Cultivating Innovative Game Changers

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Sometimes, in our professional lives, we are lucky enough to be a part of something really great and amazing. An event or discovery so big that it could be considered a “Game Changer.” At Engineered Software, I have had the opportunity to share three game changing moments, and take great pride in being involved with a team that made these events happen. The key to having these moments is to be aware of the possibilities and to be open to innovation. Innovation is not just about the creativity your team possesses, you have to be able and willing to implement those ideas.

My first game changer occurred in 1987 while developing our PUMP-FLO program. PUMP-FLO was developed as a Microsoft version 1 application. This was long before Microsoft had perfected the development environment; and we often referred to Windows 1 as Bill Gates science project.

After working many long hours on the program, my partner gave a shout out and said to come and see what she had done. On her monitor was a pump curve showing the head, flow, and efficiency of the select pump with the impeller diameter meeting the specified design point. I stared at that pump curve for a long while and realized that we had a game changer. We had a program that could present a list of pumps meeting a customer’s design point, using a manufacturers supplied electronic pump catalog, and then dynamically draw each pump curve for the calculated impeller diameter. We realized at that time that the days pump manufacturers needed to supply paper pump curves for pump selection were numbered.

The second game changer was in 1994 when we were working on PIPE-FLO version 5. In previous versions of our hydraulic analysis software, the customer had to establish the piping system connections using lists of pipelines and nodes on the computer screen. It required them to mark up a paper drawing of the piping system, and then using the list interface, manually enter the connection information prior to performing the calculations.

The objective of PIPE-FLO version 5 was to eliminate the need to use the list interface to build the piping system model. The goal was to create built-in drawing tools in the same program that allowed you to enter design data for the pipelines, pumps, components, control valves, and tanks right on the computer screen. We were creating a program that used the drawing to automatically configure the piping connections and displayed the calculated results on the flow diagram. When I first saw the program in operation, I realized the program interface looked like industry standard flow diagrams and P&IDs that our customers were used to working with. Not only did it make it easier for them to create the system, it also made it easier for others involved to understand how the total piping system operated.

This past May I witnessed my third game changer. We were in the final stages of developing our newest web application. One of our major design goals for PUMP-FLO Premium was to allow the user to save their projects on secure servers, thus providing them with access from any computer with internet access and a browser. A second, more ambitious design goal was to allow collaboration between the various pump stakeholders.

One month prior to the scheduled release date all our design goals were met except the collaboration feature, and we didn’t know if it would make the release date. This time I got a call from our PUMP-FLO Project Manager, who asked me to check out the e-mail that she had just sent me. I opened the e-mail and clicked on the attached link, my browser immediately went to a pump list that she had shared with me. I was able to view the list of pumps and display the pump curves for each pump on the list. She then said to display the pump curve for a specific pump; she changed the pumps impeller diameter on her browser, and my browser update the pump curve with the new impeller diameter. Collaborative-interactivity.

This collaboration feature is truly a “game changer.” Using this technology, a pump supplier can make a pump selection and share their selection with the customer. The customer can then evaluate how the recommended pump will operate in their system while talking to the pump supplier. Once the pump has been purchased, the pump supplier can transfer the ownership of the pump project complete with all pump performance data and linked documentation to the owner / operator. They will be able to look at the supplied data, along with all the associated document list for the life of the pump. This ability to collaborate across the internet allows everyone involved in a pumps life cycle to share data, and gain a clear picture how the pump is operating in the customers system.

The nice thing about game changers is that come in all sizes. Some make major changes to the world, and others have less of an impact. The most important thing about game changers is they may come from an idea about how to do something easier, but it’s the hard work of a team that pulls it all together. So the next time you think of a clever idea, follow it through until you can change the game. When you do, please send me an e-mail and tell me about your successes.

Now it’s time to hear from you. What barriers do you have to the execution of your ideas? How have you overcome these challenges to create a “Game Changer?” Please feel free to share your experiences, or opinions on this blog entry or any other subject that is of interest. I can be reached at blogger@eng-software.com.