It's Alive in the Lab: This blog goes to 11.

It's Alive in the Lab is 11 years old today.

As a DWF Technical Evangelist, I started blogging by supplying Shaan Hurley with guest articles that he would post on his blog, Between The Lines. On February 14, 2006, I started my own blog, Beyond the Paper, using Shaan's naming strategy where the emphasis was on Design Web Format (DWF) files and what you could do with them besides just printing.

When our team's DWF work grew into a more formalized presence for technology previews, I defected from the DWF-related blog to It's Alive in the Lab. I wrote my first article on April 10, 2007, entitled "It's alive. It's alive. It's alive." (an allusion to the original Frankenstein movie) which described our experiment-based, laboratory-oriented mission for previewing technology.

Last year, I shifted the focus of It's Alive in the Lab to Autodesk Forge which is our platform that allows a community of Autodesk customers and software developers to develop their own customized workflow solutions using our web-based services. Forge-related projects were alive in the lab.

So as I start year 12, this is my 3,339^th blog post. The focus is now on research and innovation as my title has been changed to Program Manager of Strategy Operations. I continue to report to Jon Pittman who is the Autodesk VP of Corporate Strategy. The work of Strategy Operations gets employees all rowing in the same direction and shows customers, investors, and press which direction we’re headed. Many of the upcoming articles will highlight some of the groundbreaking work being done in the Office of the CTO that feature:

• Foresight
• Stories and communication
• Partnerships with customers
• Scientific rigor

This work is alive in the lab.

Autodesk has always been an automation company, and today more than ever that means helping people make more things, better things, with less; more and better in terms of increasing efficiency, performance, quality, and innovation; less in terms of time, resources, and negative impacts (e.g., social, environmental). Our exploration and experimentation showcase risks and opportunities to help make that happen.

Thanks to the Autodesk community whose readership keeps this blog going. If a tree falls in the woods, and no one hears it, it does not make a sound. 11 down, 11 to go.

Gratitude is alive in the lab.