Full transcript
0:08So, let's start with your name.
0:11Here we go.
0:12So, now let's start with this and that.
0:13I'm going to give you two options and
0:15just give me one that comes to your
0:17head. Do not even think about it. Okay,
0:19ProjectWise that's slow or SharePoint
0:22pretending to be ProjectWise?
0:24>> ProjectWise that's slow.
0:27>> A brand new feature that nobody asked
0:29for or fixing that annoying feature that
0:32everybody complained about for years.
0:35>> Obviously, you want to fix the annoying
0:37feature.
0:38>> Really? Okay.
0:39>> Absolutely.
0:42>> OpenRoads crashes uh once a day or never
0:46crashes but
0:48have to use light mode forever, like no
0:50dark mode.
0:53>> Well, interestingly enough, I use light
0:55mode in OpenRoads but I use dark mode in
0:58MicroStation.
1:00>> Oh.
1:01Oh, okay. Strange behavior.
1:04>> Strange behavior.
1:05>> OpenRoads or OpenBridge?
1:07>> OpenRoads.
1:09>> ProjectWise or Bentley Infrastructure
1:10Cloud?
1:11>> Bentley Infrastructure Cloud.
1:13>> One ultra-wide monitor or two monitors?
1:16>> Two monitors.
1:17>> Okay, fix old uh features or build new
1:19features?
1:21>> You got to fix the old features first.
1:24>> Okay.
1:25Lose Wi-Fi for a day or lose control Z
1:29forever?
1:29>> Control Z forever.
1:31>> Okay, Don. So, now you survived this and
1:33that. So, now let's switch something
1:34else. Let's I mean
1:36let's introduce you to people.
1:38Um so, first tell me who you are, what
1:42do you do?
1:43Let's start there.
1:45>> Yeah, uh so, my name is Don Lee.
1:48I'm a principal solution architect for
1:51Bentley Systems. I work in solution
1:53engineering.
1:54So, what do I do?
1:56Um
1:57I'm kind of in a pre-sales unit, but uh
2:01you know, I'm a technical uh individual
2:04that meets with accounts to
2:06uh try to see how they can leverage
2:08their technology not just for today, but
2:11for tomorrow as well. And along the way
2:13I get to make stuff up. It's fun.
2:15>> Okay. So, if I if I'm going to ask you,
2:18can you summarize your career journey
2:21in three points?
2:22>> Um I work at Bentley for the last 12 and
2:24a half years. Um I worked in the
2:27industry for about 22 before that. Um on
2:30the consultant side. And then I
2:34uh
2:35was in the US Navy on a nuclear sub.
2:40There you go.
2:42>> Okay, cool. Um what does Don
2:45enjoy in your work right now? The
2:47current position of work that you have.
2:48What is one thing that you enjoy, really
2:50enjoy, bring you joy?
2:52>> Yeah, so I think the the thing that I
2:55enjoy most right now is being able to
2:58look at
2:59the technology that we're making
3:01and try to figure out how we can get
3:05that realized in in the way
3:07organizations are working. So, I kind of
3:10get to you know, seed this into these
3:13organizations and there's some things
3:15that excite me. Hopefully, it excites
3:16those individuals. I see a lot of
3:18opportunities. And getting to apply that
3:21with others is is a lot of fun.
3:24>> Okay.
3:25Can you tell us one thing that people I
3:27mean, most people know you as Bentley
3:28Don, but can you just tell us one thing
3:31that people wouldn't know?
3:33And you're okay to share.
3:36>> I like music festivals a lot.
3:39>> Okay.
3:40What's your favorite artist?
3:42Or at least pick one. I shouldn't say
3:44favorite.
3:44>> Pick one.
3:45Um I don't know. Right now, I would say
3:49maybe Fred again.
3:51>> Great. Good to know.
3:55Okay. Uh so, welcome to my favorite part
3:58of the show. Uh in this segment, I will
4:01do some roasting, vent about something,
4:03and also attempt comedy. So, let's talk
4:06about a little tool in ORD, and it's
4:08called create template. Uh look at this
4:11thing.
4:11>> Mhm.
4:12>> Because apparently, the future of
4:14infrastructure runs on Windows 95. This
4:17isn't civil engineering software. This
4:19look like a control system inside a Cold
4:22War submarine. Are we supposed to be
4:24designing highways?
4:26This thing, just look at it. This thing
4:28look like a It's like a thing that it's
4:31monitor Russian activity in North
4:32Atlantic somewhere.
4:34But, we still use it to build roads. And
4:37look, I respect that. I respect actually
4:39what is going on. Uh create template can
4:42build highways,
4:44but it cannot modernize an interface. It
4:46can actually model a 70 mph corridor,
4:50but visually has not moved since the
4:52'90s.
4:54It can model six-lane interstate, but
4:57apparently, dark mode was bridge too
4:59far.
5:01But, I have to be fair to Bentley.
5:04They have updated create template over
5:07the years. Apparently, at some point,
5:09they added the ability to model a
5:11circle.
5:12>> Mhm.
5:13>> We brought it back, actually.
5:15>> Oh, okay, cool. So, [laughter]
5:17everybody calm down. Innovation is
5:19happening. A circle.
5:22>> Cool.
5:22>> A circle. So, we can do tunnels.
5:24>> Um great. [clears throat]
5:26Okay, 30 years of software development,
5:28and geometry has officially entered the
5:31chat.
5:32What's next, Don? Triangles?
5:35>> We We can do triangles.
5:37>> [laughter]
5:39>> But, I've been thinking about this for a
5:41[clears throat] while now. There must be
5:44a reason. There's no way an interface
5:47survived this many years accidentally.
5:50So, I have a conspiracy theory.
5:53I don't have a lot of them actually, but
5:55I kind of like 80% believe in this one.
5:58I think the original developer who
6:01actually created the template sometimes
6:03in early 90s left Bentley, something
6:06happened to them, went into witness
6:08protection, and took the source code
6:10with them. Nobody knows where they are.
6:15Nobody knows how this thing actually
6:18work inside Bentley, and nobody's
6:20actually willing to touch it. Or do you,
6:22by the way? That's a question for you.
6:24Why is nobody touching it?
6:26>> We would have to check.
6:28We would have to check.
6:29>> Okay, interesting.
6:30>> Maybe Maybe Scott's touched it. I don't
6:32know.
6:33>> I'm trying to run a show here, Mr. Don.
6:36I'm trying to be professional. This is a
6:38show, cuz you know
6:38>> has just been taken over.
6:41>> It's my show, sir. Excuse me.
6:43>> It's called Don and
6:46by Don Lee.
6:49>> Okay, let me get to the jokes, please.
6:51>> Continue. Do your jokes.
6:55>> So, this is not just an old interface.
6:58This is actually a load-bearing
6:59interface. You change one button, the
7:02entire program collapses. You update the
7:04font, a corridor will disappear. You
7:07round up the corners, super elevation
7:09will stop working. You change the gray
7:11background, Florida is gone.
7:14>> Mhm.
7:15>> Nobody knows why. Nobody wants to found
7:18out. But Bentley, please, for the love
7:21of infrastructure, give template create
7:24template a facelift. And if it's And And
7:27if you guys absolutely refuse to update
7:30it, you know what? It's fine. At the
7:32very least, tell us, where is the
7:35original developer? Don, you can end
7:38this right now. Seriously, today. His
7:40family need closure. I'm being serious.
7:44No comment?
7:45But I will give Create Template one
7:48thing, which is respect. Think about
7:50everything actually this interface has
7:52survived. Windows 8,
7:55>> Mhm.
7:56>> MySpace,
7:57Internet Explorer,
7:59the iPod, Facebook being cool,
8:03Twitter becoming X. Uh, we actually went
8:06from Nokia brick phones to a smartphone
8:08to actually right now AI will generate
8:10videos just from text. And Create
8:13Template looked at all this technology
8:16and progressive and it says, "No."
8:19Still boxy, still gray here, not going
8:22nowhere. And somehow it is still gray.
8:2530 years of technology advancement and
8:28this, do you understand how massive that
8:29is, Don? Like seriously, that's one
8:31piece of ORD. It survived all this and
8:34still look like that. That is massive.
8:37>> It is.
8:38It is.
8:39>> Okay, cool. Do not defend it. You are
8:41under oath. Uh, because at this point
8:44Create Template is in legacy software.
8:46It is actually like a cockroach with a
8:48file menu. Nuclear war happened
8:50tomorrow, there would be only two things
8:53left. Cockroaches and Create Template
8:56asking you to find your point
8:58constraints. And honestly, Bentley,
9:00respect. 30 years or more, still gray,
9:04still standing, still building highways,
9:07zero go up and somehow undefeated.
9:10>> It's quite quite amazing.
9:12>> Okay. So now let's go to the main topic
9:14of this episode, which is me.
9:17Well,
9:18me and my inspiration for other people.
9:21Hold on. Me inspiring other people. So
9:24y'all, Mr. Don, he told me that he did
9:27something
9:29because he saw me did something.
9:32And it was Actually, I was so happy to
9:35hear that. So,
9:36I would like you, Don, to talk about
9:39that if you don't mind.
9:41>> Yeah, so I love our industry and what I
9:44love most about it is that all of us are
9:48There's two things I say, innovators and
9:50duplicators, and I don't mean anything
9:52bad about duplicators, but I think the
9:54creativity is fantastic. And what do I
9:58mean by that?
9:59Your video with sleepy Pikachu and what
10:02you're doing to advance, you know, in
10:06our tool sets and and develop your own
10:08tools.
10:10I watched the video, it was pretty cool.
10:11It was very inspiring and I liked it. Um
10:14I think that's what it is. We're all,
10:16you know, a ragtag bunch of people
10:18trying to just improve the way the world
10:20works and it fascinated me. But one
10:23thing I noted, Zuhaer, that I thought
10:24was interesting was
10:27you had two videos. One of the videos
10:29was showing how to like install it.
10:32And I kept looking at it and my job,
10:35right, every day is to look at friction
10:37and how can we do things better than the
10:39day before? I think we're all thinking
10:41like that.
10:42>> Yes.
10:42>> And I just thought, you know, you're
10:44only as good as those around you.
10:45Sometimes you need someone to sidle up
10:47and look and go, "Hey, you know, I can
10:49do that in a few clicks less."
10:51And this one, I thought this and I
10:53watched and I'm like, "There's a couple
10:54of setup things that
10:56wow, that I that takes a bit of time."
10:59And so I thought to myself, you know, is
11:02there a better way? Could there be a way
11:03to take this genius idea and accelerate
11:06it? And so
11:08after contemplating, thinking, I kind of
11:11dawned on this idea that I think there's
11:13going to be a catalyst here with this
11:16advancement in MCP and Python
11:19that
11:21people are going to create a lot of cool
11:23things, but the problem is we're going
11:25to have a very hard time
11:27trying to organize our thoughts in the
11:29one space and and consume them well. And
11:32how do we validate who's like you put
11:35that out on the web?
11:37What if it changes? What if you improve
11:39it? Do I have the old one? How do I know
11:41to go back? You know, where do I go back
11:43to? So,
11:44I came up with an idea to develop a
11:46GitHub site. The idea is this, to create
11:48a space, an open space where everybody
11:51can
11:52congregate and essentially feed their
11:55tools. I'm thinking it more along the
11:57lines of like the Apple App Store
11:59for all of these really cool innovators.
12:02And
12:03you know, the thought wasn't about the
12:05tools themselves, but how we could
12:07harvest and centralize these into one
12:10space where everybody has,
12:12you know, a place to build them better.
12:14Cuz I think ultimately we all want to
12:16strive for the same thing. So, um it's a
12:19GitHub site, but uh it's something that
12:21I built and just wanted to give it away
12:23and let everybody else take it and run
12:25with it. But, the idea is
12:27develop your code, centralize it there.
12:29Um it can go through some governance, so
12:31some approvals. Make sure you hit some
12:33of the requirements.
12:35And once it goes through as kind of a
12:36tested and trusted tool, which will be
12:39kind of governed by peers, not by
12:42myself, just a bunch of individuals.
12:45>> Seriously, that's a great idea, Don.
12:46It's
12:47and I believe like when more people put
12:49it out there, it's going to catch
12:51traction. And it's helpful, like you
12:53said.
12:54>> Mhm.
12:54>> And as long as it's in a place that it's
12:56kept maintained and looked after, not
12:59just another foreman enter that's going
13:00to disappear in 2 years.
13:02>> Exactly.
13:03>> Okay.
13:04Don,
13:05what is digital delivery to you?
13:07>> Okay.
13:09I like when people ask this. So, I
13:11started out in technology.
13:13Um so, everything that we're moving
13:16towards is about data.
13:18We've worked about We've talked about
13:21different data formats, data schemas,
13:23data dictionaries.
13:25Um
13:26and let's think a lot
13:29like the simplistic perspective of what
13:31we've done in our careers with geometry.
13:33A point is just a single instance,
13:36right?
13:37Whereas a line is a distance between
13:39those points.
13:40Uh and it's got an infinite number of
13:42points between it.
13:44Well, with digital delivery, if we think
13:47about data being a point or a moment,
13:50digital delivery is about the data in
13:52motion, the data in flow between these
13:54two points. And then
13:56if we think about the points being the
13:58same point, it's kind of a digital
13:59thread tying a knot on itself.
14:02Um the delivery is just really
14:04understanding that that infinite journey
14:07between those two points, even if they
14:08come back to themselves. So, digital
14:11delivery to me, to summarize, is just
14:13data in motion, understanding the
14:15handoffs and supply chain, and the
14:18necessary
14:19aspects of that data, how it's going to
14:22be visualized for that persona
14:24in that moment with
14:27connectivity. So, the closest thing I
14:31can say that most people can relate,
14:33it's like defining a new internet but
14:34for engineers. The digital is just
14:36taking a concept that we already
14:38naturally know, and we're just putting
14:41it into a system much like an email
14:43moves through the internet.
14:45Uh we just got to make sure that it's
14:48going through the right checks and it's
14:49saying the right things because we want
14:51to make sure that when the message gets
14:53to the other end,
14:55that it's still the same message that we
14:57meant it to be. And I think that's the
14:59the piece that a lot of people have a
15:01hard time to deal with. From an
15:02engineering perspective, engineer, do
15:05the design, do what you need to do. I
15:07think this becomes a very big data
15:09problem, and I think it becomes one at
15:11which um you're going to start to see
15:13more and more um you know, there's a
15:16reason why the world's worrying about
15:18things like ISO 19650,
15:20why there's discussions about IFC, which
15:22is certainly a format. But I think it's
15:25more about the data architecture, the
15:27schemas within it, and the data
15:28dictionaries. Um, which are things that
15:32are probably more akin to computer
15:33science. And those in that industry, but
15:36engineers are now having to bridge, you
15:38know, two roles of understanding what
15:41they do every day and and this new side
15:43of of technology.
15:45>> What is hurting hurting the delivery
15:47more right now?
15:49>> I think
15:50you know, the one thing is you know, one
15:52thing that scares me is overconfidence.
15:55I think there's a lot of over you know,
15:56people you know, there's either
15:58individuals that are afraid of it or
16:01infinite individuals that are overly too
16:03confident without a lot of planning. Um,
16:07this is a data issue, it's a technology
16:09issue, and I think
16:11you know, when you look at systems and
16:13and concepts and ideas,
16:15you know, human beings tend to build
16:18these very
16:20uh, elaborate architectures.
16:23Um, divide and conquer is always like
16:25this hierarchical system that people
16:27fall to, but computer systems don't
16:29always necessarily enjoy that. They can
16:31do that themselves. Um, they usually
16:34tend to want to normalize things a
16:35little bit. I think overconfidence or
16:38fear
16:39tend to be two sides of this bell curve
16:41that I think are are probably could be
16:42improved. I think though that as a
16:45majority, you're going to have bleeding
16:46edge individuals and they're going to
16:47make uh, mistakes. And that's okay.
16:51That's how we, you know, let somebody
16:53else make the mistake and then you learn
16:55from it, right? Like
16:56>> Mhm.
16:56>> I'm sure you've seen people do something
16:58silly and you're like, I'm not going to
16:59do that. And uh, there you've just
17:02learned. So,
17:04I think as we go through this, there's
17:05going to be a lot of that. And I think
17:07what makes it really trying for us is
17:09our industry is extremely complex.
17:12And so, nobody has fully done it. There
17:15are some that are close. There's some
17:17that are quiet and really close.
17:20Um the you know, the ones you got to
17:21watch out for are the I call the
17:23tortoise.
17:24The tortoise, you know, wins the race,
17:26you'll hear me say.
17:27>> slow and steady.
17:28>> Yeah, slow and steady wins the race.
17:30There's a few out there. They know
17:31they're not talking about it.
17:33Um they're keeping it to themselves. I
17:35mean, they'll talk loosely, but they're
17:37not grandstanding and I think that's an
17:40impressive uh
17:43capability to have cuz it's an exciting
17:45time. So, most people naturally want to
17:47say, "Look what I'm doing." Um but uh
17:50what I've seen across the the industry
17:52as a whole um is that uh everybody's
17:55still trying to figure it out. Fun fact,
17:58uh if you go out to Australia or you go
18:01out to places like England
18:02>> Mhm.
18:03>> they're very far along on concepts that
18:06I think uh I consider us sometimes in
18:08the nation a bit of the wild west. I
18:10live in Texas, so it seems fitting.
18:12But uh I would tell you that uh it's all
18:15about structure.
18:17It's all about data. It's all about
18:20governance. And then the rest is going
18:22to fall into place.
18:25Okay.
18:27>> Okay, Don. Um
18:29we are at the end. Um But before we end,
18:32uh I would like to ask you,
18:34do you have anything you want to plug
18:36in? You want to tell people about you?
18:39Here's your chance.
18:41>> I would say look for me on LinkedIn.
18:44You can also find me in the Reddit
18:46channels uh for OpenRoads and Bentley
18:48Systems as well as MicroStation. The
18:51other thing I would say is look for me
18:52at a conference uh Bentley Illuminate
18:54and as well as some of the uh local user
18:57groups as well. I think uh if I'm not
18:59mistaken, I think I'm going to the flood
19:01this year. So, there you go.
19:03>> So, before we end, Don, I really
19:06wanted to thank you so much for doing
19:08this. Thank you for coming on my little
19:11crazy show. Be willing to laugh.
19:15Let me put you on the spot.
19:16And giggle with me and have a good time.
19:18I really appreciate that.
19:20And I also wanted to say something to
19:21Bentley.
19:23Obviously, I make fun of Bentley. Well,
19:27y'all give me the material.
19:29But, jokes aside, I roasted or I make
19:32slightly fun of it because I really love
19:35what I do. Bentley software has been a
19:37huge part of my career. I learned on
19:40these tools. I actually build my skills
19:42using them. I taught other people using
19:44them. They helped me discover something
19:46I'm I'm really happy that I found what I
19:49enjoy doing. It's not something that I
19:51even think it's work. And they changed
19:53my career.
19:57Okay. Oh, let me take a break.
20:01Um a lot of what people know about me
20:03today, it's probably because we didn't
20:06have existed is because of Bentley
20:08technology.
20:09So, when I make fun of a great interface
20:12or complain about something that hasn't
20:14changed forever, I promise you that come
20:16from a place that I
20:18of love and care.
20:19There are real people behind that
20:21technology. I believe that. People like
20:23Don. People who spent years teaching,
20:26helping, listening, building, and
20:28pushing this industry forward. So, Don,
20:32genuinely thank you. Thank you so much.
20:34Um and everyone at Bentley who who have
20:36built these tools and supported us and
20:39answered our silly questions,
20:41thank you.
20:43>> Thanks for having me.
20:45>> Okay.
20:46Thank you for being there, Don.
20:48Seriously, this was
20:50fun.
20:50>> this was a blast.