A blog by Oleg Shilovitsky
Information & Comments about Engineering and Manufacturing Software

PLM Paradigm Shift: Product, Process, Social… Calendar?

PLM Paradigm Shift: Product, Process, Social… Calendar?
Oleg
Oleg
12 September, 2013 | 3 min for reading

We are in the middle of significant paradigm shift. Consumerization, cloud, mobile. This is only a short list of influencing factors changing the way we develop PLM products these days. Paradigm is a “framework of basic assumptions, ways of thinking, and methods” held by its practitioners. New PLM development are triggering a paradigm shift because it is changing our worldview of how we interact, develop product, run processes and communicate.

I’ve been thinking about different paradigms PLM application used in the past. Here is my top 3 paradigms I identified  – Product, Process / Project and Social.

Paradigm 1: Product

In my view, “product” is the original paradigm born together with CAD and other design and analytic tools. The big moment of product paradigm was development of digital mockup tools together with complex product configuration capabilities. These tools are not simple, but it solved critical product design and configuration problems.

Paradigm 2: Process / Project

As PLM tools development moved forward, the question of PLM adoption in organization came into focus. Organizations are run by process and to have the ability to us PLM process for such fundamental processes like ECO and others got traction. ERP and other business process applications success provided an additional input in PLM process development.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjWBJyV7aUQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjy-rpGU4zc

Paradigm 3: Social

Here is the newest paradigm shift – social. The latest innovation of social networks and web application provided new development perspective to PLM developers. To provide a Facebook-like user experience became a modern fashion, must-have features. We’ve seen it everywhere. The idea of social streams had some traction. However, from discussion with people and commentary on my blog, I’ve learned that adoption of PLM social application in real implementations is still very  slow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAH6-Wk6Ivc

I don’t think old paradigms are dying. At least not so fast. The lifecycle of enterprise product development is probably one of the slowest among other software development domains. Old paradigms like product and process are here and provide mainstream sales for PLM products. However, what can be the next paradigm that provide an increased adoption of PLM applications by users in organizations.

One of the interesting places to innovate these days is calendar. Think about many everyday applications we are using – calendar remains almost the same as we know him for the last 10-15 years. I’ve been reading about Fastcodesign blog about new scheduling app called – Mynd (I’ve heard about this app as NeverLate app before). Navigate here and have a read. Here is an interesting video. Watch it to learn more about “calendar oriented paradigm”.

What is my conclusion? Attention span. How to get your application in front of the user and get him to use your application frequently? How to make it valuable for larger amount of users? Calendar is the application we use every day. For most of us, calendars are part of our every day activity. Here is the dream. Can I make my calendar to schedule right meetings with right people based on the project schedule, list of critical issues in development and even more? Sounds crazy? IMHO, not so much. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

Recent Posts

Also on BeyondPLM

4 6
15 April, 2009

I’d like to get back to Excel discussion. I think that Excel is a really good application. And I don’t...

2 July, 2012

Pivoting. Are you familiar with this term? In a modern startup lingua franca, it means the management methods of making...

12 January, 2017

“Data as a Platform” is one of the most interesting trends to watch these days. I wrote about it in...

4 September, 2009

For years, PLM and not only PLM, but also other enterprise systems like ERP supported idea of a single backbone...

25 February, 2011

CAD and PLM world is extremely competitive. The decision process in the manufacturing industry is not fast. Companies are spending...

25 August, 2015

The technology around us is changing very fast. Even if you are 17 year old, you can already find your...

12 May, 2021

Earlier today, I attended the PI DX online meeting – Is Digital Thread Doomed WIthout Open Architecture. The virtual event...

1 February, 2020

PLM for small and medium-sized companies is driving more attention and discussions recently. My article Can Aras PLM Scale Down...

18 April, 2016

Integration is a popular word in PLM. It is a good word. It gives you a good taste and promise...

Blogroll

To the top