PGB Teams, Technical and Writing

Introduction

Through a combination of demanding professional career and challenging (and rewarding) personal circumstances, I consider that I have skills which may be of benefit to others. As result, I've decided to create this website to make those skills available.

There are a few ethical and personal constraints around this offer, but I'll get to those further down this page.

I have deliberately chosen a relatively simple website to reduce download impacts. As many people in Australia now have Internet accounts where such matters are becoming less concerning, I may relent and make this site a little nicer :)

About me

My driving passion in life has been to be of service to community. This led me to civil engineering through, initially, an interest in public health (which is relevant to the area of civil engineering that I work in), but, at a very early stage of my career, I also became aware of the environmental benefits from the line of work I am in for my day job.

Outside of engineering, this passion has led me to a range of volunteer positions in various community and other organisations (including human rights and spirituality-based organisations). Some of those organisations have been sailing clubs, which is where, at a young age, I developed my appreciation of, and passion for, teamwork (it is a challenge to get 4 people to fit through a gap wide enough for 2, when sailing on one of the old fashioned 16' skiffs, when I was a kid in Queensland), and my understanding of the value of good systems and procedures, training, and communication. As I never had a great deal of money, my sailing was always done on a shoestring budget, and that, combined with my adoptive father being a bank manager, gave me an appreciation of the value of good, people-focused economics.

I also began gaining experience with committees as a teenager, when I held official positions in sailing clubs. That has continued through a range of roles, including community service and training organisations, the aforementioned human rights and spirituality-based organisations, and even service on a couple of (non-engineering) Ministerial advisory committees.

My passions, experience and knowledge have also led to my work on QAQC (now generally referred to by acronyms acknowledging the benefits of integrated systems), training, mentoring and team development, and my interest in good operational / management systems - on that last issue, one issue in that area I am particularly passionate about avoiding is “group think”, which can be confronting for all concerned.

Another area of passion for me is creativity. Outside of engineering, this has manifested in a range of hobbies (woodwork, for instance, which is a combination of sailing and creativity, and creative writing, etc), pursuits and flexible approaches, but in engineering it has contributed to my being innovative, and to a better quality of problem solving.

As a result of my over 35 years of experience as a civil engineer, my CV includes the following skills which can be accessed (provided such access does not constitute a conflict of interest with my day time job):

problem solving, application of initiative and adaptation;
leading and building teams;
training;
preparation of reference manuals and operations and maintenance manuals;
management of multi-skill teams, and client and stakeholder relationships;
project management;
quality assurance to AS 3901/ ISO9001, including internal and (informal) external auditing;
working as part of a team, including team development and staff development/mentoring;
assistance in reporting on and developing programmes for Equal Employment Opportunity (over ten years ago, now, so my experience in this area is dated);
involvement in mentor schemes; and
management of an in-house technical library.

As an example of my adaptability, you can see an example of a QAQC manual for a non-conventional spirituality group that I created some decades ago here.

I have also had some experience with incorporation of groups, but do not consider myself an expert in that area.

Mentoring team leaders & developers, technical thinking, Risk Assessment, innovation, organisation and writing

I am available and willing to help, on a part-time basis, with your technical and organisational needs, drawing on my experience to help with technical thinking, innovation, organisation and minor technical writing, and perhaps helping you to craft letters to Councils, politicians and media.

My professional life has included significant experience in team leader positions, and with various styles of mentoring. Should you have a need for some assistance, based on a pragmatic approach, at the team leader level, I may be able to help. (Please note that this does not extend to management positions.)

If you are part of a small organisation, perhaps a community or volunteer organisation, desiring to be better organised, I may be the person you need.

On technical matters, please note that I specifically will NOT offer any engineering advice: for that you will need to contact my day job employer. (If you want to know more about that, my LinkedIn profile is here [although I need to get someone to test that link - if it doesn't work, my apologies, and search for Kayleen White]. Also, I will not work for rivals to the company I work for during the day - another ethical preference :) )

Also, I cannot and will NOT provide legal advice: for that, you need to see an appropriately qualified expert.

With regard to writing, please note that I am:

not an expert in publishing or software issues,
consider grammar to be a field fraught with disagreements, and
cannot guarantee the results of any use of letters I have provided assistance with.

My aim is to help you with “word smithing” to create a document that expresses what you wish to say, in a way that is more likely to be successful than before I offered my help.

This is something I first thought of when living in a suburb of Melbourne known as “The Pines”, and seeing people struggling with writing letters on issues that they had clear and specific thinking on (e.g. local Council issues), but they lacked the confidence and/or experience that I had, and thus were not as effective as they could have been.

I have also nominated risk assessment. For risks associated with particular specialist matters, you need to consult appropriately qualified and experienced people, but for general organisational and some business matters, I may be able to help.

This is, in fact, an area I quite enjoy, and consider that many risk assessments have room for improvement.

Research

Another area I have developed skills in is research. This is a requirement of my day job, but I have been interested in research (and libraries) since I was a youngster, and would be pleased to discuss assisting you with your research needs.

Administrative Support (Part-Time and Virtual)

Another area I am interested in and available is providing part-time or virtual administrative support.

Speech Writing

I am also interested in helping with any speech writing needs you may have.

Commercial, ethical and legal

I reserve the right to decline any work which I consider could be a conflict of interest with my day job, which means:

I will not accept work relating to civil engineering;
my availability is subject to the constraints of prior commitments.

My rates are an upper limit: I would prefer you pay what you consider my help has been worth and be happy, although I reserve the right to decline future work should I consider there to be a significant disagreement in the value placed on my work :)

My hourly rates are:

technical, innovation and organisational advice $50/hour
technical writing $40/hour
other writing (letters and the like) $30/hour

or feel free to ask for a fixed quote (I may not be able to provide that, however, depending on the nature of the assignment).

Whilst your confidentiality will be absolutely respected by myself, I am subject to the law and will obey lawful directions for disclosure.

Note that, in general, I will not entertain any requests that are unlawful, that I consider unethical or unreasonable or in inherent conflict with my values, or work located outside Australia.

Engagement may be subject to a suitable agreement around insurance.

Enquiries

If you are interested in placing an enquiry, please contact me via email at kayleen.white.EWS [at] gmail [dot] com, and we will explore what assistance I can provide, and discuss the basis of any engagement. If necessary, we can Skype to discuss face to face, or, if you are located in or near Melbourne, discuss matters by phone or possibly meet face-to-face.

Kayleen White