Vision Based Hiring

Engineered Software has been expanding our team these past few months and it has been a pretty exciting time. Since September, ESI’s vision for the future has continued to mold and evolve as our team rethinks how we provide our customers with innovative tools to increase the efficiency of fluid pumping systems through superior pump selection and system simulation software.

We’re not only looking at what products we’re developing, we’re also looking at how we do what we do. We are examining how we communicate with our substantial customer base, how we strive to provide world-class customer service, how we work through our Product Life Cycle, and how teams are structured and interact to produce an innovative and robust development process.

Part of the discussion is around what we want to change, another component is around what gaps exist between the skills we have now and what will be needed in the future. To pursue these future goals, we’ve embraced a culture which speaks up about solutions; pursues a collective, analytical response to problem solving; and provides thoughtful and honest retrospectives. As a whole company, we  strive to be visionaries who weave ideas with the ideas of others, with a management team who works to create a nurturing environment to support and empower our teams.

We’ve also worked hard to identify new skill-sets that will propel our mission, determined to hire people onto the team who possess these skills, share our company culture and believe in our vision. During the interview process, we know when we’ve found someone who fits, because they go from interested in the job to really wanting to work here.

Overall, change is hard, it’s confusing, we’ve all been there and sometimes it’s just not fun….but change is also exciting, empowering and inspiring. And what you’re left with, if you do it right, is a springboard for some exciting future endeavors.

- Christy Bermensolo, CEO

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We would like to introduce our readers to the guest author for this month's entry. This post was written by Engineered Software's newly appointed CEO, Christy Bermensolo, and we would like to welcome her to the new role.

Christy Bermensolo began with Engineered Software in 2006, and brings over 16 years of engineering and management experience to her new position. To learn more about the new leadership changes at ESI, VISIT HERE.


We are also hiring right now and if you are interested in relocation to the Lacey, Washington area, check out our available positions here:

PUMP-FLO Beginnings: ESCAPE

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes 25 seconds. Read Later

Since we started the countdown to the Engineered Software 30th Anniversary, I have gotten many requests to describe the development of some of our programs. The subject of this blog is a short review of the creation of PUMP-FLO.

It was after an upgrade of our PIPE-FLO / NET-FLO programs (footnote 1) (in DOS) that we started calling our customers, asking how they used the software. The main response was, it helps in calculating the design point needed for centrifugal pump selection. After the 5th or 6th such call we had a good idea that our next program should help in the selection and evaluation of centrifugal pumps.

In 1985, we started program development and in two months, PUMP-FLO was finished and became the fifth in our FLO-SERIES (footnote 2) of piping software. This first version was a DOS program where the user entered the pump performance data, and the program calculated the power requirement and the Net Positive Suction Head available. In addition the impeller diameter and speed could be adjusted and the program calculated the new pump performance data.

There were two problems with that first version preventing wide use of PUMP-FLO: first, it did not display a pump curve, and second the user had to manually enter the pump data. There were provisions in the program so manufacturers could supply their data in electronic pump catalogs for use by the program. We set out working with pump manufacturers to create their electronic pump catalogs; we offered to do it free if they would make the data available. I got a list of 80 centrifugal pump manufacturers sent out mailing to all and got zero takers.

In 1987, I was a panelist at the Society of Plumbing Engineers session discussing the availability of engineering software for piping calculations. Tim Smith, from TACO Pumps was also a panelist, and was demonstrating their new pump selection program. The user entered a design point and the program search through the TACO catalog and presented a list of pumps meeting their needs. It could display the pump curve on an IBM Color Graphics Adapter (CGA), or the Hercules Graphic Card (HGC).

In talking with Tim he said the majority of the development work was writing the device drivers for the two graphics cards, and the Epson MX-80 dot matrix printer. After seeing this I knew PUMP-FLO had to display a pump curve, but we didn't want to have to write device drivers for every new monitor and printer.

In 1988 we were developing an AutoCAD interface to our NET-FLO program and I needed a mouse pointing device. The mouse I purchased was bundled with Microsoft Windows Version 1. After using the mouse with AutoCAD and really enjoyed the ease of use a mouse pointing device for CAD applications.

During that time period Microsoft had a strong marketing push saying program’s written using their Windows environment did not have to write their own device drivers, Windows took care of that for you. I realized that if we made PUMP-FLO a Windows application we could display and print pump curve without the hassle of writing device drivers.

In 1988 we decided to make PUMP-FLO a Windows application, now all we needed was a launch customer. Once again I fired off letters to 80 manufacturers stating what we could do for them, and then waited. This time we got 1 response from Aurora Pumps in North Aurora Illinois. It seemed their sales people were getting asked by their customers when they were going to have a pump selection program like Taco.

We showed them an example of our DOS version of PUMP-FLO; they were interested but said their program needed to display and print the pump curve. I then showed them a mockup of what a Windows based pump selection program would look like (developed using MS Paint) and saying it could support all available graphical displays, printers, plotters, and pointing devices. I was giving them such a sales job I sounded like I was working for Microsoft.

The discussions continued, they sent one of their sales engineers to our office to discuss what the program needed, then asked us for a proposal. We gave them a rather optimistic schedule for delivering the program, and they said we had a deal if we could chop two months off the schedule so the program would be ready for their annual sales meeting in early February.

At the time, we thought the money was good, and in June 1988, we signed the deal. After signing the contract, Carolyn Popp (the other founding principal at Engineered Software), signed up for a two day C programming class, and a three day Windows developers course.

After attending the C class, she said it was just another language and should have no problem picking up the language. The next week she went to the three-day Windows programming class. The instructor was one of the original Windows developers, and many of attendees in the class were Microsoft employees learning how to support and write their application tools. She came back saying Windows was much harder than estimated, and was concerned about our 6 month schedule. Yet, in a couple of weeks, she was able to get her program to compile and display a crude menu, so she felt a little better.

Aurora had approximately 600 individual pump curves that needed to be entered into their electronic catalog. I was the lead on this effort. It took approximately 90 minutes to enter a pump curve into the catalog, and with 600 curves to enter I quickly realized additional help was needed. Enter the interns, we hired two drafting interns from a local technical school and started creating the catalog. While entering the pump curves we streamlined the process and cut the time to 60 minutes per pumps.

To meet our schedule both Carolyn and I were working 12 hour days, 6 days a week, on Sunday we cut our day down to just 8 hours.

By September, the catalog was being built, and the program’s menu structure was established. Carolyn was working on the pump selection engine and displaying the selection list on the screen. Aurora was having a sales manager meeting that month and they wanted us to show what we have accomplished to date and how the program would work.

Carolyn was getting the program together so I could practice my demonstration before heading off to Aurora. I heard a blood-curdling scream coming from her office saying, "The program doesn’t work anymore!" She tried to recreate what she was doing, but she couldn’t get the program working again. By this time, it was after midnight and I needed to get some sleep before my flight to Aurora at 6 later that morning. She stayed at the office and said to stop in the office prior to going to the airport. At 6:00 am the next day I saw a single disk on the desk, a mouse on top of the disk and a note saying “It works. YOU MUST USE THE MOUSE, whatever you do, don’t use the keyboard.”

When I arrived in Chicago, Aurora met me at the airport with a town car and took me to their offices for the demonstration. I had no idea why the program crashed the previous day, I use only the mouse and everything worked OK. Since we had not completed the graphing function of the program they were treated to an MS Paint generated sample graph window. They liked what they saw, then re-enforced the need to meet the schedule because the program was the highlight of their meeting. They then thanked me for coming and I was on my way.

By mid-January 1989 after spending hundreds of additional hours developing and testing the program, and entering and checking their pump performance data we had a working program. At their February 1989 sales meeting, we demonstrated their pump selection program called ESCAPE (Engineer’s Selection & Computer Aided Pump Evaluation).

After demonstrating the program at the keynote meeting, we got a standing ovation. There were plenty of handshakes and back pats to go around and everyone was all smiles.

That afternoon we had to train over 100 sales people on how to use ESCAPE. We had four, one hour familiarization classes with 25 attendees per class. We had everyone go through a pump selection and evaluation and it was amazing how easy they were all able to pick up the program.

When the last class was finished at 4:00 PM, we still had a crowd of 30 to 50 sales people waiting to use the program to select pumps for their customers. Finally, at 6:00 PM we were exhausted and had to lock up the computer room. At the happy hour with an open bar, (after all it was a sales meeting), we were introduced to the President of Aurora Pump. He congratulated us on ESCAPE and thanked us for saving him so much money. Since the program had not yet been released, I ask how we saved them so much money. He said normally the sales people continued their discussions at the open bar, and that year’s bar bill was $10,000 less than previous years because so many of the sales people were using the program.

Once the Aurora ESCAPE program was completed and launched, we started working on our PUMP-FLO program. We started working with other pump manufacturers to create electronic pump catalogs for their products. In the next blog I will be talking about the trials and tribulations of creating pump catalogs for use with PUMP-FLO.

Do you have any questions for me? I would love it if you left a comment or even sent me an email to blogger @ eng-software.com. Also, we are currently welcoming guest bloggers. If you are interested, just send me a message about becoming a guest blogger, and what you would like to write about. Thanks for reading!

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Footnotes

1. Prior to the release of our windows version of PIPE-FLO 4, the functionally of our piping simulation software was broken into the PIPE-FLO and NET-FLO programs. The DOS version of PIPE-FLO was used to design single pipelines and save the designed pipelines into a pipeline database. Using NET-FLO our hydraulic network analysis program; people would build a network by connecting the individual pipelines from the pipeline database into a total system complete with pressure sources, pumps, components, controls and demands. The reason this was done was that in the early days of microcomputers (even prior to DOS) programs were limited to 64 kilobytes of both memory and program space.

With the release of Microsoft Windows version 1 with its improved memory management and larger addressable memory we were able to combine PIPE-FLO and NET-FLO into a single program called PIPE-FLO Professional. Back to top

2. Prior to the release of Microsoft Windows, we had separate programs to handle various functions needed for piping system design. We called our group of products The FLO-SERIES. PIPE-FLO was used to design or enter individual pipelines into a pipeline database. All the other programs in the FLO-SERIES could read design information from the pipeline database. Our SYS-FLO program calculated how a system of multiple pipes and pumps in series would operate. Our NET-FLO program was for multiple looped networks.

We also had utility programs that could run as a standalone program or read pipeline design data from the database. This program included ORI-FLO for flow meters, PUMP-FLO, CON-FLO for control valve selection, INS-FLO from calculating insulation thickness and FLO-MANAGER. We marketed these programs as The FLO-SERIES. Back to top

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Thirty Years of Providing a Clear Picture

Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes 43 seconds. Read Later

I always like to break a process, list, or ideas down into the fewest number of items, three is ideal. I can easily remember three items, but anything more and I need to write it down.

Creating a list is much more difficult that remembering a short list:

• First you must find paper and pencil to create the list.


• Second you must remember where you put the list.

• Third you must refer to your list when making your points.


• Forth well I can’t seem to remember now, but it was important.

You also must think of your intended audience that is receiving your message. For your ideas to be meaningful, they must be remembered. When I listen, by the time someone is on the second point my mind starts wandering. After their forth idea, I find myself wondering where I put my list of items I needed to pick up after work.

The other day I was in a sales and marketing meeting and mentioned that Engineered Software’s 30-year anniversary is April 3^rd 2012. I then asked the group why they thought we were able to make it as a company to this major milestone. They started listing a variety of items, but Dennis Worrell, our sales manager said we need to keep the list to no more than three items so people will remember.

After the intro you probably though that I came up with the idea myself, that’s why I always like to have smart people on my team to help make us look good.

So here is the list of things that we have been doing for the last thirty years to make our company grow:

1. Created a sustainable company


2. Created products that can be used by a wide variety of people, not just for engineers


3. Play well with others

I’ll be expanding on the items in this blog, and will be covering highlights and providing additional details during our upcoming 30th anniversary year.

Create a sustainable company

From the beginning, our goal was to create a company that can grow to best meet the needs of our customers. We listen to our customers and they said they wanted products that are easy to use, reliable, and helped them better understand how their systems worked.

• Make the programs easier to use. We were an early adopter of Microsoft^® Windows^® with our 1989 release of PUMP-FLO™. It ran using the Windows 1 operating environment.


• We have always had a written test plan for our software products. This ensures we have documented acceptance criteria, and the completed software worked as designed.


• In 1987, we got our first request for product training. Over the years, our customers have helped us progress our training offerings to more than just software. Now we have courses on piping system basics, pump operation and maintenance, and improving system profitability.

Created products that are not just for engineers

I am an engineer and couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. When we started the company, our goal was to provide software tools for engineers. Our first PIPE-FLO^® customers were EPC firms (Engineering, Procurement and Construction).

After a short time, we started selling to owners and operators of piping systems as well. They liked how PIPE-FLO provides them with a clear picture of how their systems were operating, and we liked how they helped us expand our business. Ease of use was high on their list so we strove to make our programs more meaningful to these customers. PIPE-FLO is used to troubleshoot maintenance problems, help operations determine how their plant operates under off-normal conditions, and save the utilities group on energy costs.

In the late 1980s we released PUMP-FLO, our centrifugal pump selection and evaluation program.

Three months after releasing the program, a major pump manufacturer purchased copies for every one of their sales staff. It seems they were using PUMP-FLO to help our PIPE-FLO customers select the best pump for their applications. This leads us to the third key to success, “Play well with others.”

Play well with others

One thing we discovered in the first 30 years of business is that it takes a diverse group of people to run any business. We always strive to learn more about our customer’s workflow and businesses processes. As a result, we discovered that if we could play well with others we were able to offer greater value. As mom always said if you want to play, you need to communicate. Here are a few pioneering examples of how we make our applications play well with others:

• One of the early communication features of Microsoft® Windows was Dynamic Data Exchange or DDE. We incorporated DDE into PUMP-FLO and published our user codes so others could gain access to input data and program results. This allows pump manufacturers to develop and integrate configuration and pricing programs, dimension drawing programs, and document management program seamlessly with our PUMP-FLO.


• Many of our PIPE-FLO customers are hard-core spreadsheet users and asked if PIPE-FLO can send results to their Excel® spreadsheets. We did one better, we made it so PIPE-FLO can provide two-way communications with Excel. Now our customers are writing customized datasheets under Excel and automatically importing design data directly from PIPE-FLO. Others are writing spreadsheets that help them optimize their initial system design.

By developing an easy to use tool that meets the needs of many different groups and allowing our products to play well with others, we have been able to grow and prosper for 30 years.

I would love it if you left a comment or even sent me an email to blogger @ eng-software.com. Also, we are currently welcoming guest bloggers. If you are interested, just send me a message about becoming a guest blogger, and what you would like to write about. Thanks for reading!

Professional Engineer Designation

GUEST POST by Greg Hora, PE

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes 7 seconds. Read Later

"I never knew you wanted to be a gym teacher!" was the response I received from one of my friends after I told them I passed the PE exam. "Well, not exactly…" was my response.

My name is Greg Hora and I’m a Professional Engineer (PE). Many of you reading this blog are yourselves engineers and PE’s. Today, I'd like to write about the PE designation; what it means, why you might want to become one, and what it takes to sit for the exam.

Ok, so what is a PE?

A PE is an engineer who has met their state’s requirements on engineering and is designated as a person who is skilled in the art of engineering. The PE designation was created in order to protect the safety and welfare of the people who will be affected by your work. By becoming a PE, you are in effect stating that you are skilled enough to perform engineering work for the public and the public can be assured that you know what you’re talking about. After obtaining this title you become legally liable for any engineering work you certify as a PE.

Interestingly, most states will typically give you the generic title of "Professional Engineer" and not "Mechanical Professional Engineer" or “Civil Professional Engineer”. I am a mechanical engineer by trade and I have the title of Professional Engineer. Now, does this entitle me to perform electrical or civil engineering work since I have my PE? Not likely… While the title is generic I’m bound by my state's regulations (and common sense) to only perform engineering work within the areas that I'm competent in.

You might be asking yourself...

"I'm an engineer performing engineering duties but I'm not a PE, what gives?" Each state’s regulations will describe this situation a little differently but for the most part there will typically be a section in the rules that exempt people from having to be a PE as long as they are working as an employee under a registered engineer and that their work does not include any responsible position of design or supervision.

As I just pointed out, you are allowed to perform engineering duties without having your PE as long as you’re working under a PE or are not in a responsible/supervisor role. Now, what if you want to move up the corporate ladder into some senior positions? This is where obtaining your PE becomes critical. Some organizations might be structured to allow you to have more responsibility without having your PE, but you’re going to be hitting that glass ceiling at some point without it, Having your PE will also allow you to negotiate better for a raise at your current position.

If you ever wanted to start your own engineering firm, you need to have your PE. Only a PE can stamp and certify engineering drawings or plans submitted to the public.

Not only does having your PE allow you to progress through the ranks at your current company, but it will be an asset if you ever decide to change companies. Imagine a hiring manager looking over a stack of resumes. It comes down to you and one other applicant. Both of you have the required skills and experience, but you have your PE. Who do you think will get the call to interview first?

Pursuing your own PE

If you're interested in pursuing your PE there are a few requirements you'll need to meet. An application to your state board is required before you can sit for the exam. You’ll need to meet education, experience, and approval letter requirements.

For your application to be accepted, you must meet the minimum engineering work experience requirements (measured in years). The education and experience requirements are related to each other and each state will have their own unique combinations of the two. An engineering technology degree will typically require a longer period of engineering experience than a bachelor’s degree. The required experience typically decreases as you go up the degree chain to masters and doctoral, but again this will vary from state to state.

A good place to find your state's licensing board is to look at the PE exam administrator National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying® (NCEES). Their website is at www.ncees.org. Another variable that can affect the required length of experience is whether or not you passed the FE exam after you obtained your degree (this exam used to be called the EIT - there is no difference between the two). You will generally need less engineering experience when that experience time is obtained while you have your FE. One combination of experience and degree that works for all states is four years of experience (while you have your FE) and a bachelor’s degree.

In addition to the engineering experience, you will need to include some letters of recommendation with your application. Again, the requirements from state to state will vary but you will typically need letters from people who are already PEs and who have firsthand experience with your work.

After all of your material is sent into the state board, and your application is approved, all that is left is for you to pass the PE exam. You'll take the exam in whatever discipline you applied for. The exam is multiple choice format and given over a single eight hour day with a break for lunch. The exam is open book meaning you can bring all of your reference books in for help.

So there you go!

Obtaining your PE is a rewarding experience. It will open up avenues in your career that are not otherwise available and lead you to more challenging experiences. I wish you all the best in your journey to become a PE!

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If you would like to read more from Greg Hora or take advantage of some of the resources he offers, check out his website and blog: www.peprepme.com/

Let us know what you think. Leave a comment or send us and email, we read them all! blogger@eng-software.com. No need to login to leave a comment, but we do ask you keep it clean and work appropriate.

Corporate Culture In Tough Economic Times

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes 12 seconds. Read Later

This month, Engineered Notes has invited a guest Blogger to join the conversation. Michael Blondin is the Chief Operating Officer at Engineering at Engineered Software, Inc. and has nearly 15 years experience in business joining Engineered Software in 2005. Feel free to comment on this post or send your thoughts and suggestions to the blogger email, we will make sure he receives any and all of your feedback.

Corporate Culture In Tough Economic Times

If you’ve ever been involved in a failing business, you have a solid understanding of what it is like to work in an environment where your only goal is keeping yourself employed, while trying to find the quickest way to a more stable opportunity. Deadlines slip, focus is lost, and each person is looking out only for their own self-interest. I’ve been there - working for a small (50 person), growing, privately held technology company in 2001, who was days away from our IPO before the bubble burst, and the staff was cut in half over a sixth-month period. And this wasn’t some half-brained start-up, this was a solid company with 20 years of history of treating employees and customers the right way. What changed in that six-month period that brought the organization to its knees? The company’s corporate culture.

Fast forward almost 10 years and I find myself again working at a small (35 employee), growing, privately held technology company in the middle of a global economic meltdown. Only this time there is no panic, no loss of focus. Instead there is a deeper concentration, renewed focus, and a dedicated desire to grow out of the recession, not be swallowed up by it. How are we making this happen? By keeping a focus on maintaining our company culture – who we are, how we got here and how we will continue to succeed in the future.

Company culture is defined as the, ‘values and practices shared by a company’s employees’. A company’s culture can change over time, being influenced by a variety of factors. Some of this can be subtle, such as individual employees entering and leaving the company. Others can be overt, such moving office buildings to a new location where everything is new – it just makes people feel better about showing up to work. Company culture is most tested during times of high stress – the release of highly anticipated products, sharp changes in revenue (both positive and negative) and changes in leadership are a few examples.

What, as leader of an organization, can you do to continue to promote a positive company culture during times of high stress (such as the current economic situation)? Here are a few keys:

Communication: Positive, negative or indifferent, employees want to know the state of the business. For a publicly held company there is all kinds of information available through SEC reports and other required financial documents. In a privately held organization, this information is much more difficult to come by for employees. Therefore, honest and straightforward communication is key. If you need to cut costs to lower expenses, fine, but tell employees why. You may find that employees come up with ways to cost cut on their own to pitch-in on reducing expenses. If a new product is failing to meet expectations, let them know. Of course, don’t forget to communicate those positive product roll-outs that meet or exceed expectations as well.

Focus: The biggest issue for the company that I worked for in 2001 is that we completely lost the focus of why the business had been successful for 20 years. Management kept coming up with new ideas for ways to drive revenue – so many ideas  that sales people didn’t know what they should be selling, marketing didn’t know where to spend dollars and product development wasn’t sure of which products to be concentrating on. Here at ESI we have kept focus on the task at hand – continuing to develop and grow our core products - while expanding our product offerings in a measured and controlled manner. The key is that we have never taken our eyes off of the development of our core products. They are what brought us here, and they will be what continues to sustain us in the future.

Customer Support: At the end of the day, it is the customer who puts money into the bank account that pays our bills. If the quality of customer support and interactions decline, years of goodwill and trust can be gone in an instant. Companies looking to save a few dollars by outsourcing development and support have found this out the hard way, with unsatisfied customers. The problem with an unsatisfied customer is that they will look elsewhere for products in the future. At ESI we have remained dedicated to the end user – which continues to lead to happy customers. And happy customers leads to the continuation of a positive corporate culture as employees feel good about their products and the company they work for.

Employee involvement and empowerment: Nothing is more rewarding than watching an invested employee (or group of employees) who feel empowered to get things accomplished showing off the work they have completed. We have a general strategy at ESI to hire good people, give them the proper training and support, then stay out of there way as they get the job done.  By keeping employees happy in this manner we have maintained an extremely low turnover rate – which leads to a stable company culture where employees know they will be treated fairly, both when things are going well and when the sales are more challenging to come by.

As the economic slowdown continues through its third year across the globe, I know that ESI is going to emerge as a stronger organization as we work to grow through this recession. How is that? We have kept our company culture in tact – by openly communicating with employees, maintaining focus on what we do well and our goals to expand, providing top notch support of customers and keeping our employees involved and empowered.

As we grow, I look forward to the coming challenges of maintaining our company culture as we expand our employee numbers, customer base, products sold and markets served.

Now it’s time to hear from you. Have you survived a company who's corporate culture was destructive to the longevity of the company? Better yet, have you worked for (or still work for) an organization that has such a positive, energetic corporate culture that it's worthy of an award? Let us know! Please feel free to share your experiences, or opinions on this blog entry or any other subject that is of interest. Email blogger@eng-software.com

Cultivating Innovative Game Changers

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes. Read Later

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.

The Most Important Subject in an Engineering Education

One of my favorite things is to speak to students at engineering school. Typically, it is conjunction with a presentation I am making on fluid piping systems, but most presentation end with a Q&A session. It seems many of these young engineers are wondering what their professional life will be like after graduation.

I typically get the question, “What’s the most important subject in an engineering education?” I love that question because it shows they are thinking ahead and want to make sure they have all their bases covered prior to graduation.

My response is always the same “Sales 101.” That causes quite a stir, after all, they are just finishing up all the engineering classes and here someone is saying they need sales training. The puzzled student then asks why.

The response typically goes like this:

Me: “Do you want to get a job and be paid for what you do after graduation?”

Student: “Well that’s a silly question, yes of course! How else will I pay off those incredible student loans?” (aka. year abroad backpacking through Europe)

Me: “Then you need to be able to sell yourself during the interview so you get the job in this tight job market. Once you have a job you’ll probably want to get a pay increase as your experience grows.”

Student: “Well yes, how else will I afford my first Ferrari 612?”

Me: “Then after awhile you’ll become a group leader and you’ll want to get you group the best project, so you’ll need to sell your team’s ideas to your manager.”

Student: “Hopefully. I definitely want to work on projects that I can be proud of and that I find interesting.”

Me: “Since everything about engineering has to do with money you need to sell yourself, your group, your ideas, your company’s products or services to your customers. That’s why Sales 101 is so important.”

Student: “Wait, what? Sales 101? But I thought I was going to be an Engineer...”

Now the sad thing is I have never seen any college or university offer a sales 101 class, or any other class dealing with selling. I certainly haven’t seen it offered to anyone going for their engineering degree. The only reason I can think of is:

A. Too difficult a subject is to understand
B. Too easy to warrant the effort for a lofty professor to create a class
C. Common knowledge that is understood by everyone

From my experience I would say no to all of the above. It is a skill that can be boiled down into a few easy steps that will take a lifetime to master.

After nearly 30 years in this business, here is the list I have found to be most effective.

1. Know your customer
2. Shut up and listen to your customer
3. Understand what your customer really needs and wants
4. Don’t oversell, have the discipline to sell only what the customer needs or wants, and shut up about all the cool features that they don’t see a value in

I find the best references in understanding the sales processes are the business books that are available everywhere. Go to Amazon and enter “Selling Ideas” and see how many books you can get for $10-15 containing gems of wisdom that will help you sell your ideas. Let me know which books you've found useful.

Now it’s time to hear from you. 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.

Defining Success

One of the major milestones in developing a small business is building the right team to meet the needs and expectations of their customers. At Engineered Software our first team members were engineers and programmers. We were very fortunate in finding the right people to join our team because we hired interns from local colleges and if they worked out well we would offer them a job after graduation.

In 1990 we started hiring people to help us run the business (entering and tracking leads, selling the software, and fulfilling orders) that’s when the wheels fell off the bus. We put ads in the newspaper (this was long before the Internet and Job sites), got a list of applicants, asked some superficial questions, and if they sounded good we would offer them a job. We expected them to do their job, sell our products, and let us get on with writing software.

It seemed like my partner and I were spending more time taking care of people problems than developing the business. Sometimes we felt like we hired people to sit around and watch us work. In addition we had constant turnover of the support staff further compounding the problem.

In looking back, the reason we had problems finding the right person is we didn’t know what we were looking for. Since everyone in the company up to this point was a "techie," none of us had absolutely any experience in running a business.

All of my business knowledge had come from reading business self-help books; you know the kind written by consultants to help them get their consulting business off the ground. So I figured it was time to find a book on hiring the right people, I purchased Interviewing and Selecting High Performers, by Richard H. Beatty. I learned why we continued to hire the wrong people for the job, and more importantly what to do to fix the problem.

It turns out we hired the wrong people because we didn’t have a good idea of what the right person's qualities were. Following the wisdom on my paperback business consultant, we developed a list of things including:

• A detailed job description
• Identified the tasks a person in this position would need to perform
• The traits this position would require to be successful in this position
• What required work experience was needed
  
• And even developed the interview questions.

In other words we had a definition of a “perfect candidate” for the position. We were then able to compare each applicant to our “perfect candidate” benchmark so we could easily tell when we had the right person. In other words we took the time to “Defined Success”.

Over the years I discovered that a good definition of success is needed for every project, whether it’s a new software application, the addition of a program feature, or making a major purchase of equipment. If you know what you’re trying to achieve with a project, it’s much easier to accomplish. Some people call it a Business Plan, Job Description, Request for Proposal, but I always like to succeed, so I like to have a clear “Definition of Success.”

Now I must be honest with you, not every project we started has been a wild success; we are just like every business we have had our share of failures. But when we look back at each troubled project we discover that it was lacking a good definition of success.

That's all I have to say, now I would like to hear from you. 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.