The Digital Intersect Reloaded

I am excited that the Digital Intersect conference is just a month away. I was disappointed when the general Auto Industry strike caused the rescheduling of the Digital Intersect conference. I really needed to get out with some like-minded Digital Transformers and immerse myself in discussions of all the possibilities we are pursuing. I guess the good news is that we are coming back bigger and better than ever. I can’t wait to see all of you at the conference.

What I hope to Learn

I have already talked about how to get the most out of a conference, so this time I want to talk about what I hope to learn from the conference. This is more about the subjects that I hope to learn about and less about the methodology for getting that information.

Better Ways of Working

I am always on the lookout for better ways of working. I recently provided a Blog on Communications Tips that gives some examples of ways to manage communications effectively. I want to know how people maintain a work life balance, prioritize their work, manage risk, and manage global teams. All these topics are areas where I feel I could improve and am actively looking for insights to allow me to step up my game.

Better Definition of Scope

Another pet topic of mine is better ways to define the scope of a project. If you don’t know what needs to be done, you are not likely to get it done with the project. Topics like Design Thinking, Agile, Human-Centric Design, and Value Stream Mapping always seem interesting to me. I have been pretty good about eliciting requirements on my projects because I burrow in and ask stupid questions – I also tend to have a broad background that allows me to anticipate difficulties, but there is always room for improvement.

Data Migration

As we get to the more technical topics, I am always a fan of Data Migration. This is one of the things that often gets overlooked in a project. I am good at Data Migration, and I just can’t seem to get enough information on it. I am always looking for little nuances to help get it right.

Other Industry Perspectives

On thing I really look forward to at conferences is the experience of other industries. I have always been Automotive, but it intrigues me to hear the challenges and solutions that are being addressed in Aerospace and Pharmaceuticals and all the others. If you want real innovation, don’t look at what people in your industry are doing, look at everyone else. Problems that are new to your industry may be old hat somewhere else.

Cross Functional Solutions

My next desire is a hard one to address, I think the Digital Enterprise Society is one of the few looking to address it. This is the cross functional solutions. I believe PLM is just beginning to look at this and few conferences address it. I like to know the challenges of people outside of engineering and how engineering can provide answers to them. This sort of cross-silo flow is where all the major problems occur. Most of the single silo problems have been addressed by the silo owners – sometimes to the detriment of the other silos.

Data Modeling

Another of my favorite topics is Data Modeling, or if you are cerebral, Knowledge Representation. I can listen to BOM Structure and Attribute discussions for a very long time without getting bored. How many BOMs do you need? How do you transform between them or are they just views? What is the best way to model part maturity or part lineage?

Systems Integration

A topic that has been the main thrust of my career has been integration between systems. I have been doing this forever. I love to think about how systems collaborate. Not just what data gets sent or how to send it. I like to go deeper into how the systems think about processes and data and how to represent this in a conference committee solution that can capture the richness of both sides in a way that allows full value from their collaboration. I also worry a lot about how to ensure reliable and secure transfer and what to do when that does not happen.

What’s New and is it Real

I do occasionally get out of curmudgeon mode and look at the flashy buzzword studded topics of what’s new and disruptive. I try to get past the hype, see what is useful, and assess if it is aligned with my problems. I am only a curmudgeon because the answer is usually that the hype is just hype, but occasionally I am impressed enough to take something for a test drive. I find a formal Proof of Concept trial is the best way to cut through the marketing and see if it can solve my problems.

Current Topics with Buzz

Some of the new stuff that is buzzing around the conferences are Artificial Intelligence, Digital Thread, Digital Twin, Internet Of Things, and Agile.

Artificial Intelligence

Of all these topics Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the one I know the most and the least about. I am sure that does not make sense, but it is how I feel right now. I have been following AI for decades. I remember the advent of Expert Systems in the 1970’s. They have come a long way, but have been mainly hype, except for a few very niche domains. Suddenly, we have Chat-GPT and the field is moving forward at a lightning pace. Where will we end up? Is it just another niche domain or are we closing in on the holy grail of General AI? I hope to get more knowledge at the conferences I attend.

Digital Thread

The Digital Thread is a real hot topic right now. In my mind, it is just the data flow in PLM. We have always had difficulty getting data to flow between silos. It has also been difficult to follow the flow of the action in any meaningful way. Bidirectional flow of information has been almost non-existent, unless there were a crisis and people manually pushed it around. I have always lamented the ‘viscosity’ of data and am always hoping to see some robust practices for getting data to flow better.

Digital Twin

The Digital Twin is a huge expansion on an old concept. We have always had some sort of digital twin in Drawings, Models, Simulations, and collections of shop floor and field data. I believe the big contribution of the Digital Twin concept is to look at all these things holistically and try to predict product behavior ‘in the wild’ from them. It is this predictive element that makes the Digital Twin interesting to me. I am always looking for ways to make the Digital Twin cost effective and timely.

Internet Of Things

The Internet of Things (IOT) is exciting but seems very complex to me. You need to have a very expensive product to be able to afford to phone home all the time and store all that data. Industrial IOT (IIOT) is a much more reasonable undertaking – we have been collecting data in manufacturing for a long time. We are good at it and the volumes are manageable. The most exciting thing about IOT, for me, is the ability to create new revenue streams from the data. The “Power by the Hour” stories are very inspiring – what could I do if I knew more about what my product was doing in the field.

Agile

Agile is beginning to become pervasive. It is also moving from Software to Hardware. My main concern with Agile is not philosophy, I am 100% behind that. I am more concerned with the ‘religion’ of Agile and the ossification of the processes that it drives. It is rapidly becoming Agile-fall, with many of the downsides of Waterfall methods. On the other hand, I have seen it go out of control the other way and never produce a usable product. I keep looking for how to drive the happy medium.

A Huge List

As you can see, I have a huge wish list of information I want to gather and questions I want to answer. In my opinion, Conferences are a great place to absorb this information and get a balanced view. Many of the webinars and videos that are available are sponsored and paint a rosy picture because they are essentially sales pitches. To some extent the presentations at the conferences have some of the same failings. They are either sales pitches or success stories. I find that it is the hallway conversations that really lay out what is happening and what pitfalls to look out for. Dialog is what I really want to get engaged in.

Conclusion

Did I mention that the Digital Intersect has some of the best food on the conference circuit? I really enjoy lunch and the breaks. There go my New Year’s resolutions.

Do you have more topics that you want to see covered at the Digital Intersect Conference? Do you have some topics that are buzzing that I missed? Please let us know in the comments.

Author Bio:

Digital Guideposts is written by Mark Pendergast – retired Data Junkie, Deep Thinker and Innovator. He worked with product data for over 30 years of his 41-year career in Automotive Components Manufacturing. His background includes work in Engineering, Operations and Information Technology. He is also an Electrical and Computer Engineer (BS-ECE) and a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP). In his spare time, he mentors a High School FIRST Robotics Team, reads and plays on his computer.