The People Behind Major Transit Projects

• Benefits of training
• Private vs. public sector training
• Agency training programs at RTD, SEPTA, and DART
• Institutionalizing training at Sound Transit and Valley Metro
• Adequately documenting lessons learned
• Industry training programs
• Project management resources

The following table shows training programs recommended by interviewees. It does not include degrees and programs offered by universities.

Benefits of training

Effective training programs can help project managers learn how to improve the quality of their projects, adhere to schedules, minimize costs, and strengthen their relationships with stakeholders. Training offers other benefits.

Bill Goodrich explained how training improves retention. When he worked on Boston’s Big Dig project, the joint venture constructing the project organized a formal training program with mandatory human resources and technical training. He said, “As long as they were trained and had an opportunity for advancement, people were willing to stay.” He said, “On large programs, you need a training element. There should be an ongoing review process at Human Resources that evaluates people, identifies the rising stars, and provides them with advancement opportunities.”

Training can save an agency money in surprising ways. According to Goodrich, “There’s no question there’s a premium that contractors build into bids whenever they are doing work for the MTA. They know how effective or ineffective agencies are in managing projects and change orders. If the MTA wants to bring down costs, they should train internal staff to manage projects more effectively.”

When Goodrich recruited employees for MTA Capital Construction projects, he often interviewed candidates from other MTA agencies, such as New York City Transit and Long Island Rail Road. He would have preferred giving these internal candidates an opportunity to work on one of MTA’s megaprojects, but Goodrich filled most positions with applicants from the private sector because many of the internal candidates had little training and thus were not as qualified.

Training is not limited to classroom activities. Some interviewees talked about the benefits of reading technical materials and attending conferences. Steve Barrett, Metro Transit’s construction manager, brings in experts to talk to his staff about specific topics on a weekly basis during the winter months. Bruce Podwal said that much of the science of project management is a list of dos and don’ts that one has to be rigorous about following. The art of project management is knowing what to do in the gray areas – this type of knowledge, he explained, often can be gained only through the experience of making mistakes and observing the mistakes of those around you.

Private vs. public sector training

The interviewees who were familiar with both public and private sector training programs all said that the major consulting firms do a better job training project management staff than public transit agencies. According to the interviewees, consulting firms tend to better recognize how well-qualified project managers are the key to their bottom lines. If a project manager successfully delivers projects on time and on budget, and also builds solid relationships — the client and others will want to hire the firm again.

The advisory committee members were emphatic that many transit agencies should offer more training and mentoring programs. Some agencies, they noted, rely on the National Transit Institute’s programs, but its offerings are not considered as robust as those offered in the private sector.

HNTB has a learning and development center that offers classes for its employees. Robert Hosack participated in the company’s project management training and development programs, including a Project Management Fundamentals 2 ½ day course that teaches professionals how to lead a project including managing schedules, budgets, risks, problems, and change orders. Hosack talked about how it is in HNTB’s interest for transit agencies to have their own effective project managers. He said, “It’s better to have a counterpart who knows what they’re doing. If you have a good project manager at a transit agency, you don’t worry about getting action items accomplished.”

When Scott Hoffeld worked at URS, his firm had specific criteria relating to the experience and training levels that individuals had to meet before they could be considered a certified URS project manager. The firm did not solely rely upon a supervisor’s determination. Hoffeld served on his region’s Project Manager Certification Board which reviewed resumes and recommendations, and also conducted interviews to determine whether someone was prepared to manage a project. If the board members did not think someone was ready to manage a project, they might recommend additional training modules or taking on a role that would provide needed experience.

When Mota worked at a consulting firm, he participated in its emerging professionals program and in workshops. He also took advantage of the firm’s vast technical expertise where professionals shared their experience on an internal corporate network. Most of his training, however, came from his supervisors and informal mentors.

Agency training programs at RTD, SEPTA, and DART

Rick Clarke noted that much of the training at transit agencies is not directly relevant for senior managers. However, he highlighted a deeper issue. Transit agencies do not encourage and reward staff to participate in training programs. Clarke has observed that most agency staff think they don’t have time for training; instead, they are focused on “putting out the fire of the day and the hour.” He admitted, “It’s easy to put it off.”

Robertson remembered SEPTA officials talking about the need for more training “ad nauseum.” They knew training was important, but sometimes courses were not offered at convenient times, and “when you’re short-staffed, there are no spare bodies to do the training.” Lund said training is “supposed to be” a part of every SEPTA employee’s annual performance review. Each employee is also supposed to have a development plan that helps employees identify ways they can fulfill their career goals.

Lund said that SEPTA does not have “a true” project management training program. He noted, “That’s much needed in the industry.” Project managers and engineers learn most of their skills from hands-on work experience rather than from any formal training. Sometimes, he said, “they learned to do things the wrong way, if they’re learning from someone who is not doing it well.” Several schools in the Philadelphia area do offer graduate and certificate programs in project management and construction management. For example, SEPTA has paid for engineers to pursue a master’s degree in construction management at Drexel University.

At SEPTA, Lund started a rotational training program where young engineers move to different departments so they could get experience in various fields such as design, analyzing data, and managing projects. After the engineers complete their training programs, they can go back to the department where they were hired, or they could go to another group. The department heads, he said, “didn’t necessarily like it because they were losing productivity for a year. But it was a way to keep the young engineers and develop talent.”

Hernandez said DART only has a few project managers. Instead, it relies upon consultants who help oversee projects and undertake project controls and systems integration. He has learned project management skills, such as scheduling and cost estimating, by experience and by watching how his consultants do so.

Stopplecamp is a bit skeptical of formal training programs. He said that RTD project managers basically learn from “trial and error” and most learning “is hands on.” RTD does not have a formal mentoring program. He said, “Unfortunately, project management is a hard skill to hone.” That’s why the consulting world hires the good ones “in a heartbeat.”

Institutionalizing training at Sound Transit and Valley Metro

Among transit agencies, Sound Transit offers one of the most extensive training programs. It established ST (Sound Transit) University to provide training for its approximately 1,200 employees. Some of its classes are generic while others are tailored to Sound Transit’s needs. The agency also has a license with LinkedIn Learning which offers over 16,000 courses.

ST University offers the following five project management courses. Some of these courses are only offered virtually, some in person, while others are offered in both formats.

• Preparing for the Project Management Professional exam (50 hours over 6 weeks)
• Principles of Project Management (2 day course)
• Risk Management (1 day course)
• Project Estimating and Control (2 day course)
• Leading High Performance Project Teams (2 day course)

Besides ST University, each Sound Transit department is provided with funds to offer its own training, and employees are also offered tuition reimbursement. In addition, Sound Transit sends approximately 32 people a year to external leadership programs including Eno/MAX Program, Leadership APTA Program, APTA Emerging Leaders Program, Eno Transit Mid-Manager Program, and Eno Transit Senior Executive Program.

Valley Metro’s manager for learning and organizational development, Julie Landspurg, explained how training needs to be formalized and institutionalized. She said, “It’s important for an agency to have a professional development team who can administer programs. It doesn’t work if it’s just ad-hoc. Then everyone would be responsible, but no one would be responsible.” Every Valley Metro employee has both annual performance and professional development goals. She emphasized the importance of institutionalizing such programs; “otherwise, if it’s just when I have time, no one has time.”

Landspurg pointed out, “Training does not change behavior. Managers need to follow up with support and provide employees with feedback on how they are performing. You can’t assume training will give them all the skills they need.” She said training is more effective when employees talk to their supervisor about what they learned, and then the supervisors help them apply those lessons and offer support for their efforts.

She recognizes that “it’s difficult at best to retain good people” and thus the agency is training some employees who will only work at the agency for a short time. “It might be good for them, but not so good for us,” she said.

She described the agency’s three-pronged approach to training which is similar to Sound Transit’s programs. The first is tuition reimbursement offered to employees. The second refers to how individual departments can sponsor professional development opportunities, such as attending conferences. The third and largest program is the agency-wide learning program which is managed by the Human Resource’s Training and Development division.

At Valley Metro, all agency directors and managers must participate in a Leadership Development program with sessions on topics such as holding effective meetings, creating a culture of feedback, and understanding legal issues in managing employees. The agency also offers a hybrid learning program for emerging leaders, and helps employees pursue professional engineering and project management certifications. Moreover, the agency participates in the Eno/MAX program and Eno’s Transportation Mid-Manager Program, and it can send interested employees to the National Transit Institute courses.

Despite all these Valley Metro programs, the agency’s project managers tend to learn their technical skills (such as cost estimating and project scheduling) on the job, as they move up the ladder from office engineer to resident engineer, and then project manager.

Adequately documenting lessons learned

For numerous reasons, transit agencies are not thoroughly documenting the lessons they have learned from managing major projects. Failing to document these lessons and incorporating them into training programs is an important finding of this report and a significant issue in how projects are delivered in the U.S. Without documenting and sharing lessons, agencies can make the same mistake over and over again.

Interviewees understand the importance of a lessons learned document. Podwal likes to say, “Good project managers learn from their mistakes; excellent project managers also learn from the mistakes of others.” Likewise, Stopplecamp said, “No project, agency team, consultant or contracting teams is perfect. Getting into how the sausage is made can detract from the enjoyment of eating the sausage. But we all need to learn from mistakes and develop a method for sharing this information.”

Goodrich said lessons learned should be documented at the ends of design, construction, testing, and commissioning. He added, “If they are memorialized in a document, it could be part of a training when getting ready for the next project.” He emphasized, “Lessons learned should be in a training program.”

RTD has shared its experience with the transportation industry by publishing “lessons learned” documents in implementing projects. For example, it described lessons it learned from its Eagle P3 Project and remaking Denver’s Union Station. In theory, these documents could be invaluable resources for project managers. Unfortunately, they have limited value in practice.

Stopplecamp explained how the RTD, like all agencies, needs to be careful when it reviews and documents a company’s performance, because if the agency says that a firm did a “bad job,” it could be held liable and if it says the firm did a “good job” that could be taken to mean good in all areas, which might not be the case. He said, “The best way to gain insight on a project is by talking directly with the team and relating your needs and concerns.”

Towards the end of his career at RTD, Stopplecamp, revealed, “I don’t keep notes anymore; notes are discoverable and the only official record should be meeting minutes or official correspondence.” He has learned that the hard way. The Colorado Open Records Act allows the public and consultants to obtain all project documents, unless deemed privileged. Stopplecamp’s notes have been used against RTD in court.

One RTD employee told Eno that the lessons learned documents released by RTD were “worthless.” He revealed how the agency decided to “remove the warts.” because it did not want to air its “dirty laundry” and report that someone made a mistake because that could harm the credibility of employees, their supervisors, and the institution. A candid version of a lessons learned document would lead reporters, elected officials, and the general public to ask whether the agency took all the necessary steps and whether it was spending its money wisely. RTD did not even want to create an internal lessons learned document because “what if the local public radio station puts in an open records request?”

For the Second Avenue subway project, Gianfrancesco said there were various efforts to document lessons learned, but no formal compilation of them was transmitted from the project’s first phase to its second phase. Many lessons, such as design criteria and standards, have been incorporated into the second phase’s design. However, the MTA was hesitant to document its mistakes because according to one official, “you want to show that you’re improving, but don’t want to show that you did it wrong.” Some lessons, he said, are hard to formalize because an experience can be interpreted differently and taken out of context.

One way to overcome the lack of documentation is to bring together small groups of project managers where they can candidly share their stories. Section 10(g) of this report explains how the FTA’s construction roundtables provide such a setting. To better understand how agencies are avoiding documenting lessons learned, more research is needed, and that research should study how state laws regarding “open records” contributes to this problem.

Transportation industry training programs

This section describes the transportation industry training programs that were recommended by interviewees. They are offered by the American Public Transportation Association, Eno Center for Transportation, and the National Transit Institute.

American Public Transportation Association (APTA)

The Leadership APTA program is designed to improve senior and executive-level leadership skills. The year-long program includes executive roundtables, skill-building workshops, conferences, and team-driven capstone projects. The program is designed for experienced leaders (working for public transportation agencies and related organizations) who aspire to hold senior and executive leadership positions in their organizations, APTA, and the public transportation industry.

Only employees of APTA member organizations are eligible to participate. Candidates must have at least 10 to 15 years of significant work experience in the public or private sector, including at least three years or more of transit industry experience, plus a track record of demonstrated career progressions and successes. Candidates must be at a director-level or equivalent position or higher.

The program’s most recent capstone project topics included: improving operator work schedules; improving retention through safety, culture and compensation; challenges and strategies regarding microtransit, and shaping the future of transit oriented development.

APTA also offers an Emerging Leaders Program. It is designed to provides public transportation professionals with the skills, knowledge, and networks that that general managers, CEOs and executive leaders seek when identifying industry talent and promoting from within. The program provides participants with an understanding of the overall breadth of the public transportation industry, and its overarching components. An important component is helping participants build and expand their network with transit leaders, industry experts, and peers.

The program committee selects 35 individuals from APTA member organizations. The curriculum includes various skill-building workshops, round table sessions, online collaboration, and unique access to the industry’s leaders through a national mentoring program. This program’s intended audience is professionals with approximately two-to-six years of industry work experience, including one-to three years of managing tasks, projects, or staff. According to APTA, this program is designed to serve as a predecessor to the APTA Leadership program and the Eno Transportation Mid-Manager program.

Eno Center for Transportation

Eno offers the following three programs relevant to project managers.

Eno’s Transportation Senior Executive (TSE): Designed to refine leadership and high-level intrapersonal skills, and help participants apply strategic techniques to real-world challenges. The program is tailored specifically for senior-level managers in the transportation industry. The program includes the following topics: organizational culture and performance, organizational communication, harnessing critical leadership skills, collaboration and innovation, cultivating board and CEO relationships, building teams and inspiring talent, attracting and retaining talent, change resiliency, adaptive leadership, conscious/mindful leadership, transportation funding and legislation.

Eno/MAX (Multi-Agency Exchange): Three to four transit agencies select eight high-performing employees to participate in a cohort. The participants are typically front-line to mid-level managers from all organizational disciplines. They visit each agency in their cohort, during the year. The participants improve their knowledge, forge connections with peers, gain insight into their agency’s role in the industry, hone leadership techniques, and elevate career skills. They develop a business project proposal addressing an agency-identified challenge. The program includes training, coaching, and a mock pitch with transit leaders to refine business and leadership skills.

Transportation Mid-Manager program (TMM): Designed for mid-level managers, in both the private and public sectors, across all transportation modes. Participants engage with their peers, along with Eno’s executive coaches, leadership faculty, experts, guest speakers, and staff. The weeklong program is designed to improve leadership skills. Participants take part in individualized coaching sessions, learn strategies to elevate communication skills, and improve their strategic and critical thinking skills. Graduates of TMM, with a minimum of five-to-seven years of demonstrated managerial experience, are eligible to participate in TMM2 Momentum, which provides advanced leadership skills. These participants learn from industry leaders and experienced facilitators, engage in interactive sessions, and build connections with peers.

National Transit Institute (NTI)

The National Transit Institute (NTI) provides training programs for transit professionals. Most attendees work at public sector transit agencies; others work for municipal, county, state governments, and metropolitan planning organizations. The training programs are funded by the FTA. Billy Terry, the former NTI executive director, says that that NTI is a vital asset for transit agencies because most agencies do not have enough resources to properly train their staffs.

NTI offers approximately 40 different courses taught about 180 times per year. Nearly all of them are conducted virtually. NTI has two distinct advantages over most other programs. The courses are tailored for transit agencies that must comply with FTA funding policies, and the classes are free. As a result, many of NTI’s courses are filled up and have wait lists.

Two NTI courses relating to the overall management of large transit projects are: (i) Project Management for Transit Professionals, and (ii) Management of Transit Construction Projects. These courses attract participants with varied interests and experiences. Given the time constraints of the courses, instructors can often just introduce topics and not go into great depth.

Project Management for Transit Professionals: This introductory course, given over four half-days, is designed to help transit professionals appreciate the importance of analyzing, leading, and managing transit projects. Topics include project lifecycle and associated deliverables, project management plans, statement of work and work breakdown structure, developing realistic project schedules, using earned value to control and report project status, leadership and teamwork development, and communicating with stakeholders. The course relates to a wide range of projects that staff at a transit agency might manage, including the installation of new software.

Management of Transit Construction Projects: This course, given over three full days, explores best practices in managing transit construction projects. The topics covered include project management plans, procurement, public involvement, risk, design, construction, quality assurance and quality control, managing testing and start-up, system operations, and construction safety. Some of the requirements in the FTA-Project and Construction Management Guidelines and the FTA Construction Project Management Handbook are incorporated into the course.

In addition to the two courses cited above, the NTI offers courses that provide more detail about specific topics, including 11 courses on FTA real estate requirements, management procurement, public involvement, quality assurance, risk assessment for transit capital projects, and understanding the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Resources about project management

Besides the training programs described in the previous section, project management teams at transit agencies should also take advantage of the following resources.

FTA Documents: FTA’s Project Management Oversight Contractors and the FTA regional offices rely on several documents to guide how they assess the capacity of a project’s management team. Transit agencies should also be familiar with them. The first document, the FTA’s Project Management Oversight Procedures, contains the “Project Management Plan Review” and “Management Capacity and Capability Review.” Another important document is the FTA’s “Project and Construction Management Guidelines” which assists agencies in advancing transit capital projects to deliver successful projects in terms of project scope, function, schedule, cost, safety, and quality. A related document is the FTA’s Construction Project Management Handbook which is designed to provide guidelines for use by public transit agencies undertaking substantial construction projects, either for the first time or with little prior experience.

FTA Regional Offices and Project Management Oversight Contractor (PMOC): The FTA’s Susan Fletcher said providing technical support and oversight is one of the benefits that FTA provides to grantees. “We make connections between people, telling them what we’re seeing, how to avoid problems, and how to slow down the bleeding.” She said that it is important for the FTA “to build collaborative relationships” with its grantees so that the agencies are more receptive to the FTA’s suggestions. Sound Transit’s Ron Lewis, who appreciates the FTA’s network, said, “Our team constantly asks the FTA and PMOC for advice on who we can talk to.”

FTA Transit Construction Roundtables: The FTA’s Office of Capital Project Management convenes Transit Construction Roundtables with sponsors of large capital transit projects. The peer connections that happen at these meetings are important. Since many of its sessions are held in person with a limited number of people, the participants can be candid with each other.

APTA Committees: One way that DART’s Hernandez stays informed of technical issues is by participating in APTA’s Streetcar Committee. “We learn from each other,” he said. This is especially important for agencies like DART that offer limited training, even though they are bringing in new people, equipment, and tools.

Certifications: Sound Transit’s Harlow said he encourages his staff to obtain professional certifications, including those offered by the Construction Management Association of America, Project Management Institute, Design-Build Institute of America, and U.S. Green Building Council.

PMI: The Project Management Institute, a not-for-profit association, offers training, certificates, and events. To obtain its Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, a project manager must meet certain requirements and then pass a 180-question exam. Although Cheri Soileau once had the PMP certification, she let it expire. However, she still refers to the Project Management Body of Knowledge guide that she used to study for the PMP certificate exam. Soileau said the information about schedules, budgets, principles, and project life cycle has been helpful, but not all the PMP-related materials are applicable to transit projects.

APTA and Mpact: Beckwith recommended that agency officials attend APTA conferences where they can learn about a wide range of topics such as light rail and Buy America requirements. At the conferences, FTA’s executive leadership often provide updates on regulations, and hold question and answer sessions. She said, “It’s a great way to learn about positions and plans that might not be in writing, yet,” For those working on the planning and development side, Beckwith also recommended attending the Mpact conference (formerly called Rail-Volution.)

Project Management Plans: Lewis refers to the “what, who and how” of delivering projects. Sound Transit’s board of directors adopts a scope of work that determines what will be built. The organizational chart identifies who will build it and the Project Management Plan explains how it will be built. Agencies undertaking major transit projects should read Project Management Plans prepared by other agencies. Lynnwood Link’s plan consists of 13 sections including those relating to environmental assessment/mitigation, project controls, procurement, quality control, safety, real estate acquisition, and fleet management.

Peer Review: Podwal highly recommends that project managers review other projects, periodically. He has been frequently asked to review projects, and he found that they helped him identify ideas that he should incorporate into his own projects, and made him realize when he had been falling into bad habits. He found performing a peer review can help the reviewer as much as the team that is reviewed.