How to streamline PLM?

December 10, 2011

One of the biggest problem I can see in all PDM / PLM tools is a high level of the complexity. I’ve been thinking about it many times. After observing this industry for quite some time, I started to come to conclusion that solutions are becoming more complicated without becoming more functional. I’ve been reading the article The case for stripped-down enterprise 2.0 tools on by Moly Bernhart Walker. He was quoting Tim Young of Socialcast. Here is my favorite passage:

"Simple tools are incredibly powerful," said Young Nov. 15, during a keynote at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Santa Clara, Calif. It’s very difficult to solve a complex problem with a complex tool, he added. What we’ve been doing with customers is actually moving away, stripping away functionality and making it very, very simple by just focusing on one or two activity screens. And we’ve actually begun to see the value in this," said Young.

I decided to pull few old pictures of EDM and PDM tools and take a look on them from the angle of PLM 2012.

How to strip-down PLM?


I think, we’ve been obsessed by the power of computer, higher screen resolution and interest to push additional functionality in the PLM software. It is a time to stop and think. Here is the slide from last presentation I’ve made during Autodesk University 2011.

PLM software is bloody complicated. To find a right strip-down option will be an appropriate way to think about the next PLM solution.

What is my conclusion? PLM was born many years to solve the problem of product development in complex defense and aerospace companies. Since that time, software vendors passed a long way developing new functionality. However, I don’t think it made solutions better. It is very hard to remove functionality for existing software. At the same time, I don’t see any alternative to that in the future. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

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PLM and Re-thinking UI paradigms

October 11, 2011

I’m spending more and more time with alternative UIs. It first started from mobile and web. Now it is coming from everywhere. Retrieving my old memories about SCO/Xenix, DOS and Windows, my hunch is we are going to another UI paradigm shift very soon. During this long weekend, I was reading Adopting the metro style for line of business apps blog post by Bil Simser. Take a read. The fact it is coming from analyzes of Windows Metromakes it even more interesting. I wrote about metro style few weeks ago in one of my posts.

A Typical PLM User Experience

Can you think about typical PLM/PDM user experience? It goes that way: TREE VIEW -> LIST VIEW -> ITEM VIEW. Most of PLM (and not only) user interfaces built around this paradigm. Therefore, the following passage co-sounded:

Metro is different. It forces you to think about your application in a different manner. No longer are you trying to get tree view feeding items into list view feeding details into file view. There are still groups and collection of groups and all that but remember your UI now is a functional, breathing, living thing. Minimalism is best here so you want to get out as much information in as effective space as possible. As Microsoft pointed out, a live tile isn’t something you should be posting every detail to. It’s an extension of the application so treat it as a first class citizen, not a UI element that needs to be pretty.

If you think about the following picture (credit to Bil Simser post), you probably will see a long list of applications that you have in use these days in your company.

New paradigms: Tasks and Virtual Assistant

Where do you think new paradigms will be coming from? In my view, the majority of them will come as a re-thinking of web 2.0 websites and mobile applications. One of my favorite applications for the last two years on my iPhone is Siri. I wrote about Siri almost two years ago here – What are your questions to PLM Virtual Assistant? I’m so glad to see Siri is finally coming to iPhone 4S these days.

What is my conclusion? I think, time is coming to re-think an old way of designing enterprise applications. It won’t be simple. The biggest problem, in my view, is a significant investment made by companies in existing software. So, the question of ROI, etc. will have to be answered. However, new users will demand new stuff to come. So, it is inevitable. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

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PLM User Experience and Google Related

August 17, 2011

PLM User Experience… Yes, I know. This is a painful point. Everybody wants it simpler, intuitive and easy. My best quotes about how to design a good user interface belongs toSteve Krug – “Don’t Make Me Think”. One of the most painful elements of user experience in data-management systems like PDM and PLM is “clicks”. You need to click to move to another screen, open a form, open another form… very painful. Apparently, user experience is a common problem. Take a look something new coming from Google Israel calledGoogle Related.

What is my take? I played with Google Related this morning when working on my daily social medial stuff. I found it slick and useful. It definitely helped me to save few clicks back and forth in a browser. Maybe UX designers thinking about next PLM products need to take a note.

Best, Oleg

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PLM User Experience, Windows 8 and the End of Desktop

June 5, 2011

Some time ago, I wrote about future user experience – PUI: Not PLM UI. Future User experience. One of the fundamental elements of user experience for the last 20 years was the desktop. The organization of desktop didn’t change since first was invented together with file system and first versions of Windows.

The Microsoft announcement and preview of Windows 8 made me think about fundamental changes finally started to happen. This is the first time for the last time Microsoft made me think – the game is not over. Yes, lots of things may happen until the release of Windows 8, but I can definitely see – some folks in Redmond are thinking outside of the box.

The Windows 8 preview made me think again about what changes are expected soon of user experience in CAD/PLM world. The following two videos present some ideas. The first one – Autodesk Sketchbook Pro for ipad. You can see a full absence of a mouse as well as touch user experience.

The following one is Numbers for iPad. Many PLM apps have intensive data processing elements. What can be a new paradigm? I think Numbers are a decent example of the directions.

What is my conclusion? In coming years, we will see a growing set of examples of new user experience. Mouse and Keyboard are phasing out. Touch and new forms of user interaction are coming. A good place to innovate… Just my thoughts.

Best, Oleg

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COFES, PLM, BIM and Augmented Reality

April 15, 2011

The first day at COFES 2011 over. I hope, you had a chance to follow COFES 2011 via twitter (COFES2011). If not, navigate your browser to the following link. COFES is always a good time to have a conversion with bunch of really smart people. It gives lots of materials for inspiration and… yes, blogging. This afternoon I had a chance to attend pre-COFES session: Augmented reality: Practical Business Applications presented by Joseph Juhnke of Tanagram Partners. I posted about augmented reality before. You can take a look on my earlier post: The Role of Augment Reality in PLM. Back that time, I’ve seen some interesting augment reality implementations for virtual identification, virtual design, simulation.

I found today’s presentation made by Joseph very inspiring. Part of the presentation was dedicated to the presentation of pictures with possible use cases for augmenting reality from BIM and PLM space. Take a look on the following pictures and make your opinion.

What is my take? I think we are standing in front of a very big distraction in enterprise systems in general and PDM/PLM specifically. It is about changing “user experience”. In one of my tweets today I asked if “NUI” – natural user interface is a future. In my view, presentation of the information in a more natural way, can change a lot. “Augment reality” can play a significant role in making this change happen. Is it a time for PLM companies to re-think some of their UI concepts?

Just my thougths…

Best, Oleg

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PUI: Not PLM UI. Future User Experience.

June 22, 2010

I’d suggest to have some fun in the beginning. What is PUI? Do you think this is a new PLM UI? No, marketing didn’t get it yet… I hope, they will not do so. I’ve got this PUI TLA reading Enterprise Irregulars Blog – Three Types of GUIs: Past Present and Future. Thanks ArnoldIT blog for referencing me to this article. The author explains three different type of GUI – Task UI, Desktop UI and Process UI.  I found it very interesting. It made me think about the evolution of user experience in engineering applications and PLM.

TUI, DUI, PUI in Engineering applications
If you think about CAD applications, they look very task oriented. You have a 2D drawing (lately transformed into 3D model) and everything you do around this drawing or model, can be considered as tasks. You can create a new model or modify an existing one. Another big group of applications, CAE is also focusing on different tasks (i.e. calculations, etc.) around 2D/3D models.

The initial development of data management application created an idea of “Desktop”. In the beginning, data management was focused on “meta-data” management. Meta-data was considered as everything surrounding CAD files. The need to present data in various forms created lots of modifications of data forms. You can find it in most PDM/PLM applications during last 10-15 years.

Process was one of the top ideas that PLM focused on for the past 5-6 years. Organization can understand a “process language”. Software vendors in PLM space learned it from their big ERP brothers. I had chance to see lots of PUI modifications focusing on different processes.

PLM and PUI problem – Scalability
In my view, process orientation was a big excitement for PLM and other engineering software companies. It created a scalable model to grow the amount of applications, they can provide to companies. Since everything is a process, imaging how many process-oriented application you can create using this approach. Licensing wasn’t the last reason in this decision. Looks like PUIs were the way to go. PLM companies are tried to implement PUI approach. Take a look on the quote from Enterprise Irregulars Blog:

Now imagine business or enterprise apps that are process based, not single task items knit together by DIY process: An app that can pick up an idea, issue or request and run it through an unpredictable process that might look like a ball of yarn all the way to an implemented idea, a solved issue or a happy customer.

Where is the problem? In my view, the biggest problem is a scalability of this process. Every organization is different. Process oriented applications became very complex. This is what happens to PUI in PLM. Customers cannot implement an existing process oriented application. However, to tailor it will skyrocket cost of services.

Future User Experience
It is clear to everybody that the level of the complication kills. So, what will be the UI in the future? Many of companies are looking for the next big thing in UI. I can identify two main trends in PLM UI simplification – 1/ Embedding into the mainstream UI (i.e. Email, Excel, SharePoint, etc.), 2/Imitating successful applications in consumer space (i.e. Facebook). What will be the next big thing in UI? Do you think it will come from augmented reality? Games? Voice? I can see SIRI acquisition by Apple as the sign of possible direction in the future. I had chance to write about how I see the future user experience in my blog too.

What is my conclusion? User Interface is a hard problem in PLM apps. I think, we are in the mist of UI discussions. I can see many people are innovating in this space and trying to find a solution to this problem. We are in the beginning of mass migration of application from consumer space to the enterprise software. It will be very interesting to get back to this discussion in a couple of years.

Best, Oleg

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PLM And New Types Of User Experience

May 5, 2010

User experience is important. It comes with all cool gadgets, Web 2.0 websites and iPhone apps. I think, people started to understand it even in enterprise organizations. I can hear lots of people voices asking when enterprise tools will become cooler than today. The obvious answer of PLM and other related vendors for many years was 3D. Everything looks better in 3D – visualization, animation, etc. I want to focus on few examples of trends that can potentially introduce new types of user experience.

Augmented Reality
The latest trend in 3D space is augmenting reality. It helps us to mix virtual and real 3D spaces into a single one. The nice thing about it is that it helps you to realize the potential of your product before it even comes to prototyping and manufacturing. I had chance to see many examples of augmented reality. One of the best ones is iQ Toyota. The impressive piece of this video is how you can create a virtual disassemble of the car.

3D Working Environment
This example is actually coming from the BumpTop acquisition Google made this week. BumpTop is a nice idea simulating real 3D environment on your desktop. And it is specially interesting, since the existing desktops remain unchanged the last 10-15 years, and it sounds like a potential change in this place. I can imaging it coming to the product design environment too.

Voice Collaborative Communication
In my view, this is the most unusual one. I’ve been watching Siri - assistant application since it was introduced last year on iPhone. This is a nice example of collaborative application that interact with user in a very unusual and intuitive manner. I posted about this apps few mounts ago in my article – What Are You Questions PLM Virtual Assistant? So, this company was acquired by Apple earlier this week, which means for me Apple is investing in more intuitive ways of collaboration and communication. I think, this is also something that can fit very well today’s product development environment.

So, what is my conclusion? I can definitely see something new is coming in user experience and communication. The trends in  communication and collaboration made by non-PLM software manufacturers can outrun design and engineering software vendors. PLM vendors are dealing with a huge amount of legacy code and legacy implementations. However, this is a time to think about what can bring next potential leap in collaborative manufacturing, engineering and design software.

Just my thoughts…
Best, Oleg

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What Are Your Questions To PLM Virtual Assistant?

February 19, 2010

When somebody is asking me what is the number one PLM software problem, my instant answer is – complexity. Yes, PLM is a dumb complex. I think, discussions about the complexity of PLM are endless. Each time I hear about new PLM product, the first requirement is to make it simple.  There are two major reasons why PLM is complex. They come from opposite sides of PLM business – product related and people related. From the product related standpoint, we need to admit – engineering and manufacturing are a complex discipline. Product complexity is growing, so we are facing growing complexity in design, engineering data and manufacturing. On the other side, from people’s side, engineering nature it to see all problems in the complex way, analyze dependencies, etc. So, engineers are constantly coming with more and more complex requirements. The result is simple – when you operate PLM software, you need to think… And you think to think a lot…

The complexity of applications creates a lot of problems to the people operating this software. However, recently, I started to experiment with personal assistant on my iPhone. Siri (www.siri.com)

Now, let me switch your imagination on. Do you think we can apply this interesting assistant behavior to help me to operate my complex PLM software? Or, in another way, can my PLM experience changed to be as simple as experience with the virtual assistant. I think that it may work. PLM virtual assistant may fit “a role oriented” work PLM products need to do in your organization. What about questions like -

1. What is the most urgent work I need to do today?

2. Who is responsible of the ABC part manufacturing?

3. Where is the last revision of my drawing?

4….

Now it is your turn. I’m sure you can come with much better questions. So, now think about what type of questions you can ask PLM virtual assistant if you have one in your organization? Sounds crazy? However, let’s make a try…I’m waiting for questions you want to ask you PLM virtual assistant.

Best, Oleg

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Things Are Getting Touchy (PLM Tablet User Experience Thoughts)

January 12, 2010

Do we need to kill a mouse? Josh Mings, author and founder at SolidSmack mentioned middle-mouse button wheel as one of the five best CAD related innovations of the last decade.

And I agree with this statement. However, do you like your iPhone? Alternatively, maybe you like your HP TouchSmart? What do you think about future user experience in the world that moving fast to the touch user experience?  Do you think we are going to see a massive shift in user experience with the introduction of touch screen devices and tablets?

At the time that whole world is preparing to the potential coming Apple’s announcement of the new tablet device, I decided to put some thoughts and analyze what potential it can bring to the people in the PLM eco-system.  Before going to analyze, take a look on the following video. Despite the fact, it is related to publishing market, I found it as the closest example to the world of 3D/CAD/PDM/PLM…

So, what do think? I’m sure you figured out some ideas that already had chance to see in CAD user experience, like SolidWorks mouse gestures. If you lately made some experience with 3DVIA Mobile, you can find some associations too.

However, I want to figure out some PLM organizational sweet-spots for such user experience:

1. Sales. What can be better than present something live and handy? The growing interest in iPhone applications is the simplest confirmation. We can see a growing amount of demo iPhone apps presenting content or even mockups of your product, ideas, etc. Be able to do the same with your users, show product look and feel, demonstrate features. I’m sure products like 3DVIA Composer from DS and similar publishing tools can be an ideal target to be presented on tablet devices.

2. Design review. It looks like tablet experience can be a good companion for collaborative work during design reviews and meetings. You don’t like people hiding behind screens of laptops and desktop monitors. It can be very cool to be able to have such a handy device to work on your current presentation.

3. Manufacturing shop-floor mobility. This is another opportunity. To have a mobile device of size bigger than PDA can open additional functions for people in the shop-floor to access different product and manufacturing related information. Operation instructions, documents – this is only the initial list of what can be used.

You can think, these are futuristic examples… Maybe, however, I’m pretty sure, our future will be much more touchy than today. However, the biggest challenge will be PLM applications. Take a look on today’s user experience. I think we are far from ideal and there is a long way towards new user experience and ideas to become real life.

Just my thoughts.
Best, Oleg

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3DLive, HD3D and demand for CAD/PDM immersivity

November 10, 2009

Few months ago, in this post, I had chance to discuss the future of immersive CAD and Data Management. Looking on the latest DE  article by Kenneth Wong, NX7 with HD3D: Where CAD Geometry and Lifecycle Data Mingle, I found it very interesting to couple it together with some of my previous thoughts. HD3D from Siemens PLM (announced month ago) and 3D Live environment from DS (introduced 2 years ago and embedded into DS V6 last year) clearly representing the answer on user’s demand related to immersive representation of data from both 3D environments like CAD system and data management system like PDM/PLM.

You can see on the next few slides and videos of 3D Live application from DS. The famous turn-table allows you to filter, search, browse and navigate on assemblies, parts and related information.

On the next few slides and video you can figure out look and feel of HD3D app from Siemens PLM. Use of visual tags helping user to snap and browse information related to 3D Models as well as filter and search data.

What I see as a set of common characteristics of this trend?

1. Use 3D as a basic user experience

2. Use Immersive 3D as an entry point to browse through product geometry and lifecycle data

3. Mashup metadata, lifecycle data and other related information

So, what is my conclusion today? Both, DS and Siemens PLM experience represents clearly customer demand to bridge 3D and non-3D information together. With some difference in marketing and product buzz around, I see an overall trend is to unified 3D and non-3D environment for advanced CAD/PLM users.

Best, Oleg

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