What's better than learning from experience? Learning from someone else's! Two Industry experts take a look back on their 2021 projects and share their technology hits and misses.
Wildnote’s twenty-first Lunch & Learn webinar (and final episode of 2021) showcased Elizabeth Frantz, founder and COO of Surf to Snow Environmental Resource Management and Betsy Kruk, senior paleontologist with Paleo Solutions – recently acquired by Stantec. Our guest experts walked us through their use of environmental consulting technology and how lessons learned in 2021 are informing their planning for 2022. A planning exercise we call “Start. Stop. Keep.” generated a lively and entertaining discussion!
Here are some of the key takeaways in case you missed the webinar:
Keep focusing on the needs of field personnel to find efficiencies in field data collection and management.
Both Elizabeth and Betsy put consistent emphasis on driving field data collection efficiencies in 2021, with a focus on reducing the time it takes to collect, transcribe and QA data. The goal for both is to use mobile technology to allow field personnel to easily collect data and then transmit it to a cloud database for further analysis, organization and reporting. They both indicated a desire to keep the lines of communication to the field open to drive a process of continuous improvement. They have learned the best way to get data collection processes and forms optimized for the field is to iterate quickly based on field staff feedback. They acknowledged that the days of going into an office are likely over for most field personnel, and keeping the lines of communication open with them makes it easier to deploy and train on new technologies.