Do We Share Well With Others?

As chairman of the T&D Committee I get some pretty fascinating e-mails from folks with questions. Recently one came in asking for help and advice on how to understand the technologies. The writer pointed out that young engineers (he was one of them) are replacing the older engineers and in many cases there is little if any knowledge transfers. I am not suggesting engineers are not sharing. We fall into a trap of assuming “oh, everyone knows that.” This was brought home to me at the last T&D Expo held in Dallas (2004). Dr. Ram Adapa, of EPRI, was the organizer of a panel session of which I was part. The subject was using advanced technology on transmission lines. In my presentation I made reference to something I thought was old hat (was I wrong!). I was interrupted immediately by an engineer in the audience. He had never heard of that before and asked for clarification and more information. Others jumped in agreeing with him. It was a case of me assuming (assuming always gets you in trouble) it was common knowledge. Maybe it was ten or fifteen years ago, but there is a new generation out there. The neat thing was Ram had done a great job assembling the experts and group's questions were quickly answered. The 2008 Expo has a lot of this type of knowledge sharing on the agenda with all the super sessions and panel sessions - not to mention the wealth of knowledge on the exhibit floor. It should be interesting. I'd welcome any and all comments.