 What is information management? How about digital transformation? How can AEC firms successfully merge these two together to be innovative and successful going forward? Well in this episode of the civil engineering podcast Brett Tush house product director at Dell Tech is going to talk about just that And he's also going to talk about how a career change really set him up for success. Let's do it All right, now I'd like to welcome our guest on to today's episode Brett Tush house Brett is the VP of product management at Dell Tech Brett welcome to the civil engineering podcast Anthony, thank you so much for having me my pleasure to be here today Yeah, no, we're excited to have you I know Dell Tech is you know has accomplished quite a bit in the AE industry and they've provided a lot of solutions We meet with them a lot of conferences and I'm excited to have you here to talk a little bit about some of those solutions And so Brett let's get started with your career. Tell us a little bit about your background and you know How you ended up eventually getting to Dell Tech? Sure. Absolutely. So I've been with Dell Tech for about 10 years But prior to coming to Dell Tech I was actually a Delta customer for about 15 years my my background and my educations in Architecture received my masters of architecture at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Graduated from there and went to work for an architecture firm here in the Milwaukee area Name a firm by the name of Epstein you and architects and Worked there for 15 years and I started out practicing architecture and eventually I you know Got into a lot of the technology side of things starting with mostly CAD And 3d animations and things like that and it was a growing firm And they needed help sort of on the broader IT side And I was given an opportunity to take over as IT manager and shifted to that role and worked as a Basically a CIO for about seven or eight years before leaving there and coming to Dell Tech Like I said, I was a Delta customer while working at that firm and Struck up some great relationships with people at Dell Tech got very interested in the technology and the solutions that Delta Provided and the opportunity arose for me to to join the product management ranks at Dell Tech And and that's what brought me here. That's great And let's go back for a minute to that first decision there that you made in terms of going into the IT side of things What was that like? I mean, obviously you were into the architecture side of it You had your degree there and sounded like the opportunity came up and what what made you interested in that? Yeah, so in college and you know, even my early days as a practicing architect. I was heavily involved in technology You know in in school using CAD at a time when CAD wasn't quite as mainstream You know, even my thesis presentation used PowerPoint Which is one of the if you can believe it was one of the first thesis presentations that used PowerPoint so I was heavily into technology coming out of school and the firm that I joined at the time was about 40 people and Experienced a significant amount of growth and and architecture firms at that time didn't really have sort of dedicated IT people and things like that and I was given the opportunity because of the growth of the firm and where things were going and sort of my background with sort of a technology slant to it To help lead the firm and its growth on the IT side of the business And knowing the architecture world having done the architecture and that sort of thing It really was a unique opportunity for me and no regrets certainly looking back at that decision. Yeah, no, that's great All right. So, you know moving into Dell tech I mean Dell tech is a company. I think a lot of AE professionals are aware of Dell tech Certainly heard of them and maybe use some of their their products for sure. How would you? For those not familiar with Dell tech, how would you describe the company? Well, Delta is focused on providing solutions for project focused businesses and when you look at architects engineers And even contractors to a certain extent Their whole business is focused on projects. So Delta is bringing solutions To those those types of companies to help them execute manage And deliver their projects and you know, if you think about the architecture engineering and construction world You know, there's there's I'd like to think of it as sort of a three-legged stool You've got the sort of back office accounting and finance component That is where project management lives and sort of the whole financial side of the company. You've got your your Production portion of the organization, which is where you know drawings are made documents are made and that type of thing And then you've got sort of the project execution component and well Delta doesn't Work in sort of the the CAD in that side of the world or the BIM side of the world those other two legs of the stool You know, we work in very much. So project management project execution project delivery The solutions that Delta bring to the table are aimed at those two legs of the stool very squarely Yeah, that's great and digging a little bit deeper on that in terms of You know Understanding you kind of the challenges of these AE firms I mean certainly at EMI, you know We do try to understand that in terms of the training programs that we develop really understanding the challenges the needs I know that Dell tech, you know Spends a lot of time on that as well in terms of really trying to understand the challenges of these firms so you could build the Right products and services. Can you talk a little bit about? You know that side of the Dell tech business in terms of you know, the customers needs Absolutely, I think They've certainly evolved since my time at Dell tech, you know as I as I look at sort of that evolution I like I said, I've been here 10 years now. So I've seen The needs of the organizations change that we serve specifically in the architecture engineering world and you know Most recently, I think the areas that were most keen to sort of understand and help organizations with their one in project management areas And that's not to say that delta exclusions haven't been focused on on project management in the past, but we've seen sort of a Renewed interest and emphasis around best practices and project management techniques So we've been looking at ways to evolve and refine and expand our solutions to support That sort of re-emphasis on the project management discipline and best practices So that is that is one key area that we're focused on I think another thing that we've seen especially in the past maybe five to six years and this is common I think in business in general, but certainly not out of the ordinary in the AE world is That next generation workforce, you know The tools that that we were providing architecture engineering firms 10 years ago are very different than the tools we're providing today And a lot of that's driven by this next generation workforce You have a different group of people that are expecting different things out of the technology that they used to get their jobs done and You know for better or worse, it's different than the traditional workforce that is sort of retiring from that a ec space today And that means, you know more accessible technology that means smarter technology That means technology accessible that everywhere I go on every device I use So that's been something that we've had to respond to as a solutions provider For this industry as well in regards to sort of where we're going with our products and solutions Yeah, that's great. And I think that honestly, that's a real Terms of companies like Dell Tech. I mean, that's a real important need right now in the industry You know, there definitely are like these generational gaps in terms of like what you know The experience professionals maybe feel is needed or that they're used to needing versus what the people that they're hiring today are needing And I feel like certainly, you know companies like Dell Tech can help to bridge that gap in a way in terms of Because it's not always that the experience the firm leaders are going to be able to understand what those needs are and be able to provide them They need to get people involved like yourself that can help with that. So You know, it's good to hear that Dell Tech is really out there You know doing the homework to figure that out, which I think is important in terms of moving things forward So Obviously we're in an interesting time right now in terms of this pandemic and everybody working differently Let's say whether it's remotely some people remotely some not a lot more than usual People are starting to get back, but I think they'll remain, you know, a number of Remote workers for time being so let's talk a little bit about that in terms of workflow Let's talk a little bit first about information management. What is information management? How would you how would you define that? Well, it's it obviously it's incredibly broad term Um, you know nearly everything a business does Really every day could be considered information management And no doubt that an organization's ability to manage information is probably Contributes to their core competency and their strategy and things like that but if you if you look at the concept of information management more through the architecture engineering construction industry lines You know, it's a little less broadly focused and We at Dell Tech in terms of looking at information management It's it's really all about sort of collecting managing and sharing all of the necessary Assets if you will to execute on a project now That's not to say that corporate information management is still not extremely important It definitely is and enables the business but When you look at information management in our industry or this industry specifically, you know, the number of documents the Drawings the reports the specifications the project manuals, you know, even emails in and of themselves Continues to grow and grow and grow and and giving the Organization the ability to get their arms around that to help execute their projects in a successful profitable Way that delights their clients. That's what really what what information management is all about when you look at Um, you know the project information management discipline itself that that we like to talk about here at Dell Tech right and and digital transformation Which is something that is really been happening and it seems to be happening faster and faster where people are using You know faster digital technology to solve their problems to work on projects. It's like constantly evolving almost by the second You know Something that we're all thinking about, you know, how are AEC firms or how can they, you know, take information management and then this digital transformation that we're going through and kind of You know, bring the two together because it seems like as you said Managing information is critical. I think especially in firms a firms with all kinds of projects and files, etc But the technology is moving faster and faster as well. So how do we kind of marry these together? Well, I think You know, if you look at at the context and I think this is amplified now even sort of where we are today with What everybody's calling the new normal or the new reality I think this is even amplified more the value of something like this, you know, one of the things that we like to talk about when we um represent the value proposition of information management and how important it is to an AE firm Interesting statistic out there 20 employees to spend 20 percent of their time looking for things looking for information And if you think about that obviously if you think about that just in the context of wasted time It's a little bit staggering But the other piece of that that's important to understand is chances are if if if people are spending 20 percent of their time looking for stuff It's probably a good chance that there's times when they're not finding what they need And that can obviously have a direct impact on their ability to be successful on a project So if you think about information management and digital transformation in that context, you know, there's a there's I think there's a few questions that organizations in the AE world You know need to ask themselves. Do they have a A technology based solution in place for for managing their documents and that is you know a system that Through various technologies, whether it be indexing or machine learning or metadata Or even, you know, optical character character recognition can curate and serve up information to project teams And that system has a very robust search mechanism at its foundation You know, that's an important question for an organization to ask themselves as they're going through sort of this digital transformation In the context of information management and the answer is no, I think that's that's An indicator that organizations should sort of take a more close look at that and I think The second question that that I would throw in there is How does that extend to communication and email? I think oftentimes And even sort of where I came from I saw this email was looked at in the communication around Projects were sort of looked at a secondary To the drawings the contract documents the specifications and things like that and you know, we memorialize the contract documents As a part of the process of delivering a project and look at sometimes that email and communication component as secondary or supplemental and oftentimes the difference between a Say an incident-free delivery of a project and a costly errors and omissions lawsuit is Something in one email that is an acknowledgement or agreement that was made during the project that could you know help that particular situation So again another question for organizations to ask do I have a system that Helps me track and manage all the communications around the project and then the third question. I would say is Revolves around, you know, do you have a purpose-built system for helping your teams? administer and manage the contract primarily during construction, you know nowadays A lot of stuff happens on site and with the devices that are out there in the capabilities to leverage technology within a construction site during the construction phase You know the process of managing RFIs and change orders and punch lists and all those things Having something purpose-built to do that rather than excel spreadsheets and word documents and whatever else companies might be using I think it's critical. So, you know, all of these questions are do you have if if an AEC firm answers no at any of those I think it's it's a point to look in the mirror and say, okay This digital transformation capabilities are out there. How can I how can I bring that together and switch some of these No, as to yeses Yeah, that's a great framework of questions that I think firms can walk through and I and I know that You know, we have listeners in varying firm sizes, of course I'm sure there's those of you that work for firms that are you know 10 000 plus and there's those of you that have 20 people So, you know, you're going to be at different stages of this obviously and you know You'll answer the questions that Brett posed in different ways, of course, which will help you With different solutions, but I think Brett, you know one of the question that I have for you I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of kind of like an AE firm owner You know thinking about investing in technology in general And one of the the reservations that I would have is Is I mean, I think we would know that it's a need obviously in the way the world is going but you know Everything evolves so quickly right and any kind of investment you make is a huge investment not just in terms of the dollars of purchasing a product but Really the the hours spent on the training and everything that goes into it, which I'm sure you know well, so What would you say to a leader? You know, how do they make a decision around the right product that maybe is adaptable? Or you know, how do you address that when when someone has that concern? So I think you know one of the big things and I think it it sort of relates or is a line definitely what you said You know any technology implementation I think the the cliche adage is is you know, it's 80 percent or 20 percent technology and 80 percent people And I think that's an important thing for any for any organization to understand when they're going through the process that you just described You know, there's a lot of great technology products out there and Most of those products can can serve the the sort of the fundamental needs that are being pursued as a result of a company You know looking at those products but The important thing to understand is that other 80 percent the people the processes The change management component that needs to happen internally needs to be factored in as well And when you you know, your question is how do what what guidance do you give organizations that are? You know on the cusp of making those decisions or looking at that pursuit It's it's involving the right people within your organization and understanding that it's not just a technology project This isn't something that you say, you know, you go to your it manager your it director and say You know, go find us a piece of software that's going to do project managers project management for us I think that's an incredibly short sighted and setting yourself up for fail And instead you need to say to your project managers listen We know there's tools out there that can make us better at what we're doing in the context of project management You guys are the experts in our organization. You're the ones out there on the front lines managing projects Help us pick the solution. Help us implement the solution. Help us Train everybody in the organization to use the solution. And I think taking that approach Um, you know helps you focus on the 80 percent and the technology almost becomes secondary to that process That's interesting. So it sounds really like when you invest in a technology as much as you're Hoping that this product which I'm sure is going to be robust and have a lot of features As much as you're hoping and you see all those benefits in order to realize those benefits It's really going to take People in your firm to get on board to get trained and to you know I guess creates new habits around utilizing the software effectively In order for that investment to really make sense Absolutely. Absolutely. One of the things that I like to tell Um customers when we're talking about change management is this concept that I've used over and over for years It's it's sort of middle out. Um, you know, you hear a lot of times when you talk about Um technology implementations and things like that is the importance of top-down support Which don't get me wrong top-down support is important You need to have support at the top to make any of these things successful But I would I would posit that Middle out support is is equally if not more important because if you've got you know The people that are out there doing their jobs day to day using these tools embracing them and celebrating them That impact on everybody around them is going to be far more profound Than the top-down management support. It's that middle out support that I think is actually huge in situations like that Hmm. It's interesting. So Brett you you know from your seat you get to see I think a lot of things probably from you know What I like to call it the 30 000 foot view in terms of talking to companies and seeing you know projects overall and seeing How some of these technologies have impacts on on firms What are your thoughts on how innovation and technology are going to impact the built environment and kind of shape these projects that these AEC firms are working on now over the next 10 years Yeah, so this is another I think a pretty broad question You know if you look at innovation in the built environment, you can look at through a lot through a lot of different lenses You know, you've got Things going on just in in construction and building materials and building technology that are going to You know change what buildings look like how we experience them how they're built Um, how much they cost all of those things. So, you know, there's there's there's stuff out there on You know self repairing concrete there's stuff out there on transparent aluminum material. So all of those things are definitely going to affect You know, like I said, how buildings are built and what they look like and then you look at some of the technologies that The AE industry is looking at whether it be drones or laser scanners for serving or wearables and portables or even the The concept of augmented reality to help with the design phase and help a client understand what it is We're we're designing for them and building for them all those things. I think Are key to where the industry is going and how innovation is going to change things but You know as I as I think about it more in the context of The solutions that we bring firms and this concept of information management and digital transformation and how The typical AE firm is going to operate and how we're going to see that evolve as a result of innovations in the next decade or so You know the first thing I'd point out and this is going to seem maybe a little cliche But you know, BIM is still front and center. It's the first thing that that comes to mind when I think about this and You know, I think back to my time even before coming to deltech at least in the the area where the firm I worked at for Introducing Revit into the office. We were one of the first firms in the area To introduce Revit and that was you know, 15 years ago and we're still talking about BIM in a way as we're Right on the cusp of it sort of showing value. So I still think that's a huge Innovation that we're going to see really take hold more and more as the decade goes on and I also think you know, we're going to see It may be used in slightly different ways than we're seeing today and this whole concept of a digital twin for for buildings that are built I think we're poised on making that a reality and the benefit that that will Bring to not only our industry in terms of the services we can provide our customers, but also You know how a building is owned and operated after construction is complete So I think BIM is you know, like I said, maybe a little cliche. Maybe a little bit Overused but I still think that's a key innovation item in the in the decade ahead and I think the other one that I would add to that which is I think directly related in a lot of ways But it's data and again, maybe a little cliche to cite big data when we're talking about innovation, but I think this is something that's going to really start to help the typical AE firm You know as the technology has become more mainstream and commoditized, you know, we're going to see a firm's leverage whether it be big data or machine learning things like that in terms of how they design buildings how they Manage the economics of a building project how they identify potential risks and manage those risks Even even to the point in terms of how they select products for the buildings that they're designing I think you know, like I said data we've got so much data and it's time that we start using that and making it do some work for us Yeah, it's all it's interesting. And you know, certainly when you think of technology Certainly the word innovation comes to mind But one of the other words that comes to mind to me is overwhelming sometimes I mean there's I mean just based on what you just said you mentioned so many different roads we could go down in terms of You know another 10 different podcast episodes here and all these different topics and items And so I think just this is just my own recommendation on talking to a lot of firm leaders of different sizes I think one of the things that you just need to do in your firm is You know kind of keep harping on these things whether it's you put together a technology committee or something like that Where you have people reviewing things that are going on in the industry on a regular basis just because I know for the small the mid-sized firm sometimes you may not have Committees like that you may not be looking at things and again part of it could be like it's overwhelming And so I think kind of to Brett's point We know it's going to be critical moving forward And it doesn't mean you need to take every single technology and start using it right away But I think having you know keeping an eye on it can be helpful I would also think Brett not maybe you could speak this a little bit, but just just from my own interactions with people You know the the sooner a company embraces some of these technologies and gets their professionals used to using some of them Even if they're small and they're using some small products or services It's only going to make it easier to grow because at some point you're going to need to utilize more technology And from our conversation earlier, it sounds like the people and their ability to embrace it is critical Yeah, absolutely. And I think you hit on it very Accurately before when you said, you know, even if it's starting small and and sort of moving up from there. That's important I think one of the the the things that we try to tell customers when we get the digital transformation Question is start small and scale up You know, you don't have to make this huge investment in this brand new solution There's little things that you can do in your organization That will help you start down that digital transformation path one of the things that that we often talk to our customers About is you've got these great systems in place. Are you really leveraging to their leveraging them to their fullest extent? There might be a component that you're using in a sub optimized way there might be a component that you haven't even started using yet and We encourage customers to look at those pieces and say, how can you how can you Leverage that piece that you've already invested in to help your organization Maybe be more paperless. Maybe be more connected Maybe be better in terms of how you manage your teams and your projects and things like that So let's start small and and scale up. I think is important and I think you know, you your point about You know keeping an eye on what's going on out there You know, that's huge too because some Innovations some evolutions of technology aren't going to apply to certain organizations And some are going to apply to other types of organizations. So keeping an eye on what's going on out there To figure out, you know, which ones you should pursue and which ones you perhaps leave alone for for the time being is important as well Absolutely. Yeah, I would assume that company like deltech. That's something that you can assist companies with right if they're not quite sure Where did where did they feed in? Absolutely, you know, we we we have what we call optimization workshops with our customers On a regular basis to attack that specific thing, you know Let's figure out where we can optimize what you're doing where we can leverage what you've invested in more than you are today So that's definitely something that we bring to the table and we work with our customers Yeah, and that's something that in doing a lot of coaching and training in firms, you know Sometimes we get into just like personal productivity. So not so much with technology But you know how they set up their day things they're focusing on and oftentimes what comes up in conversations is Is the technology and a lot of times what I hear people say is, you know We've got this elaborate system, but either number one We don't know how to use it correctly or in totality or number two We feel like there's other avenues of it that they keep telling us we're going to use but we haven't got to use it yet So I definitely think that, you know, bre hit something there on that last point and that Sometimes the best place to start is take a look at what you've currently invested in and make sure that you're using every aspect of it And you know talk to your staff and you know, if you're working with a company like deltech I'm sure they can help you do this but talk to your staff and understand We've got this great software Um, you have some challenges Can we help you with the challenges with the software we have because we may be able to but we may not even know that We can or you may not even know that we have these capabilities. So there's lots of lots of roads to to dive down here Um, but it certainly seems like, you know, we know technology is the way of the future It's just to manage Just kind of being able to understand which is the best for you and your company at this time for your staff and kind of Growing from there. So what we're going to do now is we're just going to take a quick break I'm going to come back with bret and we're going to put them on the civil engineering hot seat and wrap this one up I hope you are enjoying this episode of the civil engineering podcast, which is produced by the engineering management institute Please be sure to subscribe to our youtube channel here for more podcast episodes And for all of our engineering manager 8020 shorts videos that we publish weekly where we interview successful Engineering managers now it's time to jump into our civil engineering hot seat segment All right, we are back with bret tussoff's vp of product management at deltech And it's time to put bret on the civil engineering hot seat bret. You ready for this? I'm ready. All right. Let's rock and roll So bret, are there any Specific routines or rituals that you practice on a daily basis? For example, maybe it's a morning routine or a lunchtime routine or something you do on a daily basis that helps contribute to your success and productivity So I would say probably the most routine or habitual thing that I do relates to um, I guess let's call it let's call it email management, you know, I As you can imagine like everybody else I get a ton of emails every day And because we're a global company I get a lot overnight as well So one of the first things I do in the morning is I exercise and go for a run That's key. I think but I'll sit down and before I sort of start my day I have time locked out where I'll go through my email and Look at the things that I need to prioritize in the next, you know, eight hours or so whatever that day looks like And it may sound like a simple thing, but it it really helps me sort of manage my in my head What my day is going to be like and make sure that I've prioritized the things that are Most important that need my attention that somebody might be waiting for And like I said, it sets up It sort of sets the foundation for the day and makes me feel better about everything else that I'm going to have Going on for that day Before I get into the meetings before I get into sort of the everything else that's going to happen in the day You know, that's great. No, that's something that we talk about here a lot when we do our productivity training Is really identifying those most important tasks for the day and it sounds like you know, that's something that you Kind of jump on early in the morning, which is of course I mean, I think at least the best time to do that. All right So next question is there a book that you might recommend or if you think about, you know, your career to date You know personal professional development, whatever it may be a book that jumped out that's been helpful for you That, you know, gave you some tips or strategies that you kind of used to this day So I'm going to answer with two. I hope that's okay, but There's two that come to mind when you ask a question like that. It's drive and switch Both great books and I actually remember reading them when I made the transition from the architecture firm to deltech and They were great just in sort of Philosophical thinking in terms of doing things different and looking at things different and what drives you to You know, be a good leader and things like that. Those are the two books that that jumped to mind and I often recommend to people in the context of you know, that type of You know, what what what what guides sort of your thinking I guess is probably the best way to describe it great All right Next question you've had undoubtedly managers or supervisors throughout your career like we all have and Not asking you to name names here, but if you think of your managers in the past and you think of oh I really remember this manager. They're one of my favorite managers What would be the reason that you identified that person, you know In other words, like, you know, what makes them such a good manager What made one or a couple of your managers so good that they kind of stood out to you in your career path? Are there any specific characteristics or skill sets? Absolutely. I think back to You know, I probably probably identified two and if I think back to my my pre belt deltech days You know in the firm I was in I had a lot of opportunity in front of me and As I you know, it sort of told my story and how I got to where I started in the world of architecture to where I am today I attribute a lot of that to a particular manager that I had, you know prior to coming to deltech and I think the the characteristic that has always stuck out to me as I think back to those times is Just the belief that that that person had in me Um, you know, it instilled confidence in me It instilled Sort of the desire to to drive ahead and and try new things and look at new things So it wasn't you know, this person didn't teach me a specific skill or you know Help bolster my knowledge in any way It was it was more sort of the how they approached their their belief and confidence in me that that helped me I think the most to progress forward And then the the second one I was going to mention after coming to deltech here You know manager that I had here. It was a similar situation, but the autonomy that they gave me Helped me a lot sort of grow and it was a very different world than I came from working in an architecture firm coming to a software company like deltech Um, and I think that that person's ability to give me that autonomy and and say hey You know go go people are are thirsty for decisions people are thirsty for knowledge Help them get to that and that that helped me a lot as well That's great. All right last question for you brett that we'd like to ask everybody. Let's say that you were to Step into an elevator with an AE professional You know and you had 30 to 40 seconds with that person and they asked you You know, what's kind of the best career advice that you could give me in the next 30 40 seconds What do you think based on your career to date and you know working a lot in this industry both as An architecture in as well on the on the product software side What would you say to that person? Well, I think the the first word that comes to mind when I think about that what that 30 to 40 seconds would be on is thirsty um, I think Once some of the best advice I've gotten in the past is always be thirsty And I think that applies not just to the AE world, but in general I think that's applied for me here at deltech as well But you know given if you look at everything you and I've talked about today, anthony the the innovations that are coming The rapidity with tech technology Is going today Not just in sort of the the tools that that help help our run our business But even around design and construction and things like that. Um, I think Getting stagnant or complacent in terms of where you are with your knowledge and what you're interested in is is a recipe for discontent for probably the best way to say it and being thirsty from the start and staying thirsty throughout to learn new things and You know explore where things are going I think that was that's probably the like I said the first thing that comes to mind when I think of what advice I would give in that situation That's great. Awesome. All right. Well once again brett tuss house vp of product management at deltech We want to thank you so much for spending some time with us here on the civil engineering podcast We really appreciate the time brett great. Thank you very much anthony. Appreciate you having me I hope you enjoyed this episode of the civil engineering podcast on youtube Produced by the engineering management institute We're always looking for new ways to help engineers become effective managers and leaders You can view all of our content on our website at engineering management institute dot org And be sure to subscribe to our youtube channel here for our weekly videos until next time Please continue to engineer your own success