I just had it reinforced that technology solutions are still dependent upon the nut behind the wheel (user). I recently moved up from a 10 year old vehicle to a new one with interactive computer controls for almost everything imaginable. The same applies to technology solutions in construction – be it in the field or in the office.
It doesn’t matter if you have an earthwork program that is used for takeoff and then field elevation control. If you do not set it up in the field correctly you will not get the right elevations. If you set it up right once, it does not mean it will get set up right the next time.
Estimating software is another big time saver. The resulting on screen displays and/or prints are impressive. Because they look good, they must be right. However if the user does know how to prepare an estimate, the results will be impressive looking garbage.
The same holds true for scheduling software. If the user doesn’t know the logical relationships between the activities, the schedule is worthless. Impressive, but not worth the time it took to prepare.
I imagine the same holds true for most software. I know it certainly does for spreadsheets, word processing and accounting software.
Oh, By the Way… My moment of enlightenment in the car was finding out I needed to turn the heater on after two days of wondering why the temperature was not coming up to the one set on the screen!
