First Digital Twin Roadblock Workshop (Jam 1) : Outcomes

[Guest]

Hi everyone,

Here is the feedback from the first Digital Twin Roadblock Workshop. There were five main roadblocks identified and discussed:

Data Issues; Governance and Guidance; Vision & Value; Need & Want and Readiness (please note that these are in no particular order).

• Do these roadblocks chime with your own experience? 
• Is there anything you would like to add? 
• Is there anything we have missed?

We are posting these five roadblocks below separately and in more detail, please feel free to comment and vote on any (or all) of them until Sunday 10 October.

Thank you for all your contributions!

Edited October 4, 2021 by JoaoF

[Guest]

Data Issues 

'Security' is a blocker when there are IT risks, rights issues or a lack of legislation. 

'Processing' is a blocker when there is too much data or inadequate technology infrastructure. 

'Collection' is a blocker when there are live  connection issues, collection cost is high or location inaccessible. 

'Interoperability' is a blocker when data cannot be aggregated, there are no analytics to guide implementation and inconsistent use of lexicon. 

[Guest]

Governance & Guidance:

'Strategy' is a blocker when there is an unclear purpose, definition or business case.  

'Execution' is a blocker when tech languages or standards are different, when workflow or project lifecycles are not aligned or when developer mindsets are not aligned.

'Culture' is a blocker when organisations are siloed, legal issues prevent data sharing and DTs are mis-sold 

[Guest]

Vision & Value:

'Money' is a blocker when there isn't enough or too much is required as up--front costs. 

'Time' is a blocker when the project doesn't have a high enough priority or the team is not big enough. 

'Business Case' is a blocker when the DT is seen as non-core investment, less substantial than capex or its lifecycle ROI is not established. 

[Guest]

Need & Want 

'Purpose' is a blocker when there is no senior buy-in, clients are not requesting a DT and when people believe their sector is exempt. 

'Understanding' is a blocker when there is no agreed DT definition, where they are marketed as products and when organisations have low DT maturity.

[Guest]

Readiness

'Skills' are a blocker when there is a lack of knowledge about new technologies, training for new roles required and clarity about how DTs are changing industry processes. 

'Standardisation' is a blocker when there is no framework and a lack of standards or standardised data structure.

'Expertise' is a blocker when the lack of it makes it difficult to know where to start and when DT advice or guidance sounds exclusive. 

[Lola Carbajal]

Wow @JoaoF! I couldn't agree more 

 

[Guest]

On 01/10/2021 at 16:34, Lola Carbajal said:

Wow @JoaoF! I couldn't agree more 

 

Thank you Lola. Your participation in the first workshop is much appreciated - it was great to see you there!

[Dave Murray]

Hi Katie,

Thanks for sending me a link to the map. Unfortunately, the resolution is such that I can’t read it!

However, I have added some comments that may be duplicates (my background is defence, so maybe some of these don’t apply to other areas):

Data Issue:

A way is needed to store data so that it can be recalled as easily as possible against a whole list of search criteria. Creating the list of criteria is a significant task. Finding a way to store data, tagged with these criteria, is an even bigger task.

Governance and Guidance Issues:

Having an identifiable and accessible owner of issues is important to avoid spurious decisions being taken to overcome them.

Need and Want:

It is important for purposes of prioritisation of tasks by the supplier, that needs and wants are separated and ranked by the user, not the supplier.

Readiness:

The current state of the art helps to identify next tasks. In turn that helps to coordinate deployment of resources to bridge gaps. That's important to maintain a good rate of progress and reduce nugatory effort. This comment could also apply to “Vision and Value”

I hope this helps!

Cheers,

Dave Murray

[Katie Walsh]

@Dave Murray Many thanks for the extra blockers - we will include these on the board. When looking at the 'map' - the 'jam board', it's on software called Mural -  to see the individual bits clearly just zoom in however you would normally do this (pinch the mouse pad, or right click or whatever). Or utilise the Outline function, then each bit of the board automatically zooms up when you hit each line of the outline. Annotated screen grab attached about outline function, if you have a mo, but you have certainly done your bit.

[Laurie Reynolds]

I had same  problem as Dave Murray,  the PNG was too coarse resolution to read individual post-it notes.

The summaries are useful but it would be good to be able to read individual post-its under a specific toipic, e.g. Interoperability for example.

Can you also post a link to the Mural document please?

I'm sorry I missed the event but 

[Laurie Reynolds]

On 29/09/2021 at 18:10, JoaoF said:

Readiness

'Skills' are a blocker when there is a lack of knowledge about new technologies, training for new roles required and clarity about how DTs are changing industry processes. 

'Standardisation' is a blocker when there is no framework and a lack of standards or standardised data structure.

'Expertise' is a blocker when the lack of it makes it difficult to know where to start and when DT advice or guidance sounds exclusive. 

I absloutely support the importance of interoperability standards but another important blocker is misalignment of public procurement methods and diffiiculty of arranging collaborative, risk sharing for problem definition and development.

[Deeyesbee]

Thanks DW. Very interesting additions.   Am I right in thinking that you have identified two new blockers as follows:

1. Misalignment of public procurement methods (with what please?) 

2. Lack of collaborative problem definition

Thanks!

 

David 

 

[Guest]

On 19/10/2021 at 15:10, Digital Water said:

I had same  problem as Dave Murray,  the PNG was too coarse resolution to read individual post-it notes.

The summaries are useful but it would be good to be able to read individual post-its under a specific toipic, e.g. Interoperability for example.

Can you also post a link to the Mural document please?

I'm sorry I missed the event but 

Hi @Digital Water, thank you for your comments and feedback.

Here is the link to the Mural jamboard (Jam 1). If you click on the outline icon (top right of the Mural page), you will get a drop down menu to navigate the board, please choose button 24 and you should be able to zoom on the five main categories of roadblocks and their related post it notes. Hope this helps!

Maybe you would like to help us prioritise the Digital Twins blockers identified in Jam 1 in this poll (link below). Thanks!

 

Edited October 20, 2021 by JoaoF

[Katie Walsh]

@Digital Water would be interesting to have your views on @Deeyesbee's question above here. No @s so I think you might not have seen it. 

[Laurie Reynolds]

On 20/10/2021 at 11:46, Deeyesbee said:

Thanks DW. Very interesting additions.   Am I right in thinking that you have identified two new blockers as follows:

1. Misalignment of public procurement methods (with what please? - see below) 

2. Lack of collaborative problem definition. Yes, although this is often easily resolved.DT Twin Hub - Public Procurement mislignment Oct 2021.docx

Thanks!

David

There are a number of examples of misalignment of public procurement and innovation projects

1)      SaaS business models pose problems for public sector CAPEX/OPEX financial budgeting

2)      Learning by ‘brilliant failure’ doesn’t sit comfortably in risk-averse cultures

3)      Procurement risk tends to favour tried & proven solutions and doesn’t promote the experimentation needed for successful innovation outcomes.

4)      Competitive tendering to obtain ‘best value’ makes innovation of new concepts and technology difficult.

5)      A view that new foreground IP and background IP used to develop the foreground should belong to the Purchaser.

6)      Data security and privacy concerns tend to be problematic in public-sector organisations. Cyber-security concerns often used as excuse for not engaging.

7)      Data quality often much worse than in equivalent industrial organisations, especially in asset intensive sectors where much of the asset infrastructure predates computer records.

😎      Lack of technical confidence necessary to judge the level of detail and compromise and relationship with risk. The ‘good enough for the problem we need to solve’ and ability to ‘start somewhere and see where it lleads’.

9)      Genuine systems complexity, especially in asset-centric organisations which lack the technical experience to take a Systems-thinking approach.

10)   Inadequate IT budgets and large desktop requirements which are not able to support modern browser technologies and security policies which exacerbate the problem.

 

 

[Deeyesbee]

Thanks again DW for the expansion of public procurement issues. Elsewhere we are looking at 'open procurement' from SMEs by local authorities and a lot of your points are echoed there.  

 

David