Line Meets Curve

In my previous post, I placed a short sample video done from the hood of my truck.  We want to do frequent video reports of job progress, problems, congratulations and instructions, but it must be easy and inexpensive.  I’ll explain the tools I used here, and how it is done, taking very little time or money.

First, we’ll look at the camera.  Not only is The Flip an amazingly simple video camera to use, it comes with onboard software that will take your video segments, meld them into one, and send them up to your project YouTube account with one click.

Just take your video on the job, holding the camera in your hand, or using the tiny tripod.  Videos are high quality 640 x 480 format, and you get good motion quality if you move the camera slowly.  On the tripod you get the best rendition.

It’s called The Flip because, when you come back to the computer, a button on the side pops out a USB connector for the computer…no cables.  When you connect it to a USB port, the onboard software starts, let’s you view your segments, select those you want, and it produces a video.  You can save it to your computer, but the really great feature is the one-click upload to YouTube.  You can even designate that it be private to keep the video from being viewed by the public on YouTube.

When you return to the computer, home or office, you just connect and upload to YouTube.  Take the “embed code” given to you by YouTube, and use that for your external widget.  The instructions in Tangentworks 550 are easy for dropping in the code, and that part of the process will take about two minutes.  The processing of the video on your computer, and upload time to YouTube, will depend on video length, but you can do paperwork or other tasks while it’s doing the work.  Your actual time in making it happen is less than ten minutes.

Think for about five minutes, and I’ll bet you can come up with a dozen other uses for this video solution.  Check out all the specs on TheFlip.com, but you can buy it at a better price on Amazon.com, camera and tripod for about $132 total.

Tangentworks 550 allows the SkyView Page to display “external widgets.”  These widgets can be used to show everything from a weather report to a map of how to get to the job site.  Another use of a widget is a video report to the construction job participants about the current status of the project, or any portion of it.

The image is of the widget box as it is displayed on your SkyView Page, and you can click on it to view the video on that page.  Here, you’ll view it on YouTube.  Your participants will not need to view it on YouTube, and you can label it there as private as well.  This will preclude the public from viewing it.  Your job personnel will see the video on the SkyView page in a widget box.  In my next post, I’ll show you how it’s done in a few short minutes, with very inexpensive technology, and free video hosting.

What could you use this for?

• You’re the PM, and every day you check job status at the end of the day.  You find some things that you like, and would like to say something good to the crew or person responsible.
•  Something needs to be addressed tomorrow, and it is easier to explain if they can see the problem or situation first-hand.
• You want to report on the overall progress of a certain job phase or building module.
• A quick rundown of what you expect for tomorrow would be easier done with video available to all participants.

How many times have you had to call or email three different contractors or personnel about a situation, attaching a photo if available, and explaining what you need done?  Did the message get mis-interpreted, or were there problems with delivery?  Would it have been better if they were standing there with you?  They could be via video.

Visualize pointing to a mis-routed water pipe and giving instructions on how it needs to be corrected.  Or, on a more positive note, standing in front of a newly-completed marble counter and congratulating the counter crew on the quality.

In the next post I’ll show you the equipment I used (Under $150 cost), and how I spent less than ten minutes of my time in getting it uploaded and displayed on the Skyview page.

Project Managers, well into a difficult construction job, can begin to feel a little under-appreciated.  There are a lot of demands, some disputes, and not much praise for the PM.  Here’s a story about a pet store to cheer you up.

A man walked into a pet store looking for a dog.  He was walking through the cages checking out the choices and their prices.  He hears someone come in and ask for an “A” dog.  The proprietor tells them they’re in luck, as there’s only one left.  The shop owner takes one out of a cage and charges the man $5000.

Our customer is really taken aback, asking the owner what made that dog worth the huge price.  The pet shop proprietor says “He’s an Architect Dog.  He can actually use a computer to draw plans in a CAD program.”

Well, still looking through the choices, the customer finds a dog with a tag labeled “E” dog, and it is priced at $10,000!  “What’s this one all about?” he asks.  The owner says “That is an Engineer Dog.  She can solve almost any structural problem.”

Thinking that he’d seen just about everything, the customer was absolutely amazed to see a dog labeled “P” Dog, and the whopping price on this one was $50,000!   He couldn’t hide his shock in asking the proprietor why the ridiculous price.  The owner replied “Though I haven’t actually seen him do anything yet, I’m told he’s a Project Manager Dog.”

Just remember that value is in the eye of the beholder.