Harry Schaepsmeyer

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT HARRY SCHAEPSMEYER

Silos are great for storing grain or wheat but not so good when they exist within an office setting. Unfortunately, with the high level of technology in today’s workplace it is very easy for individuals and teams to work within their own area of expertise with little regard for other disciplines thereby creating silos of isolation between teams. In my 30+ years as a professional engineer in the oil and gas industry, I find the best success for projects is to embrace a multi-disciplinary, collaborative approach whereby each team performs their work cognizant of the project’s overall goals as well as the impacts of their work on others. The requirements, limitations, and cost impact of everyone’s actions must be considered when planning and executing the project. This multi-disciplinary approach requires not only excellent communication skills between individuals and teams, it also requires a high degree of commitment to achieving the goals of the project. All players involved must have the project’s success as their ultimate goal even if that may mean compromises and inefficiencies within their discipline’s contributions. I experienced this firsthand recently where through collaborative efforts of many groups, the cost to develop a major Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage project will be reduced by >35%. Did each team achieve maximum efficiency in their designs? No, but by working together the overall goal of cost efficiency and optimum production recovery was attained. My ideal work environment is one where teams of individuals work collaboratively together to achieve high performance results, a workplace where people’s technical and experiential backgrounds are acknowledged and built upon for success. This requires a high degree of respect for one another, excellent interpersonal and inter-department communication, and an understanding of individual’s motivation factors, both at work and in life.