Evolution of Technical Instructions Within Complex Systems – A Discussion of the Evolution of the People, Processes and Tools

This talk will discuss the evolution of communicating technical instructions to support the engineering and construction value streams. As this evolution has been occurring, the people, the processes, and the tools have also had to evolve as well. This evolution is within the context of generational differences including the current bi-modal age distribution associated with most companies and agencies. Technical instructions started with blueprints, paper drawings, and sketches. This then evolved into CAD followed by solid modeling, product modeling, visual instructions, augmented reality, digital twins, cloud-based information, and artificial intelligence. Obviously, there is substantial overlap in all of these methods to communicate information, and for that matter, some are more efficient than others to convey information accurately and as efficiently as possible. Speed of delivery is not always best, but rather, trying to determine the best method to deliver the technical information is paramount.