As I’ve mentioned previously, I am not tech-savvy. In today’s society that’s akin to saying “I don’t like puppies.” It’s not a lack of intelligence. It’s a lack of interest.
If I had been born Steve Jobs, I would have used my talents to find a way for people to get the first season of “The Flintstones” on their computers and let it go at that. When they looked for an upgrade, I’d give them the second season of “The Flintstones.” Technology doesn’t excite me. I don’t get jazzed over the next computer software upgrade or iPhone version (pick a number) or even higher definition TV. It’s just not in me. Our cable provider just went “all digital,” and my neighbor was amazed at how much better the picture was on his high-definition TV. I told him I couldn’t tell the difference, and he looked at me as if I had something against puppies.
I bring this up because I have to use technology as part of my job. And it is a great help.
For example, our copy editor Cathy Jackson and I are in the middle of putting together WorkBoat’s Annual Construction Survey. This is my 18th survey, and thanks to technology, the communications part of the information gathering for this survey as compared to the first one I worked on is like comparing riding a bicycle to herding cats.
While we worked with computers, the majority of our information gathering was done by phone and fax. Macs and PCs refused to speak to one another. Many of the surveys were filled out by hand. Now we take last year’s survey in an Excel file, email it to the appropriate shipyard, changes are made, and it’s emailed back. Beautiful. Of course, there’s more to it than just information gathering, but the upgrade is a significant time saver. Cathy use to put in about 60 hours a year on the survey. Now she puts in about half that.
And it lowers the frustration level considerably.
Of course there are still components of the process that are frustrating. Some yards don’t want to be part of the survey because the owners they are building for don’t want their competitors to know what they’re building. Message to owners: they already know. For the first time, the WorkBoat editors named a “Boat of the Year” in 2014 — the 314'x66'x30' offshore refueling vessel Great Expectations co-owned by John W. Stone Oil Distributor and Edison Chouest Offshore. It was our inaugural Boat of the Year and it’s not in our survey because it was built at Chouest’s La Ship boatyard and Chouest doesn’t want to be part of the survey. Good grief.
Look for this year's Construction Survey, minus our Boat of the Year, in the March issue of WorkBoat.
