It’s a mandatory requirement to maintain and submit the “Training Log Book” by the applicants who seek Corporate Membership of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka. This log book shall contain initial ideas, sketches, rough designs, calculations, task lists, problems encountered and fixes related to projects or their day today work. In addition, the Engineer may record meeting minutes, important decisions taken at work. One can record the notes after reading manuals or findings from Internet regarding the work or a project. When properly maintained, the log book becomes an important repository of one’s work that can be used as a reference document and serves as an important communication tool.

Often, I have seen Engineers maintain this log book just to get qualified as a Chartered Engineer. Once they get through the professional review exams, most of our Engineers stop maintaining the log book. In contrast, high performing individuals in all key professions including Engineering, Medicine, Law, Business etc… maintain a log book or a dairy to monitor and control where they invest their time, to learn and apply the best practices in their profession, and regularly take time to learn from their successes and failures.

I have leant a lot from the supervisors and foreign consultants with whom I have worked, regarding the importance of having a properly maintained log book. Initially it looked bit silly in recording some of the obvious things we do at our work. But later, I have found that how important those records, especially when problem arises- you cannot simply memorize what had been done unless recorded. I recollect my career from inception, when I refer through the collection of my log books!

If you are a supervisor or a mentor, it’s one of your important duty to guide young engineers to maintain a proper log book either in hard or soft form. If you are starting alone there is guidance from IESL and other sources to show you what detail shall contain in a log book. Let’s make it a practice to maintain a log book and succeed in our professional life!

Eng. Indika Walpitage
Indika.walpitage@gmail.com