Engineering Inc - July/August 2018 - 44

GUESTCOLUMN

38-Minute Missile Threat
Provides an Emotional Lesson
BY KEVIN NAKAMOTO

t was a clear, sunny Hawaiian morning on Saturday,
Jan. 13, and I had just finished warming up my daughter's
soccer team, which was preparing to take the field when
a message flashed on my cellphone: "BALLISTIC
MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK
IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."
Naturally, I did what any quick-thinking engineer
would do. I moved the team to a shelter inside the
park's hollow tile restroom. It would be 38 minutes before state
officials broadcast another message declaring: "THERE IS NO
MISSILE THREAT OR DANGER TO THE STATE OF
HAWAII. REPEAT. FALSE ALARM."
Too late. This was the scariest 38 minutes of my life-not to
mention the lives of 11 frightened 10-year-old girls.
Meanwhile, Honolulu resident Noah Tom had just dropped
off his oldest daughter at the airport and was picking up
breakfast for a meeting when he heard the alert. His two
younger children were at home, and his wife was already at
work. "I literally sent out 'I love you' texts to as many family
members as I could. It was kind of surreal at that point," he
told The Washington Post.
When he heard the alert was a mistake, Tom had not yet
made it home. Instead, he pulled over to the side of the road
and cried. "I just broke down at that point. It all kind of hit me
in a wave, what I had just gone through. I was unable to drive
for 20 or 30 minutes," he said.
I now know that scientists estimate a ballistic missile
originating from North Korea would take approximately 20
minutes to reach the state of Hawaii-only 20 minutes until
life as you know it changes forever.
So, it is not hard to imagine the anger and uproar from my
fellow Aloha State citizens criticizing state officials for taking 38
minutes to send out a message retracting the original alert.
The emergency management agency did not understand the
expectation of the public and the consequences of the time
it took to rescind the alert. In the public's eye, it did not act
with enough urgency to inform them of the mistake. In the
era of social media, smartphones and instant gratification, an
immediate update was expected.
The emergency management agency obviously misunderstood the needs of the people it serves or its clients-whether
it was terrified little girls or a father crying on the side of the
road-who really needed to know an important fact sooner
rather than later.
44

ENGINEERING INC.

JULY / AUGUST 2018

The same theory works for
engineering. You need to know
your client's expectations on a
project and answer these important
questions:
* Do you really know what is
important to them? Is it the
schedule, cost control, quality,
responsiveness or something
else?
* What do they worry about
going wrong on the project? Is
Kevin Nakamoto
it loss of funding, exposure to
public criticism, exposure to lawsuits or something else?
Once you understand the answers to those questions, you can
tailor your project management style to meet the client's needs
and provide strategies to mitigate those concerns.
Of paramount importance is being able to communicate
this understanding to your client, which means identifying an
effective communication plan. At a minimum, the plan should
contain how, what and when you will communicate with your
client. Larger and more complicated projects will need more
frequent communication to ensure a smooth delivery.
This is especially true if you seek to manage your client's
expectations. While a client expecting perfection might not
be realistic, urgent responses and constant communication
in response to errors are logical expectations. It is the project
manager's responsibility to ensure the client's expectations are in
sync with reality. Regular and effective communication is a great
tool to make this happen.
Finally, inquire of your clients about how they treat their
own clients. This should give you a feel of how they in turn
appreciate being treated.
Not long ago, I asked a successful architectural client who
recently retired about his firm's approach to client service. His
response: "You need to be in front of the client, showing them
that you are absorbed in the success of their project. Show
enthusiasm and urgency."
In other words, to maximize your opportunity for positive
project outcomes, never leave a client confused at any stage
about what is clearly going on. n
Kevin Nakamoto is an associate and senior structural engineer
at SSFM International, Inc. in Honolulu. He can be reached at
knakamoto@ssfm.com.

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