The Art of Communication
The art of communication
In the “olden days†when I used to spend more of my time with drawing boards and rotting pens Computers Aided Design was new and only was only used by early adopters.The World Wide Web and email had not even been thought of; we used something called the post and wrote letters to each other. The really Sophisticated of us used a fax. There was no such thing as mobile phones (hurray) and computers were the size of a house and would certainly would not fit in your hand.
We lived in an analogue world. This meant things were slower and we had to talk to people by telephone or face to faceallowing us to build relationships with the project team.
When it came to specifying products, design and build was in its infancy, performance specification was little used meaningarchitects needed to specify every product. When it came down to detailed product specifications, we had relationships with the area technical representative. The rep would come into the office, we would have a coffee and a talk through the project. We might then follow this up with a few calls and then a detailed specification would arrive for me to use, possibly be fax!
When I had a query with a product, I would pick up the phone to the technical department of a manufacturer and talk to a real person.
Nothing stays the same and we moved into a digital world. Whilst this has increased the speed of communication and access to information, we have lost the personal relationships between designer and manufacturer.
The relationships I established with manufacturers 20 years ago I still cherish today and regularly meet for a coffee. We always used Lloyd Worrall for our ironmongery schedules and Sarnafil for single ply membrane roofs because we had a good relationship with the local technical rep. We also used Forticrete for facing blocks and the same rep is still working the patch years later.
Like everything we do, we look at the past and how this translates into a digital world. For example, the RIBA library which all Architects were proud of is no more and has been replaced by the internet and object libraries.
Today, if a designer needs information, they access thecompany website to get the technical data they require. If they need an object and technical sheets, they will download it from bimstore.
This is incredibly efficient and accurate; however, we have lost the personal relationships and connections betweenmanufacturer and specifier. In face to face meetings the manufacturer shared detail of the value of their product and what innovations were planned for the future.
We seem to have lost this in the digital age.
When looking to the future development of bimstore we identified there was an opportunity to help make connections between manufacturer and specifier. We have thousands of users using the site which in effects is a middle man between those manufacturing products and those specifying or using the product.
With the familiarisation of social networks, we have identified an opportunity to bring manufacturers and specifiers togetherto share knowledge and information.
The next iteration of bimstore will go some way to address the issue. With individual profiles, discussion forums and a messaging centre we can create connections, bring people together and encourage conversation.
Xerox Office Equipment & Document Management Consultant - Helping businesses to optimise their document workflows
6 å¹´Still believe face to face interactions will always be more effective than web-based. Body language gives away so much, which is unseen via digital platforms. My best tip was given to me by a manager years ago, you have two ears and one mouth, use them in that proportion.