the consensus dissolves. Saying it another way, “The lack of consensus is due more to the “spec writer’s perspective” rather than there not being clear answers or guidelines.” As we move through this presentation I hope you gain a better understanding of what some of the generally accepted standards and procedures can be.What we do and what we should do may be two different things. But that doesn’t mean it’s right. So why change? Because it is our ethical responsibility.Question: “Who believes that spec content are proprietary?”Spec content is not proprietary. Specs can be copyright protected. Specs are legal documents. How a chiller is to be installed can not be protected from others using it.Non-proprietary – ex. Public projects – the documents are available to the public (not used with exclusive legal right)There are things that each spec writer includes that they feel are of value to their client and they should include them. Now, if they want these nuggets to be considered good engineering practice or a generally accepted standard or practice then they should promote their use with the rest of the engineering community for the more they become standard language the more they will become accepted in the industry.There’s nothing that prevents these nuggets from being shared or suppressed.
- Responsibilities to the Profession
- exercise reasonable care or diligence to prevent [the engineer’s partners, associates, and employees] from engaging in conduct[which, if done by the engineer, would violate any provision of the Texas Engineering Practice Act, general board rule, or any ofthe professional practice requirements of federal, state and local statutes, codes, regulations, rules or ordinances in theperformance of engineering services]This does not refer to contractors or vendors. This refers to other engineers and their staff.
- FOUNDATION: Training & oversight. Involvement, not simply signing the documents. Good leaders lead, great leaders raise up sustained leadership. (Good to Great)QUESTION: I see a lot of leaders in attendance. What are you doing to positively impact your firm? The industry? What legacy do you want to leave behind?Who remembers Lee Iacocca and his amazing revitalization of the Chrysler Corp. I believe he was a good leader – not a great one. As he stepped out of the role of CEO the company leveled off and started to descend. There was no sustaining discipline w/o him. He was Chrysler.
- Remember the proposed change to this rule that was out for public review about a year ago?
- The change incorporated a significant amount of language that is typical to contracts and many comments were received during its public review that questioned if the engineer was required to “not unintentionally state a falsehood” or go as far as “withholding nothing important”. Also it was questioned that this proposed language crossed the line of defining how business is to be done and it was under scrutiny for its legal enforceability.On February 26, 2009 the proposed change was withdrawn in the TBPE regular quarterly board meeting.
- I probably wouldn’t ask this guy.
- Currently the Board uses this rule in conjunction with others as it pertains to the specific violation. Often times violation of this comes in the form of signing and sealing documents that the engineer did not personally oversee or perform work. FOUNDATION: Absolute standard not relative. Your actions are independent of what others do.Integrity: honesty, truthfulness, honor, reliability, uprightness, adhering to high moral principle or professional standards. Not a know it all, not an expert, not prideful or egotistical.Although we are often hired as the technical expert, a faithful agent should be able to know when they are wrong too and respond in a positive manner.Example: How you carry yourself at all times is as revealing as when you are putting “pen to paper”. A good friend gave me an example of this when he was walking with a co-worker and they passed a panhandler… Moral: I believe how you respond to seemingly inconsequential questions tell more about the moral and ethical fiber of an individual than a test.How do you answer questions? Say what they want to hear or the hard truthor respond in a caring way?
- The title of the book (which is upside down) is ironic – Smart Business for Slow Times.
- Sometimes all three are used.FOUNDATION: Meticulous, sustained effort. Hold fast to values & don’t compromise. Perseverance in conflicts. I think together they are intended to produce positive results. What is the benefit if you run a marathon and give up in the last mile or practice a golf swing for the entire off season and then go out and swing out of your shoes?No one said it was going to be easy.
- POINT #1: Know your rolePOINT #2: Worrying immobilizes; concern propelsPOINT #3: Many beliefs today have been watered down to a mere acknowledgement of a certain fact. The importance of believing in something has everything to do with what it causes you to do. It’s actually empowering. Believing in ethical principles motivates you to rise above lesser standards. It guides and protects those that abide by them. This is the single most important aspect of this presentation. I challenge all of you to make ethical choices day in and day out. Doing so will make our industry a better one.
- We can do all this through understanding the purpose of the specifier and specification, taking a proper ethical perspective, and putting forth a sustained effort that doesn’t compromise the absolute ethical truths setforth in the TEPA rules.With that I thank you for your time and open the floor up for questions...