Digital construction article. News, learnings and key aspects on the digital transformation of the construction industry.
Continuing our journey of distributing free knowledge and helping you intro de digital transformation; here is the second edition of conTech 101·x.
This week on conTech 101·x
New tech_
Generate a drawing or a IFC with a simple scanning on iPhone. Meet Magicplan.
Discovering you: new startups with cool products ready to make your day to day easier.
Magicplan is a super cool tool that allows you to draw floor plans super easily and fast.
Incredibly useful tool for architects, builders and renovation professionals.
It’s all about productivity.
Scan with your iPhone or iPad.
Draws automatically your floor plans and models.
Connects with your favourite laser meter (Leica, Hilton, etc.) for 100% accuracy.
Export in 2D or even in 3D (.IFC).
Other powerful features too…
Construction problems_
When the boss doesn’t care
There is nothing that condemns an organisation to failure than having a leader who just, doesn’t care.
It happens more often than you think, specially when considering as a boss, anyone who has a responsibility over anything.
How to solve this:
Fire them. But this is not so easy, so keep reading.
Set up clear goals. When goals are clear is much harder to lose focus and wander around.
Set up clear responsibilities. Make sure that passing the ball is not an option, a common trace in someone who doesn’t care.
You need her/him to push. Incentivise it. Why not stabilising a bonus program? Regardless on how high or low in the rank the person is.
Ever heard of software? Set up some reporting software and collaboration tools. Make it visible that they are not doing enough.
You can’t afford un-driven managers, nothing will get done.
Keys to digitalisation_ the pusher
Digitalisation attempts without pushers, fail. As simple as that, there might be exceptions but it’s not common.
What is a pusher?
Someone with a clear vision. Knows what is needed. Understands digitalisation and the benefits.
If the pusher doesn’t know how to get there it will seek help.
Pushers iterate; but also are patient implementing strategies. You can’t drive change from one day to another.
Pushers set processes but most importantly, they monitor and follow up. Digital tools demand effort at the start, in order to drive change you need to revert an inertia. Pushing constantly is necessary to get away from the inertia of “we have always done it like that”.
Pushers motivate the team and justify why we do this.
Do you have a pusher in your organisation?
→ If yes, empower them and give them the tools and trust.
→ If not, it might be something you should outsource.
101 tips_ the through ball
(“pase al hueco” for tiki taka fans)
This tip is easier said than done, it is truly a craft, but mastering it will make your organisation extremely efficient.
The through ball is a metaphor that I often use to talk about extreme coordination and thus, efficiency.
The goal is to achieve the same in your organisation.
Here are some guidelines:
Systematic way of organising documents. Clear structure, clear tools, guidelines for naming and handling updates.
Clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Everyone needs to be aware of their limits and whose decision is what.
Processes. Build processes for everything. How do we plan, structure it. How do we handle a purchase, structure it. How do we communicate the quality inspection point checks, structure it.
Team commitment and perseverance. It is not going to happen without effort. Stick to your vision and push. The bigger the organisation the bigger the push needed, but greater the return.
What digitalisation is about…
a centralised image gallery
As simple as it sounds, a centralised image gallery for all pics related to the project is an extremely useful hack for productivity.
Why?
Everyone sees the same. Single source of truth.
Everyone contributes to the benefit of the collective.
Pics are on the cloud. Safe and backed up.
All images are centralised in one place.
History. When the project is done, images are findable in a few clicks.
If using the right digital tools, images will be geo-located, assigned to activities, classified by type, etc.
I hope you enjoyed you weekend read and see you back in two weeks!
You can help your organisation digitalise by recommending this article to your colleagues. Let’s grow!
odei.io | Start building better.
