“There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns” – Edward de Bono
It’s crazy to think that creativity nowadays has been seen as the antithesis of the intellectual in engineering. We are almost required to follow patterns, templates, arbitrary flow charts in defense of quality assurance and control systems. In our opinion QA systems and protocols are mandatory to support creativity and not hinder it. Our technical mind becomes complacent and eventually sabotaged by depressive thoughts and unfulfilling use of our valuable time, which eventuates in attitude and behaviors that become habitual if persisted for a long period and damaging to our natural personality. The competition for good schools, good universities and good jobs are increasing to the point that we begin shaping and molding our children from such a young age. We are often taught that we stand at a crossroad, if we show a knack for the creative, then we are entertained and pushed towards the creative and the artistic – those that exercise the right (or creative) hemisphere. Conversely, if we show a flair for the logical, then we are often pushed towards the technical and the cerebral, those that are more left (or logical) brained.
One item that we don’t believe has been emphasized enough within engineering is the importance of the creative within the realm of the logical. Whilst acknowledging that we are often wired to favor one over the other, we must also embrace the fact that success comes from a marriage of these two sides – after all, both the left and right hemispheres do form part of a singular brain.
The brainstorming process is a vital component of our QA process here at IINGEN and, perhaps more importantly, our creative process specially when it is intrinsic in our DNA as hunter gatherers and tribal survival. We acknowledge the importance of sharing information, and that siloing your technical expertise across a few key individuals, results in a very inefficient company structure. This knowledge share also encourages everyone to propose a solution, which is then stress-tested by all other individuals in the discussion (i.e. playing devil’s advocate). This idea is covered very well in successful American investor and hedge fund manager Ray Dalio’s book ‘Principles’. Dalio had setup a company culture which he has coined an idea meritocracy, ‘a system that brings together smart, independent thinkers and has them productively disagree to come up with the best possible collective thinking and resolve their disagreements in a believability-weighted way’.
A recent example of our latest project featuring a 10MVA N+2 Automated Distribution Centre that we are involved in at design development stage. The project had a compliance issue in terms of earth/neutral connections as per Australian Standards. Pursuant to providing solutions to this problem, we ran a brainstorming session in order to pitch various ideas and scenarios in order to determine the best and most cost-effective solution for our client. This forms part of a rather complicated site with multiple supplies and various levels of redundancy.
For some readers that are interested in the detail – in order to ensure compliance, the continuity of the neutral path for the current under fault conditions must remain unbroken between the source, the load and the earth/neutral link. The number of earth/neutral connections must also be kept to a minimum (ideally only a single point in the installation). Whilst this sounds simple, it can prove to be quite difficult when we begin considering multiple supplies between several kiosk transformers, parallel PV connections and +1 standby diesel generators. After several hours of gruelling discussions between our internal engineers, we were able to come up with a best outcome solution which benefits both the client and also satisfies the Standards, and local Authority.
Here at IINGEN, we look to continually push the boundaries, and should you have any questions or you would like us to review a complex problem you are dealing with please do not hesitate to drop us a note. We are here to voluntarily help on your project and see you succeed. The more technical problems we can solve the more value we can provide to our clients.
Until next time. Please be creative…its who we are as human…and it is okay to be wrong 😊
