Employee Q&A: Robert Burson

Meet Robert Burson, a Senior Engineer at The Building People! He is a key member of our Project Management and Engineering Team.

Here is more from Robert about his background and role at TBP:

What is your professional background?

I have about 35 years of experience working on building upgrades design and construction, satellite development and operations, and software development and testing projects as a project manager, engineer, software developer, configuration manager, and technical writer.

What is your role at TBP?

I’m stationed at NSOF in Suitland, MD. I coordinate with GSA, FMB, and OSPO (the tenant) for data center management, which includes power and configuration management, as well as general facility maintenance. For FMB, I develop a lot of Smartsheet tools, which includes a Project Forecast List (PFL) that maintains the acquisition status, forecast costs, and history of all FMB projects. And also the Budget Execution Tracking (BET) sheet that maintains the FMB project budget, actual costs, and monthly variance. I also write a lot of documentation, from detailed technical infrastructure documents for each of the aforementioned sites to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and guidance documents for FMB processes.

What is a fun fact about you people might not know?

I do cross-stitch as a hobby.

What do you like most about working in your role?

The work I do for NESDIS has a lot of variety and uses all my best skills. I meet a wide variety of people with different backgrounds and have learned a lot from them.

How do you define success?

Have expectations for the assigned task been set, met, and exceeded?

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?

I enjoy reading history books, particularly the collapse of bronze-age Mediterranean cultures and the subsequent development of steel.

Do you have a favorite quote that resonates with you?

“The one who dies with the most toys never learned how to share.” Unknown.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Little things, seemingly irrelevant, may be the most important, and if left unresolved could lead to an unnecessary emergency.

What is the accomplishment you are the proudest of to date?

Most recently, developing and documenting the PFL and BET, as well as an acquisition development tracker, which all have a major impact on FMB project management processes. Previously, design and construction projects for phased upgrade of the NSOF infrastructure, including the generators, UPS modules, chillers, cooling towers, and data center power and cooling, without halting either data center or satellite operations within the facility.