Steve jobs on consulting

Steve Jobs once did a speech on consulting and how crucial it is for learning and improvement to “stick around” for a long time, several years, to fully “own” the consequences of your recommendations. I have worked as a consultant most of my professional life and it hit very close to home. In the building industry where I am an acoustic consultant, the delay between your first advice to a client to the finalized building is measured in years. And I am finally getting old enough to seeing several of “my” projects materialize. It is equally scary and wonderful.

Acoustics, EngineeringRikard ÖqvistMarch 21, 2024acoustics, consulting, wisdom, construction, buildingsComment

Analogies between AI and Wooden buildings

Since almost ten years, I have been doing a yearly guest lecture at my old university. In the beginning of my presentation, I use a couple of slides where I demonstrate Moore´s law, and how the fastest supercomputer on Earth was beaten by a Playstation less than ten years later. Then I move on to demonstrate where we are now and a hint where we are going. I usually look up what is the state of the art shortly before the lecture, and every time I notice that the monster computer that was the king of the hill, was already old news. And indeed, progress is accelerating. But what does this have to do with wooden constructions?

EngineeringRikard ÖqvistFebruary 23, 2024acoustics, wood, timber, buildings, AI, moores lawComment

Don’t waste your time with daytime noise measurements

Last week I got an urgent call to measure noise from installations as soon as humanly possible, in a project which have had some problems with too loud ventilation. The problem had just been mitigated (hopefully) but they still needed a protocol to give the green light to the building. I basically booked the next possible flight and went to Stockholm. Usually, I hate doing these one-day trips. They can often be exhausting. This time however, it wasn’t a complete disaster. I had planned extreme margins both before and after the measurement. Still, I learned a couple of valuable lessons on why these one-day trips are a bad idea anyway.

Engineering, AcousticsRikard ÖqvistDecember 12, 2022noise, installations, ventilation, acoustics, buildings, quality Comments

Most of the things you worry about never happen

I have been working with the acoustic design of timber buildings my whole career, but it isn’t until this past year that actual buildings are inaugurated, and people move in. The building process is slow, and it takes several years from the start to the end user getting a new home. And even then, it’ll probably take another six months until you know whether you did a good job. If you hear nothing, that is. If something goes wrong and the tenants perceive annoyance, you will probably learn about it much sooner.

Engineering, PhilosophyRikard ÖqvistNovember 23, 2021CLT, timber, buildings, civil engineeringComment