Archive for February, 2011

  • Seems everyone is talking green products nowadays. But how can you tell if the talk is greenwashing or a product that is actually better for the environment? Up to this point, any effort to honestly make a product greener has been pure brute effort. However, new software applications and systems could enable engineers greater visibility into the eco-impact of their decisions. One such system is called Sustainable Minds (company website).

    Sustainable Minds: Are Accurate and Early Lifecycle Assessments Truly Feasible?

    Posted on February 28, 2011 | 2 Comments
    Seems everyone is talking green products nowadays. But how can you tell if the talk is greenwashing or a product that is actually better for the environment? Up to this point, any effort to honestly make a product greener has been pure brute effort. However, new software applications and systems could enable engineers greater visibility into the eco-impact of their decisions. One such system is called Sustainable Minds (company website).

    Continue Reading...

  • Walking into their offices, I was preparing myself to get into the nitty gritty detailed improvements to Spaceclaim. But when I finally sat down with Blake, I have to admit, I was a little surprised when he said "we've had a lot of people love our technology, but more often than not now, we actually find ourselves in the middle of process change in engineering. Who would have thought that?"

    New Report and Webinar on the Release-to-CAD Milestone

    Posted on February 25, 2011 | 2 Comments
    Walking into their offices, I was preparing myself to get into the nitty gritty detailed improvements to Spaceclaim. But when I finally sat down with Blake, I have to admit, I was a little surprised when he said "we've had a lot of people love our technology, but more often than not now, we actually find ourselves in the middle of process change in engineering. Who would have thought that?"

    Continue Reading...

  • We all know what Product Portfolio Management (PPM) is. Right? Is the system that let's us assess product ideas, compare them and ultimate fund a few for development. But it also let's continually assess the health of funded projects to kill those that aren't as successful as we'd like. Well, a few weeks back, I met with the folks at Planview (company website) to get some insight into their products. And I think there's a little more to their software than first meets the eye.

    Planview: A Little More than PPM? Not Quite PLM?

    Posted on February 24, 2011 | 8 Comments
    We all know what Product Portfolio Management (PPM) is. Right? Is the system that let's us assess product ideas, compare them and ultimate fund a few for development. But it also let's continually assess the health of funded projects to kill those that aren't as successful as we'd like. Well, a few weeks back, I met with the folks at Planview (company website) to get some insight into their products. And I think there's a little more to their software than first meets the eye.

    Continue Reading...

  • Most people that follow this blog might notice a recurring theme in my posts: engineers simply have too many lifecycle responsibilities to be come experts in any software application or system. A few weeks ago, this line of thinking led me to post some thoughts on how mashup applications could bring access to many enterprise systems to the engineer in one place. And I still think that's one of the more feasible alternatives for engineers.

    Simply Pragmatic: The SPLM Teamcenter and Microsoft Office Integration

    Posted on February 22, 2011 | 2 Comments
    Most people that follow this blog might notice a recurring theme in my posts: engineers simply have too many lifecycle responsibilities to be come experts in any software application or system. A few weeks ago, this line of thinking led me to post some thoughts on how mashup applications could bring access to many enterprise systems to the engineer in one place. And I still think that's one of the more feasible alternatives for engineers.

    Continue Reading...

  • As most of you know, something I write about fairly frequently on this blog is CAD software. I've written about different modeling technologies. I've written about new releases and changes in strategies from different software providers. But most importantly, I've tried to translate what all of it means to different roles in the engineering organization. After all, that's the most important thing, right?

    New eBook Series: The CAD Revolution… and What It Means to You

    Posted on February 21, 2011 | 5 Comments
    As most of you know, something I write about fairly frequently on this blog is CAD software. I've written about different modeling technologies. I've written about new releases and changes in strategies from different software providers. But most importantly, I've tried to translate what all of it means to different roles in the engineering organization. After all, that's the most important thing, right?

    Continue Reading...

  • Although I've never been able to attend in the past, I've always thought that the Collaboration and Interoperability Congress (event website) took on some intriguing topics. CAD interoperability. PLM integration. 3D visualization. Thinking one day that I'd like to get involved in some way, I reached out to Dave Prawel of Longview Advisors, who runs the CIC event, to see if he was interested in getting some help with the event.

    The New Management Forum at the CIC Conference

    Posted on February 16, 2011 | 2 Comments
    Although I've never been able to attend in the past, I've always thought that the Collaboration and Interoperability Congress (event website) took on some intriguing topics. CAD interoperability. PLM integration. 3D visualization. Thinking one day that I'd like to get involved in some way, I reached out to Dave Prawel of Longview Advisors, who runs the CIC event, to see if he was interested in getting some help with the event.

    Continue Reading...

  • Do you consider yourself an expert at your job? Well, maybe that’s not the best question. Let’s try this instead. All tags and titles aside, do you consider yourself a...

    Learning and the 10,000 Hour Threshold to Become an Expert Engineer?

    Posted on February 14, 2011 | 4 Comments
    Do you consider yourself an expert at your job? Well, maybe that’s not the best question. Let’s try this instead. All tags and titles aside, do you consider yourself a...

    Continue Reading...

  • A couple weeks ago, I attended Solidworks World over in San Antonio. While I was there, I got updates on several products and got to have some very frank conversations with users. Overall, it was a very good event. But the most poignant moment for me, thanks to the goodness of social media, didn't happen in real-time or even face-to-face. It's when I saw a picture of the back of a t-shirt someone wore at the show. It was tweeted and retweeted again and again on twitter. Here's the link to the picture posted on Jeff's Tool Shed blog, but to make it short, it said: 2D is for Sissies

    Every Engineer’s Dirty Little Secret? The Stigma of 2D

    Posted on February 8, 2011 | 28 Comments
    A couple weeks ago, I attended Solidworks World over in San Antonio. While I was there, I got updates on several products and got to have some very frank conversations with users. Overall, it was a very good event. But the most poignant moment for me, thanks to the goodness of social media, didn't happen in real-time or even face-to-face. It's when I saw a picture of the back of a t-shirt someone wore at the show. It was tweeted and retweeted again and again on twitter. Here's the link to the picture posted on Jeff's Tool Shed blog, but to make it short, it said: 2D is for Sissies

    Continue Reading...