Engineering process improvement rarely starts with a perfect system. It starts with one team admitting their manila folders and whiteboards were not cutting it anymore.
Sarah Lubell, Vice President of Engineering Services at Motz Engineering, joins host Suzie Engel to talk about how Motz built its internal process from the ground up, one small win at a time. Sarah walks through the thinking behind homegrown tools like the Project Database Manager and the Deliverable Database Manager, why she resists turning process into a checklist, and how explaining the why behind a decision to both clients and design teams is what actually builds trust and buy-in.
In this inaugural episode, Suzie and Sarah also cover what strong coordination looks like from the client’s side, how data can surface problems a team did not know it had, and why higher standards depend on teams that do not need a hero to hold everything together.
For AEC leaders building or refining their own internal process, this conversation offers a practical way to think about where to start and how to get a team on board. Sarah’s approach favors small, useful wins over sweeping overhauls, proof that the best process improvements often come from asking a simple question: does this make it easier?
Key Takeaways
- Process works best as a mentality, not a rigid checklist, so teams can solve problems quickly without getting bogged down in bureaucracy.
- Small, easy wins build the buy-in that gets an entire team actually using a new process or tool.
- Explaining the why behind a decision turns pushback from clients, contractors, and design teams into cooperation.
- A single source of truth, such as Motz’s Project Database Manager, keeps design data consistent as a firm expands across offices and disciplines.
- Higher standards depend on teams that do not rely on any one person’s heroics to keep a project moving.
- Getting engineers out into the field to see their designs installed builds a much sharper sense of constructability.
