In this blog we'll explore how the principle of Deep Work by Cal Newport can improve your engineers productivity. Does it feel harder for you to focus on your creative, technical work? When I speak to engineers or management staff and ask this question, the answer...
Engineering Operations
Why Process Automation Is Critical For Engineering
Process automation releases your engineers for the work their brains are intended for. That work is creativity and problem-solving. By implementing process automation, you improve the team’s morale. Firstly, they get more focus time for deep work and designing better...
How Workflow Integration Boosts Engineering Productivity
How to solve the problem that hides in plain sight Engineers rarely talk about “workflow integration” for items like CAD files or project data management (PDM). They’re too busy doing their jobs! However, that exact mindset presents a major issue. Many engineers think...
January 2022 vCAD feature updates
Happy New Year vCAD Users! It was a busy 2021 in terms of vCAD development and feature enhancements. We've been receiving lots of feedback regarding the platform, and we're assembling a roadmap for 2022 based on our users' needs. Here's what to expect in 2022:...
Is The IT Department Really “Dead?”
“It’s Time to Get Rid of the IT Department.” That was the title of an opinion piece recently published in the Wall Street Journal. Provocative? Sure. My answer to this is not “yes,” but many of the author’s points are valid. The Same Old IT Department? No, the IT...
What is Data Engineering?
Strictly defined, data engineering, which is also known as information engineering (IE), information technology engineering (ITE), or information engineering methodology (IEM), is a software engineering approach to designing and developing information systems. Data...
How to Avoid the Top 5 Hybrid Cloud Pitfalls
If you’re like many engineering managers, IT infrastructure may not be your favorite topic. You think about it when absolutely necessary, but often neglect it or place it behind other capital investments. What's more, there's a good chance your current IT solutions...
Optimal Continuous Integration Practices (Part 1)
Continuous Integration (CI) is a critical piece of any company’s software development practices, and usually the first effort on the road to DevOps. Within optimal continuous integration practices, engineers submit and test new developments against the main body of...
Accelerating Product Releases with Business Process Automation
The beauty of business process automation How often have we entered the same information into two different systems and wondered, “Why do I have to waste my time doing this?” These are computers, aren’t they? Shouldn’t this information flow where it needs...
Creating a CI System
...Continuous Integration Best Practices (Part 2) As I noted in Optimal Continuous Integration Best Practices (Part 1), there are 10 best practice principles associated with Continuous Integration. In Part 1, we looked at the first three. For Part 2, we pick up...
Optimal Continuous Integration Best Practices (Part 3)
November, 2021 As I noted in “Continuous Integration Best Practices—Part 1” and “Continuous Integration Best Practices—Part 2,” there are 10 best practice principles associated with Continuous Integration. In the previous articles, we covered the first six. In this...
How to Maximize Engineering Design Automation for CAD/PDM
In recent years, interest in engineering design automation across multiple industries skyrocketed, especially due to the high return on investment (ROI). Relieving your engineers from tedious, error-prone tasks and directing them toward automation presents a fantastic...