Timid Engineer Syndrome

Here is an excellent article written by Mira Shenker on the slow but steady adoption of technology innovations in infrastructure and how many engineers experience what she calls "timid engineer syndrome" in the implementation of these techniques.

The original article can be accessed via the ReNew Canada website.


February 13, 2013 - Mira Shenker

This morning, I moderated a panel on technology innovations in infrastructure. The Ontario Society of Professional Engineers’ research and innovation taskforce put this event together to look at how policy- and decision-makers can learn to use innovations.

Every presenter agreed that LIDAR, building information modelling (BIM), and other intelligent technologies, along with mobile solutions and the cloud, will lead to a host of benefits. Cost reductions, quicker turnaround, more predictive costs, better infrastructure: it sounds ideal.
While Autodesk’s Steve Stanfill said that BIM use is ramping up, it’s by no means standard. Past articles in ReNew Canada point to a slow but steady adoption of these technologies among constructors and designers. How do we move beyond talking about these innovations to implementing them?

Some presenters, like Stanfill, felt “it has to be asked for”—in other words, it’s up to the client to demand innovation. One engineer said that municipalities and cities will just write “BIM” in their requests for proposals. “They need to get more detailed,” he said.

Beyond just cities—the most common client in these scenarios—some panellists felt that upper-tier governments should be taking the lead. As David Hill pointed out, the United Kingdom has mandates that by 2016 all publically funded projects must be BIM compliant. “When it’s regulated, that’s when it will happen,” said Stanfill.

Consultant Richard Gilbert disagreed, arguing that it’s up to the private sector. He used the example of private vehicle manufacturers pushing for vehicle automation, saying, “In Europe, the private sector is pushing government to act,” said Gilbert.

SolidCAD’s David Hill said civil and architecture firms need to start demonstrating BIM designs in 3D to their end stakeholders, making conceptual design part of the planning process. Jeff Lyons with Cole Engineering Group said, “The construction industry is literally begging for data so they can [create] 4D [models.] Engineers are slowing down the process.”

Edward Li with Morrison Hershfield said innovation is a joint effort between the client and engineer, though often it is the client putting pressure on its engineer to provide options.

This is not the first time an engineer in a room full of engineers has lamented what I’ll call “timid engineer syndrome.”

So, what’s it going to take to get North American engineers (and architect, too, I suppose) to push the public sector into the 21^st century? Leave your comments here to continue the conversation.



What are your thoughts on this topic? Please feel free to continue the discussion in the comments space below.