Planning, Estimating and Technical Auditing

Start here How much water did yesterday’s rain bring to Chennai? You don’t need a satellite. Put a tub on your terrace, measure the water in it, and multiply by the area of the city. That’s engineering sense: a quick, smart estimate.

Planning = arranging what tasks to do, how to do them, and how to use resources well, to reach a goal safely, effectively and efficiently, in the right proportions and within a time limit.

The word “engineer” comes from the Latin ingenium (cleverness). In old English, an “engine” could also mean a clever plan or plot, so planning sits at the very root of engineering.

Lecture example — building a table Even for a simple table, you plan:

• Materials: wooden planks, legs, nails, paint, in the right quantity.
• Tools: which tools; do I have them or must I get them?
• Place: where will I build it?
• Transport: how will I bring the materials?

Lecture example — Prof. Kartic: planning a large IT account When Prof. Kartic took charge of a large account, the first 3–6 months felt like chaos. There were client work, internal teams (delivery excellence, innovation), escalations and staff leaving. His planning steps:

1. Document everything and spot the patterns of work.
2. Decide who is best at what.
3. Give extra roles to small teams, not single “stars”, so work doesn’t stop if one person is away (de-risking).
4. Set up monitoring: regular meetings to track progress.

“Your plan may fail, but do not fail to plan.” Keep a plan B and a plan C.

Use the right tools: you could turn a screw with a spoon, but a screwdriver is the right tool. Prof. Kartic first built games from scratch, then switched to platforms with ready templates (like crossword templates), which made the work much faster.

Engineers want a quick ballpark figure: a number that is close enough to be useful.

Lecture example — the room A cube-shaped room measures 2.05 m on each side.

• Quick estimate: 2 × 2 × 2 = 8 m³.
• More precise: 2.05 × 2.05 × 2.05 ≈ 8.6 m³. The quick 8 m³ is often good enough to decide things fast. (Note: in the video the lecturer adds only 0.15 and gets 8.15 m³. The correct value is about 8.6 m³.)

Lecture example — the rain in Chennai Put a tub outside during rain. Next day, the water is 3 cm deep. So the rainfall was about 3 cm. Water received ≈ 3 cm × area of Chennai. That gives a useful estimate.

Another example: after demonetisation, a friend asked how many rupees change hands in India each day. Look at one part of a city, then extrapolate.

Technical auditing means checking what should balance, and asking where the difference went. It is based on conservation: some quantities (energy, mass, money, people) can’t just disappear.

Lecture example — the bouncing ball Drop a ball from 2 m. It bounces back lower. Energy is conserved, so where did the rest go? It became heat, sound and friction at impact.

Lecture example — cement + sand 1 bag of cement + 1 bag of sand ≠ 2 bags of mix. Some cement fills the gaps between sand grains, so the volume is less. But the weight is the same, because weight is what’s conserved.

Lecture example — hostel rooms and mess food As Dean, Prof. Sivakumar used auditing for hostel occupancy: the number of rooms is fixed, so the count must balance. With Lt Col Jayakumar, he audited mess food waste: how much was cooked, served, eaten and wasted. Plate waste went to a biogas plant; unserved food went to NGOs.

Lecture example — army operations (Lt Col Jayakumar) Every day is an audit. For road opening and convoy protection, the cook has tea ready at 4 a.m., the armoury opens, weapons are checked, vehicles are ready by 5:15, and the road is declared clear by 7 a.m. For an attack “by 0500 hours”, the commander works backwards: resources (own and borrowed), who does what, transport and fuel, ammunition (and when reserves may be used), time, and environment (moonlight, rain). Afterwards: count the people and the stores. Training + maintenance + inventory control keep a unit “fit for war at all times”.

In one line: Plan what, how and with which resources; make quick ballpark estimates; and audit what should be conserved to find where things went. Exam words: planning, resources, de-risking, monitoring, “don’t fail to plan”, right tools, approximation, estimation, ballpark figure, extrapolate, technical auditing, conservation, debriefing.