Communication in the AEC Industry and the Role of the Engineer

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A Rube Goldberg machine, named after American cartoonist Rube Goldberg, is a machine that takes a simple task and makes it overly complicated. Clever and entertaining to watch, a Goldberg machine is great for the imagination but not that handy if you want to get things done. Essentially, it has the opposite purpose to engineering, which is to take a complex problem and deliver a simple solution. Our current communication practices in the AEC industry more closely resemble a Rube Goldman contraption than an engineering solution. In constructing a building, we transfer the knowledge from architect to engineer to contractors and finally construction workers. As we progress through each stage, information is added but understanding is lost. Take for example the approach of a tool such as Aconex, where all the information that might be needed by anyone is downloaded in great detail. There’s no thought to what is needed by the end user or what their experience might be. It also misses the collaboration aspect. It becomes a way to say ‘there’s my part, what you do with it is up to you’. If we start with a design, and then add more and more detail as we go, ensuring everything is thought of, we end up with a massive amount of information. However, without manipulating it, segmenting it and tailoring it to the needs of each person who receives it, it is more like an information dump than communication. How can we adjust this process and make sure each person is getting the information they need in the format that makes sense to them? Each discipline can play a role at each stage, as we move from design to completion in the most efficient way. In particular, the engineer plays a pivotal piece in the equation. While ‘communication expert’ might not be the first thought that springs to mind when you think of an engineer, this may in fact be the future. The first evolution of our company’s approach to engineering was realising engineering is a professional service, the same as law and accountancy. By taking this view, and looking at how other professional services demonstrate best practice, there are opportunities to gain massive value for our own industry.  The second stage was to recognise that drawings (or designs) are essentially communication documents. So let’s look around at how the rest of the world achieves great communication and learn from that. Using the skill sets or tools to achieve great communication in the AEC industry has the potential to improve the connectivity and synergy between each stage. If we want communication, then looking to other industries and using their tools for best practice can help us raise our game. Taking a marketing approach, we would place our customer at the centre of what we do. The question becomes, what information do they need, and what format do they need it in? The more I think about this, the more I consider the role of the engineer as the communicator between design and build. The ‘E’ in the AEC industry becomes ‘enable’ rather than engineer, that is, the role of a modern engineer is to provide a communication bridge between the architect and contractors to enable construction. They essentially provide a value added translation service between groups to ensure information is passed on in the right language. The engineer, for example, could provide a technical solution with a tool that turns drawings from the architect into a set of tasks for a construction worker. That sounds quite simple, but how often does keeping things simple require a lot more thought!