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

How to strip PLM down to minimum needed functions?

How to strip PLM down to minimum needed functions?
Oleg
Oleg
24 July, 2015 | 3 min for reading

plm-strip-down-microsoft-send

In a swift move, Microsoft decided to reinvent email. I guess, many of you had a chance to work with Outlook in your life. In different periods of my working career, I had love and hate relationships with Outlook. The complexity and slowness of Outlook was one of the things I hated the most. Here is the change. Microsoft just introduced minimum email client with focus on communication only. The following passage explains that:

Unlike Outlook, Send is not meant to be a full-featured email app: you can’t use it to view emails you’ve already received or search your inbox. The super simple app only shows threads that have been started from within the app. The idea, Microsoft says, is to strip out the unnecessary (and annoying) parts of email — subject lines and signatures, for example — to make those quick day-to-day brief messages you exchange with coworkers and colleagues faster and easier. “With Send, there are no signatures, subject lines or salutations required,” Microsoft’s Outlook team explains. “Our design principle for the app was to make conversations fast and fluid while keeping the people who are important to you at its core.”

A lot already being said about complexity of email collaboration. It is just messy. Lot of messages, threads, copies, some people forgot to include somebody else and it opens another thread. In one of my earlier blogs I discussed Engineers and Email workhorse. The point I wanted to make was about finding a new way to communicate more efficiently.

Microsoft Blog article gives you more information and few additional screenshots to explain how it works. The following passage clearly explains the value proposition

While tools like text messaging and IM are great for short messages, you often don’t have your co-worker’s cell phone number or an IM app on your work phone. And we’ve heard loud and clear from people at work, they want all their communications available in Outlook—even if they send them from other apps. This is where Send comes in! Send gives you the simple, quick text message-like experience while allowing you to reach all co-workers and have all of your communications in Outlook for reference later.

It made me think again about complexity of PLM applications. Even in modern applications, the desired function you need is “15 clicks away” from you. For example, when it comes to communication about changes, it could be annoying and, as a result, people will shift conversation to email or messenger. This is how valuable engineering and product information is usually lost in organization. Just imagine communication with support team about specific issues in the product experienced by customer. Support technician has no patience to deal with annoying PLM clicks. Instead of that, he pushed text message or email. There is a good chance, original information from customer can be lost and engineering will work to fix slightly different problem. Did it happen to you? Just be honest…

What is my conclusion? For many years, PLM systems assumed completeness is the first priority systems must achieve to get bought by customer. It was true in sales round including spreadsheets comparing functions provided by multiple system. To win a deal was about to provide more functions. I think it is fundamentally wrong approach these days. Less is more. Strip down functions to minimal set of functions – it will boost PLM adoption across organizations. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

Recent Posts

Also on BeyondPLM

4 6
26 August, 2013

Bill of Materials is a huge topic. It is hard to underestimate the importance of BOM management in general as...

20 August, 2015

Collaboration in is an interesting topic. Whether you are a 3-person team or a 10,000 person OEM manufacturing company, some...

9 April, 2025

You ever read something and immediately think, “Yep… been there”? That’s exactly what happened when I saw Brion Carroll II’s...

13 February, 2013

IT consumerization speed is probably underestimated. At the time we are discussing if enterprise workers need to use tablets, mobile...

1 September, 2019

One of the presentations during last ConX19 event last week in San-Diego, was from Craig Brown, former PLM leader of...

29 December, 2020

This time of the year is a great opportunity to reflect on multiple topics. My article last week – PLM...

5 December, 2008

PLM innovation – is it about risk? In today’s world everybody speak about innovation. I’d like to ask you about...

10 June, 2023

Earlier this week, my attention was caught by a CNBC article Firms are bringing production back home because of the...

28 April, 2016

In software application programming interface (API) is a set of routines, protocols and tools to build a software. An API...

Blogroll

To the top