Most commercial simulations are a highly collaborative team endeavor. Prior to the pandemic, this collaboration was usually handled organically by simply placing the entire team in the same office space. The nearly continuous face-to-face interaction kept the collaboration lively and effective. During the pandemic, many of us have had to work remotely. This broke the traditional model of co-locating engineers to facilitate team communication. With engineers working from home, simulation development can be much more difficult.
Before COVID 19
Consider a modification to the simulation involving the work of more than one engineer. In the past, this would be handled by a mix of formal and informal conversations in the office. Typically, the initial conversation would be a formal meeting to cover the basic goals and approach, but wouldn’t clarify every detail. The involved engineers would then begin development, and eventually discover some detail that needed to be resolved with other engineers. These would typically be handled by informal conversations in the office, often involving a whiteboard to convey concepts more clearly. This informal interaction was an organic part of the development effort, and kept the project moving forward smoothly. Depending on the project, this interaction would be backed up by some degree of documentation.
During COVID 19
Consider the same process, but with engineers working remotely. The initial meeting is just not as smooth:
- There is an implicit protocol in an on-line meeting: Only one person talking at a time. Instant messaging is not a substitute for a sidebar.
- Despite advances in on-line collaboration, there still is no substitute for the whiteboard in a meeting: Shared whiteboard tools don’t work nearly as well as a real whiteboard. Any illustration that was not prepared digitally prior to the meeting will not be presented to the team for immediate comprehension and feedback.
- It is difficult for the manager to gauge the response from the audience. Nobody ever looks confused, and there are no side-long glances when a mistake is made. You can’t see that ‘aha’ moment.
- If the audience is not comprehending some salient point, participants are more reluctant to be the first to admit they don’t understand it, because they can’t gauge the responses, either.
The subsequent interactions are also impeded:
- A phone call to a colleague’s home is more intrusive than an informal meeting at the office. Many engineers are more reluctant to reach out when they need input from others.
- Some engineers want to schedule a time for each phone call. This is not as efficient as an impromptu conversation in the office.
- In these informal interactions, the whiteboard is king. That’s gone.
The need for supporting documentation has not changed, and the most common workflow for this has not changed: One author will compose the initial draft, and share it for review via email or collaboration tools.
SystemBlend™
The alert reader will notice that everything described above applies to nearly all business interactions, and is not limited to simulation development. However, there are certain aspects of simulation development that can be exploited to directly address these issues. We at Blend Dynamics have been developing the SystemBlend™ application suite to streamline simulations that are being developed in a geographically dispersed fashion:
- SystemDesigner is focused on design, and is where the team collaborates on the direction and architecture of the simulation.
- ComponentGuide supports the component developers by guiding the subsystem development and ensuring the component complies with the specifications captured in SystemDesigner.
- IntegrationMaster provides drag-and-drop integration of the components so engineers can build a working simulation in minutes.
To make the communication smooth, the simulation development team can use collaboration tools to share the desktop on which SystemDesigner is running. The design updates in SystemDesigner are concrete and unambiguous, eliminating misunderstandings at the conceptual level and in the details. While the design is being edited, the stakeholders can see precisely what is being changed, and decide whether the proposed updates support the simulation goals. This precision in communication eliminates the need to ‘read’ the audience.
Once the design changes are accepted by the team, the required updates to the implementation are quite clear in the ComponentGuide application. The components have been precisely defined and changes to them are clear, so there is greatly reduced need for further collaboration between the component developers. The updates, to the design and to the components, are organically incorporated into the simulation via IntegrationMaster.
If, during the component implementation, one of the stakeholders encounters a problem at the design level, the team can go back to SystemDesigner to negotiate the changes among the stakeholders. Similarly, if an issue is uncovered in the integrated simulation, the team can go to SystemDesigner. This feedback loop keeps the project moving forward. By going back to the original design, this approach ensures that issues are resolved at the source, and all changes are approved by the team.
This change in the workflow will bring other advantages:
- The roles of the team members will be more clearly defined. Each component can be assigned to one engineer, providing a sense of ownership. Within each component, the developer can apply whatever engineering judgement is appropriate, and whatever style is desired, without affecting the rest of the project.
- The SystemBlend™ design database becomes the resulting documentation. The database itself becomes a clear and precise description of what the team negotiated.
- Ad-hoc resolution of issues between individual engineers won’t be sprung on the team unexpectedly.
Because SystemBlend™ is minimally intrusive on your existing processes, it can be readily incorporated into a project that is already established. Your existing code base will be fully conserved, because SystemBlend™ does not replace your simulation environment, but instead works within it. The SystemBlend™ learning curve is small because it is helping your engineers do what they are already doing, instead of replacing their work. Finally, your existing design can be easily captured into SystemDesigner.