This may be obvious, but I put some thought into how I was going to approach my new assignment.  I recently shared these thoughts with Don Kinkela (Don is my successor as Manager of Designs Engineering).  Don shared he was approaching his new position in a similar manner (does two people make it right?).

The learning I would like to share – when in a new assignment you should focus on three things – in order of priority:

1. People (who work for you, who you work for (customers), and who you work with (peers and peer organizations)
2. Plant (understand the process and technology that is currently in place)
3. Work Processes (how does work get done)

Earlier in my career I would have initially focused on the Plant (as most engineers) or the Work Processes (because I am interested in how things are accomplished).  But I realize that it is the People that make any place go so I have been consciously putting meeting people (my group, our customers, and the Facilities Engineering peer groups) at the top of my list each day.  I am working to learn their strengths and styles, as well as listen / learn from them on what they think is important.   I expect I will continue this priority focus over next several rotations as I get up-to-speed.  I still will focus on people once I feel comfortable with the assignment, but it will take less conscious effort.

Not sure if this is how all Upstream Facilities Engineering organizations are organized, but there are six groups within Facilities Engineering here in Tengiz:

1. Process Engineering (similar to a Refining Process Engineering group, supports both plant operations and capital projects)
2. Designs Engineering (similar to Plant Support in a refinery)
3. Capital Projects – Existing Plant Facilities (EPF) (similar to small capital projects in a refinery)
4. Capital Projects – Existing Field Facilities (EFF) – this is the group that handles projects in the field, specifically pipeline and injection work
5. Facilities Construction – builds the projects designed by both Capital Projects groups, EPF and EFF, but not for Designs Engineering.  Maintenance handles all the field execution, both turnaround and on-the-run, for Designs Engineering packages.
6. Reliability (similar to the Reliability organizations that report through Manintenance in a refinery)