We had a Great Monday Live! Zoom discussion from Realcomm/IBcon21 in Scottsdale Arizona addressing the Need for Clarity

To bring clarity to all we do is hard because there's such a radical change that is part of everything we do. Not just little shifts doing just slightly different but the ways we do things digitally and with today's thoughts are just so completely different. We all are struggling with adapting to online life, the folks that were born online know no other way, so we got all of that change going on. Suddenly we're in a conversation talking about how we are going to do something and find ourselves not understanding how things have changed and how things will be done now. We are trying to bring clarity to something we do not well understand. We need to go back to basics. So what is it you think we are doing? Today's rapid change has us doing something completely different that we have not even imagined. Our definition and framing of the change that we are now living in is definitely a big part of creating clarity.

Everything we touch is changing. Are the people coming back to the buildings? Will the building be more of a hotel than an office? What format and where will the data be? Data gathered by systems or robots?  Will the energy for the building be carbon-free? Will electrical energy be stored on-site?  It's very difficult to comprehend all the changes upon us. We need to spend more time defining what it is we're trying to do and how change has modified that before we even attempt to try to clarify.

The globalization of everything is occurring as one of those changes that affect us. So when you're talking to people, when you're trying to define the thing you're trying to clarify is their commonality we agree on? It's going to be a hybrid model, but whether that's a European hybrid model or American, or whether it's owner-driven, or whether it's a lease and just this whole new definition of a model we have not seen.  Does it use cyber currency? Are the actual devices going to start doing the negotiations? Just everything that we can imagine is in change? It's really difficult to frame a conversation. We need to keep going right back to basic because you have no idea what the other person knows or what they're assuming as their parameters. A better understanding of what has changed is the roots of all clarity.

It is impossible to create an environment of clarity and alignment when transparency is missing from its leadership. ... This is why leaders must have clarity in purpose and focus and an alignment of strategic philosophy and resolution goals for their change management objectives.

The process making of something that's ultimately easy to use can actually be very complex.

Our generation created everything we have from small pieces which we well understood.  The connected generation inherited complex working technologies with clarity at the touch of a screen icon.   They have very little idea how that all comes together and the complexity and change that was required to achieve. They are better prepared to move quickly in this space. Bringing clarity for all will be a challenge. The open discussions, a meeting of the minds are of great help, we all learn from them.


In one of our Zoom meetings, the need for Clarity of all we do was being discussed. It was quipped that Ken Sinclair needs to morph to be Sinclarity.

I agree we all need to add clarification to all we do but clarification depends greatly on the framing and the definition of our clarification with mutual agreement on purpose and reason for being.  As our definition often involves multi solutions to the same problem.  Wayfinding is part of the required Clarification.

Wayfinding refers to information systems that guide us through an environment and enhance our understanding and experience. Wayfinding is particularly important in complex environments.

I am finding that is easier to say "Clarification" than to provide it, as everything we based clarity on is changing.....rapidly. To achieve Clarity we must understand and define change.

Over the 18 months of Monday Live! conversations, the group felt that some framework is necessary to organize all of the components, technologies, products, and companies that now proliferate the industry. The Smarter Stack is that tool. Clarifying the reach/purpose of our products and services by using this open source stack tool the complex can be simplified and clarified for presentation.

Notice that the first line of the Tool is Purpose - Why is this being done?  The outcomes desired by owners, managers and occupants. This is the place to define what has changed.
 
In this interview, Anto and I introduce and discuss using the open-source free smarter stack tool to create a library that would assist us to better understand the complexity of existing and new products and services by presenting them on a common functional frame presentation graphic.
 
A Smarter Stack for Smarter Buildings  Contributing editor  Anto Budiardjo "Facility IT Evangelist" & Ken Sinclairity

As we all start to use the tool its value greatly increases as the library shows how each user evolves the tool.

Often the positioning of our products and services are defined by use case and client purpose so the stack changes and answer becomes "it depends" requiring further clarification as to our approach for each project. As our collaborators change for each project to match purpose using the open-source stack tool as a wayfinding tool become of great importance.

Our industry needs clarification and definition of our change to attract new talent, good discussions in these insightful articles and interviews.

Fill Vacant Positions Using A New Apprenticeship Model  Author: Melissa Boutwell Chairman, Emerging Technology Apprenticeship Program
                                                         

In this interview  Sinclair - What is BIG ?

Survey: Frontline Manufacturing Workers May Leave Current Company for a More Digitally Enabled Workplace

The built environment continues to be transformed by the adoption of modern operating platforms for smart building management. Exciting advancements in connectivity technologies, advancing protocols, and the proliferation of data, help provide tangible outcomes to building owners and operators.  But it is IP devices, distributed architectures, integration, and interoperability that are the real transformers and are becoming the backbones for building operating and management platforms.

The number of connected devices in operation in the commercial smart building will grow from 1.7 billion in 2020 to just under 3 billion by 2025 representing a CAGR of 10.8% (Memoori, August 2021).

Our efforts to Create Clarity are embodied in  THE COALITION FOR SMARTER BUILDINGS We envision a world where people live, learn, work, and play in healthy, comfortable, and productive built-spaces, enabled by smart digital technologies that ensure sustainable and economically responsible development and operation.