Memorandum
Succeeding at Innovo Engineering
To maximize your chances for success in your internship, it is important that you understand how we work and your role. We want the same kind of interns as other innovative engineering organizations want, only better: People who are adaptable, creative problem solvers and independent learners. Professionals who can work well with people and work successfully on teams. In a nutshell, we value people who are professional and know how to get projects done efficiently and effectively.
We hope your experiences over the next months will help you gain confidence in your abilities as a true engineering professional. To assist you, we compiled these suggestions from managers surveyed about what it takes to be successful:
Be proactive
Ask questions or schedule meetings with your project manager when you can't find answers on your own. But the more you put into the process yourself, the more you'll get out of it. Don't expect us to tell you what to do.
Keep in Touch
You are responsible for checking your email or discussion area of the project website regularly; announcements will be made this way, and we will assume that you have read them.
Check with your project manager about available online tools (email, threaded discussions, listservs, etc.). Use these tools to share information, project schedules, agreements, resources, results, and updates with your team members and project manager.
Manage your time
Time management is essential to your success. Your project manager will let you know when you should be prepared to discuss steps in your research. You should plan to spend much of your project time on reading and researching. See the Working with Task section of this Orientation for additional suggestions on time management.
Address performance issues in your team
When you work in teams, you won't initially know the full extent of your team's capabilities. Negotiate the initial scope of work for each member carefully (i.e., what concrete pieces of the task s/he is responsible for).
If problems emerge, surface them as soon as possible so that you can negotiate them within your team and complete your presentation on schedule. (This may be socially uncomfortable, but you've just got to do it.)
If you ever have a problem you don't know how to solve, discuss it with your project manager after you have talked to your team.
Tasks
Visit the Working with Tasks section of this
Orientation to learn the process we recommend for completing
tasks and presenting your solutions to your colleagues.
Teams
Teamwork is essential to our success. Review the Working
in Teams section of this Orientation to improve your team skills.
Good luck.
