What do you do if your team of structural engineers is facing a complex design challenge?

Define the Problem: Clearly articulate the challenge and its constraints. Understand the project requirements, budget limitations, timeline, and any other relevant factors. Gather Information: Conduct thorough research on similar projects, relevant codes and standards, and available materials and technologies. This will help in understanding potential solutions and best practices. Brainstorming Sessions: Encourage open communication and idea-sharing among team members. Brainstorming sessions can generate creative solutions and uncover perspectives that might not have been considered initially. Evaluate Options: Assess the feasibility, advantages, and drawbacks of different design options.

1. Define the problem: Begin by clearly understanding and defining the complexity of the challenge. This could involve brainstorming sessions, group discussions, 2. Research and analyze: including literature, case studies, previous similar projects, 3. Collaboration and communication: leading to innovative solutions. Regular meetings, brainstorming sessions, and sharing ideas 5. Create prototypes or models 6. Utilize advanced software and tools: These tools offer advanced simulations, modeling capabilities, and data 7. Conduct internal reviews: Regularly review the progress and intermediate results within the team. 8. Maintain documentation: Throughout the design process, ensure that all relevant information, calculations.

At times, you can switch from direct, to a complete opposite problem solving approach, which is trying to solve the problem backwards. While looking at the problem from surface to core, many issues might arise that would have been overlooked, should you have chosen the direct approach. This is actually called the "implicit" problem solving strategy, which is really helpful specifically in case of dealing with complex problems.

Qué hacer si su equipo de ingenieros estructurales se enfrenta a un desafío de dise?o complejo? AYUDARLOS A RESOLVERLO, CON CONFIANZA, EMPATIA, APOYO CON CONOCIMIENTOS Y EXPERIENCIA COMPARTIDAS, PARA PODER APRENDER JUNTO CON ELLOS... TODOS COMO EQUIPO!!!

A avalia??o minuciosa é o primeiro passo ao enfrentar desafios de design complexos. Identificar o problema central, compreender as restri??es, reunir informa??es relevantes e envolver toda a equipe s?o essenciais. Ao entender completamente o problema, suas restri??es e seu impacto, a equipe pode desenvolver solu??es criativas e eficazes. Essa abordagem estabelece a base para o sucesso, preparando o terreno para solu??es inovadoras.

Collaborative Brainstorming: Organize brainstorming sessions that encourage open communication and the free exchange of ideas. This can lead to innovative solutions and alternative approaches.

Ao se deparar com um problema inusitado dentro da Engenharia Estrutural, é certo que ele também necessitará de uma solu??o inovadora. Porém, qualquer que seja a situa??o reúna sua equipe e crie um ambiente colaborativo, onde todos possam expressar suas ideias, pois todos vêm as coisas de pontos de vistas diferentes. Nessas horas, a solu??o pode sair de onde menos se espera, e um simples gatilho pode ser refinado e se transformar na t?o esperada resolu??o!

Evaluating the opinions of the whole team is indispensable, in order to approach the challenge from different points of view and to find the most optimal strategy. In the field of engineering, the goal is always to solve a problem and there is never only one way to do. This problem solving and the ability to do it more efficiently is the differential that can make a problem into a case of success.

Collaborative brainstorming produces variety of idea’s and directions of solutions, here comes the true leadership to come into pictures where the one has to decide and choose one idea and direction to move

I recently bought a new "toy" for the office: an interactive 65" screen that allows many people to share their screen/ideas/comments. You can use tools like Miro on a different level and speed up the creativity process.

Com todas as possíveis ideias de resolu??o de um problema em m?os, você, como muitas vezes o líder ou responsável pelo projeto deve avaliar cada uma delas, verificando se s?o viáveis do ponto de vista de seguran?a, das quest?es normativas e econ?micas associadas. é preciso bastante experiência para se tomar dessa decis?o t?o importante!

Após o brainstorming, é essencial avaliar as op??es apresentadas. Isso envolve analisar a viabilidade, custo e implica??es de tempo de cada solu??o potencial, além de considerar os riscos associados e sua conformidade com os objetivos do projeto. Uma abordagem objetiva, apoiada pelo conhecimento técnico, é fundamental para avaliar a integridade estrutural de cada proposta. Essa avalia??o ajuda a restringir as escolhas às mais viáveis, preparando o terreno para análises e desenvolvimentos mais detalhados.

If my team is facing a complex design challenge, it is very important to evaluate the problem before proposing solutions or consulting experts.

Evaluating the different options is generally a quite complex part of this process because it requires a holistic approach which is far beyond being just structural engineers. In our case, as timber engineers, logistic is often driving our decisions.

Identify Needs: Obviously, your team needs to feel well-armed with insight, advice, and even fresh perspectives provided by an expert who can assist them in meeting the formidable challenge. Engage experts: Identify and seek professionals who bring in both knowledge and experience relevant for the issue under consideration. Formulate brief, clear questions so that you get the best value from their advice. Implementation Advice: Seek to integrate the expert's recommendations into your project plan in an adjustable approach. Efficiently utilize expert consultations, which have the potential to fill knowledge gaps and help you enrich your solution strategy to complex engineering challenges.

-In my experience , experts always look forward to hearing complex challenges . They would like to share their past experiences in order to help resolve a colleague’s challenge . I will always want to reach out to experts as my first step .

Em momento algum se acanhe na hora de reconhecer de que você precisa das opini?es e conhecimentos de um especialista para resolver um problema de grande complexidade. Ao fazer isso você garante de estar prosseguindo com responsabilidade, podendo ficar mais confiante com rela??o à solu??o adotada. Além disso, é sempre um privilégio muito grande trocar ideias com pessoas assim, pois o conhecimento adquirido pode ser usado futuramente em outras ocasi?es, ou seja, você acaba desenvolvendo mais habilidades!

Seeking Expert guidance is not a weakness. Get clarity to avoid the things went wrong. Out of box thinking also gives solutions

Testing various solutions is sometimes the quickest way to solve a technical problem. Before testing make sure you have a feel of what you expect the outcome will be. If the outcome didn't meet your expectation then assess why is that.

When we structural engineer make all structure to resist natural disaster, and green building design, economic design poor also do the design wise construction building

O ambiente virtual é ótimo para esses tipos de simula??es. Podem ser testadas inúmeras ideias em pouco tempo, e de modelo em modelo criado você consegue desenvolver a solu??o ideal para o problema. Uma das quest?es importantes quanto à isso é que ao analisar os resultados eles estejam dentro do esperado. Trabalhe de uma forma segura, n?o sendo somente um piloto de software, aceitando tudo aquilo que está em suas resolu??es. Tenha o olhar crítico! N?o modele aquilo que você n?o pode prever uma ordem de grandeza dos resultados!

Prototyping is also a best process to locate the issue and get visualization what went wrong. Using latest softwares like BIM to make a model to identify the issues beforehand

A complex project always involves a group of designers within the same company and many other from different companies. My experience is that is super important to set a platform for file sharing and a strong folder/name strategy at the very beginning of the project. So all the players know where to upload the files and where to find the most updated versions of the files created by someone else.

To implement a strategy effectively: Plan Actionably: Break the strategy into clear tasks with assigned roles and deadlines. Track Progress: Regularly check against goals, adjusting as needed. Keep Talking: Maintain open communication within the team and with stakeholders for smooth execution. This approach ensures your team tackles challenges efficiently and achieves set objectives.

While there are cases where structural design is treated as a standalone subject, more often the solution has to be multi-disciplinary. This is particularly true for complex structures in marine, aero-space and defence sectors. An optimal solution from a structural point of view may not be viable from a fluid mechanics perspective, or thermodynamics perspective. In such cases, the investigation should be carried out in multi-physics domains.

List out all useful codal provisions as well as references. Conduct meetings on important issues and fully cleared cilent requirement and freeze the all requirements of cilent. Make a team of seniors as well juniors to optimise issues and increase knowledge one to one.

Follow our classic design spiral philosophy until all the mandatory requirements are complied with and recommendatory guidelines also followed by taking into confidence all the stakeholders..

I employ a collaborative approach. We start by identifying the challenge together, encouraging open communication and brainstorming. I guide them towards relevant references for problem-solving and provide necessary resources like technical documentation and expert consultation. If the team struggles, I offer my support while empowering them to actively participate in finding a solution. Additionally, I prioritize continuous learning, suggesting training opportunities to enhance our capabilities. We celebrate successes and learn from failures through post-mortem analyses. This approach fosters a positive and supportive work environment, strengthening our ability to effectively tackle complex challenges as a team

Somewhere between step 1 and 5, I would step outside of the engineering group. Many engineering challenges are not necessarily to be accepted. They may be something inadvertently created by an owner, architect, supplier etc to solve a minor problem for them without considering the difficulties for others. My best designs did not follow a simple orderly design path but instead went back and forth between different groups several times before proceeding.