Peer Check

Long before the pandemic caused a rise in remote work, Dr. Wanita Dixon was researching ways for virtual engineering teams to work together more effectively.

As the CEO and Founder of Technical Creative Consulting LLC, Wanita helps companies foster innovation through visual art teambuilding. And after 20+ years of progressive experience at industry heavyweights like Carrier, Alliance, Pratt & Whitney, and Lockheed Martin — it’s safe to say she knows a thing or two about effective engineering leadership.

On this episode of Peer Check, Wanita joins host Adam Keating to talk about leading globally-dispersed teams and how to get maximal contributions from everyone you manage.

Listen as Wanita and Adam chat about:

• The LOVE framework for leading virtual teams effectively
• Managing globally-dispersed engineering teams
• Why emotional intelligence is an indispensable component of leadership
• How to democratize product innovation and make sure everyone is heard   

More information about Wanita and today’s topics:

Look, we know it’s hard to drive real change within a large enterprise.

Bigger companies are notorious for moving slower when making decisions, adjusting processes, adopting new technology, and so on. There are plenty of reasons for this, and some of them are very good reasons. But as we saw when the Covid pandemic first hit: it doesn’t always have to be that way.

As a member of the Danfoss Power Solutions leadership team, Domenico Traverso heads up the Incubation division that launched in 2021. Devoted solely to fostering innovation in the industry, the Incubation division is comprised of seven business units — each with its own entrepreneurial leader. On this episode of Peer Check, Domenico joins host Adam Keating to share what he’s learned.

Listen as Domenico and Adam chat about:

• What intrapreneurship means
• Harnessing entrepreneurial spirit in product development
• How leaders can drive change within large engineering enterprises
• Why challenging status quo is an essential component of innovation    

More information about Domenico and today’s topics:

PLM software first emerged in the late 80s/early 90s. Since then, PLM has established itself as a foundational tool for engineering companies.

But now, the next digital wave in engineering has arrived. Cloud collaboration tools are becoming the norm across every industry, and mechanical teams are finally starting to catch up to the cloud revolution.

Oleg Shilovitsky, CEO and Co-founder of OpenBOM, has written more than 4000 blog posts about PLM and related topics. In this episode, Oleg and Adam dive into the current state of PLM and how companies can develop a tech strategy that looks at PLM and cloud tech holistically.

Listen to their conversation to hear:

• How the discussion around PLM has changed over time
• Why there’s no such thing as “the best PLM”
• The obstacles that prevent large companies from making better, faster decisions about technology
• Why user adoption needs to be central to your tech decisions and strategy 

More information about Oleg and today’s topics:

Every great feat of engineering comes down to one thing: the team that made it happen.

And whether you’re building everyday products that become part of people’s lives, or designing cutting-edge innovations that might end up on the moon — your success is determined by the way your engineering team works together, communicates, and gets things done.

So what exactly do today’s high-performing engineering teams have in common?

Based on 100s of conversations with ambitious teams along with our own research, we’ve identified the trends that set top teams apart. In this episode of Peer Check, CoLab’s CEO Adam Keating delivers a keynote address to share the highlights.

Listen as Adam breaks down insights on:

• Why more F500 annual reports than ever mention faster time-to-market
• How top engineering teams are commercializing new technologies faster than the competition
• Practical examples of digital transformation sourced from over 100 manufacturing companies
• 3 engineering processes you need to rethink for effectiveness instead of efficiency
• The real opportunity for cloud technology in mechanical design 

More information about Adam and today’s topics:

As hardware capabilities have evolved over the last 50 years, many industries have successfully integrated new technologies and adapted to changing customer expectations. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the case in design manufacturing.From passing around PowerPoint slides to a lack of mobile device support, the design manufacturing industry needs to embrace technology that allows for more efficient, impactful, and cost-effective collaboration. Because as time goes on, innovation will continue to leave the industry further behind.

István Csanády is one person leading the way for companies to start adopting new technology. István is the Founder & CEO of Shapr3D, a cloud tool that lets users take their CAD on the road by making it possible to design and iterate seamlessly across desktop and mobile devices.

Listen in as Adam and István discuss:

• Specific ways design manufacturing technology needs to be updated
• How design and manufacturing vendors can differentiate themselves effectively
• Changing customer expectations around hardware and software capabilities
• Democratizing access to CAD   

More information about István and today’s topics:

As software companies seem to build, iterate, and ship faster each year, hardware companies face increasing pressure to do the same. But designing and manufacturing hardware comes with a host of challenges that software teams don’t have to deal with.

So how can hardware companies keep up? What methods can help them scale their operations, build trusted partnerships with suppliers and distributors, and continue to develop amazing products?

Our very own Mark Morreale, Engineer-in-Residence at CoLab Software, has dedicated his life to building hardware and building it better. Mark joins the show to share his perspective on how hardware companies can prepare for the future by adopting new methods, building better partnerships, and embracing change.

Join us as we discuss:

• Challenges and considerations when developing and shipping hardware
• Adapting existing processes versus starting from scratch
• Why hardware companies are facing increasing expectations around production speed and profit margin
• The transition from planning and design to manufacturing
• Whatsupply chain challenges really mean for hardware companies
• How to build a trusted partner network by focusing on value-add rather than cost 

More information about Mark and today’s topics:

Adopting new technology comes with major concerns around data security, financial risk, business value, longevity, and more. Yet these concerns are causing many engineering leaders to overspend on outdated technology instead of reaping the rewards of the cloud.

In this episode, Robert Percy, VP Security & IT at CoLab Software, joins Adam to discuss how engineering leaders can think differently about cloud technology, build strong partnerships with IT leaders, and create effective adoption strategies for new tech.

Listen to Adam and Robert discuss:

• How to evaluate new cloud tools for security and reliability 
• Why emails are unsecured communications 
• How engineering leaders can build a partnership with IT leaders
• Risk vs. reward for cloud technology vs. on-prem infrastructure   

More information about Robert and today’s topics:

Today’s engineering teams are facing skyrocketing expectations. The products they’re designing are more complex than ever, there’s constant pressure to raise quality while lowering cost, and it seems like every company is trying to drastically slash time to market so they can get products launched faster.

Yet many of today’s market leaders are still designing products the same way they did 20 years ago—and it’s holding them back. That’s why Adam Keating and Jeremy Andrews founded CoLab Software. On this episode of Peer Check, Adam and Jeremy share CoLab’s origin story and talk about how teams are using CoLab to get results.

Join us as we discuss:

• How Adam and Jeremy went from developing one of the world’s first Hyperloop vehicles to working in Silicon Valley—then deciding to shift gears
• Why the status quo for engineering collaboration doesn’t cut it
• The evolution of CoLab from early concept to today
• What engineering leaders are saying about trends in the market

More information about Adam, Jeremy, and today’s topics:

There’s a lot of talk about Model-Based Definition (MBD), which means there’s also a lot of different opinions out there. It’s one thing to paint a picture of some future vision for a Model-Based Enterprise—but how can you start taking steps today to make MBD practical for your team?

That’s exactly what the Action Engineering team does. Jennifer Herron, Founder and CEO, and Rhiannon Gallagher, Chief Business Psychologist, join Adam Keating to talk all about MBD and what they’ve seen working with organizations to achieve MBD and MBE goals.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why bother with MBD at all
• The challenges of shifting toward MBD
• How psychological safety impacts manufacturing organizations
• MBD and supply chain relationships

More information about Jennifer Herron and Rhiannon Gallagher and today’s topics:

Keeping track of progress and KPIs feels like a never-ending challenge in any industry. But for engineering and manufacturing businesses, it gets even more difficult. When unexpected delays and obstacles can pop up at any moment, how can leaders set the right goals to guide their team to success?

Niru Somayajula, CEO of Sensor Technology, joins Adam Keating to dive into her approach to setting KPIs within an engineering company, how to be an effective leader, and what it takes to foster growth.

Join us as Niru and Adam talk about:

• How a technical background impacts growth and success as a business leader
• How financial transparency improves a team’s understanding of KPIs and company goals
• Setting company goals using revenue targets and budget constraints
• How Sensor Technology balances OKRs with individual KPIs
• Lead and lag indicators in an engineering context

More information about Niru and today’s topics:

The idea of the “solo innovator” working alone on an invention is pretty familiar to most of us. But when it comes to complex mechanical design, engineering is inherently collaborative work. Great breakthroughs don’t come from individuals; they come from teams.

Dr. Alison Olechowski, Assistant Professor at University of Toronto, joins host Adam Keating to share perspectives gained from leading multiple studies on the impact of collaborative practices in engineering.

Listen to the full episode as Alison and Adam discuss:

• The results of successful collaboration
• The benefits of designing collaboratively
• The need for stakeholder input in co-design
• How to create opportunities for co-design
• The future of design engineering 

More information about Alison and today’s topics:

From legacy infrastructure to prohibitive costs, innovating within the manufacturing world comes with many obstacles.

On today’s episode, we discuss what it takes to shake things up, introduce new methods, and decide which digital transformation trends are worth paying attention to (and which aren’t).

In this conversation with Robin Dechant, Co-founder of Aveo, you’ll hear:

• Aveo’s origin story
• The most exciting digital transformation trends in manufacturing
• The biggest obstacles holding innovation back
• How disruption happens in manufacturing

More information about Robin Dechant and today’s topics:

Implementing change in an industry as complex as shipbuilding is extraordinarily difficult to accomplish.

But sometimes change is necessary to keep up with technological innovations. The best way to get through it? With an open, collaborative mindset.

All great engineering managers have one thing in common: they know how to build strong relationships.

Those relationships become the key to unlocking career progression, building trust, and earning the authority to implement new methods.

The engineering world may have been slower than other industries to embrace cloud-based tools, but that gap is narrowing. More and more engineering teams are seeing the value of cloud-native solutions that integrate well with other tools.

Today’s workers want modern tech. The 21st century is well underway, and workplaces need to keep up if they want to attract (and retain) top talent.

How do great engineers become great leaders? It takes more than a title change—it takes a mindset change.