This is a guest blog by Nick Heim, P.E.
As technology continues to move forward at a breakneck pace, so do the speed of civil engineering projects. Clients are expecting their consultants to complete projects faster today AND provide more value for the fee being paid. One of the ways that civil engineering firms can stay competitive is adaptation and use of technology in their daily processes and workflows. Today, I would like to share three tips on how my firm is driving innovation — and how yours can too:
1. Set Aside Time for Innovation
At THP Limited, we schedule monthly innovation meetings to discuss development of projects aimed at making our day-to-day tasks simpler and more efficient. Team members take turns sharing updates on their research/projects and provide each other with feedback throughout the development process. The last 15 minutes of the meeting is dedicated to bringing forth new ideas — no matter how wild or outrageous they may seem. Employees outside the innovation group are encouraged to bring forth ideas that can be pushed into the development pipeline. All this information is organized in a Trello Board that can be referenced or updated by a team member at any time.
A snip of our Trello board that is used to catalogue potential ideas and track progress during ongoing innovation projects.
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