Highlighting asset management issues

Let’s face it … infrastructure is a topic where people’s eyes tend to glaze over. And yet these can be really expensive things like a new water treatment plant or upgrades to the wastewater network, that they will have to pay for.

And around the council table, have you noticed that sometimes a tiny decision that is easy to understand gets more attention than a big one? I think this happens because it can be harder to understand the more technical information you deal with — and it can lead to big decisions being made without much informed debate.

Sharing complex information is difficult
Two of the reasons why plans can be difficult to communicate are:

• you’re so deeply involved in the topic it’s difficult to explain it clearly to someone who is hearing about it for the first time
• writing documents is not necessarily why you became an engineer or an asset manager — from engineers I know, it’s likely you’ve got a talent for problem solving and enjoy using your knowledge to improve outcomes on the ground.

How I can help you
I write documents in collaboration with my clients, combining your technical knowledge with my writing skills and environmental policy background. (You’ll still have to provide all the graphs and the financial info, because that’s definitely not my strength.)

Infrastructure strategies
An example of the service I provide is writing support for the completion of infrastructure strategies. This involves:

• reviewing other documents to access relevant content
• gaining input from asset managers
• establishing a structure for the strategy
• drafting agreed sections of the strategy for your review
• editing sections drafted by others to ensure the document has a consistent overall style.

Free up your time
I can free up your time and enable you to deliver quality documents that your councillors and community understand.

If you would like to work together to deliver any of your plans or strategies, please feel welcome to phone or email me. My contact details are available here.

Alternatively, if it’s not something you need right now, but would like to keep this in mind for future reference, you may like to receive my email newsletter called 'Wading In'. You can either send me an email or sign up right here (see side bar).