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Simon Williams
Technical Director at Aurecon
Simon Williams, Technical Director at Aurecon
Simon Williams is a Technical Director based in Aurecon's Adelaide office, with over 36 years of experience in the design, installation, and commissioning of mechanical and electrical building services.1 He recently joined the Aurecon Adelaide office and expressed excitement about the new chapter, noting the team's experience and warm welcome.3
Some key facts about Simon Williams:
Highlights
Her Majesty’s Theatre
For various reasons (COVID included) my first night at the theatre since it was finished
A strange feeling wandering around the spaces I am so familiar with from design and construction and now seeing them active
And nice to hear from my wife (on stage) that the aircon is comfortable, and sitting in the stalls experiencing what I think will be basically fully naturally ventilated solution
So much to say about this project!
Interesting holiday read if you are a spy (or not) (* see below)
Came across this in my holiday reading and found it really interesting- try and ignore it’s from the CIA! - it has some great insights into how we think
- importance of thinking about thinking
- understand our innate mindsets so we can adjust- a really important way to moderate our social biases as well as professional mindsets
- how we find solutions- what we need to do to find the best, creative answers. Page 76 is very close to the Aurecon i40 approach we use
Some key quotes below
When we speak of improving the mind we are usually referring to the acquisition of information or knowledge, or to the type of thoughts one should have, and not to the actual functioning of the mind. We spend little time monitoring our own thinking and comparing it with a more sophisticated ideal.
. People construct their own version of “reality” on the basis of information provided by the senses, but this sensory input is mediated by complex mental processes that determine which information is attended to, how it is organized, and the meaning attributed to it. What people perceive, how readily they perceive it, and how they process this information after receiving it are all strongly influenced by past experience, education, cultural values, role requirements, and organizational norms, as well as by the specifics of the information received.
We tend to perceive what we expect to perceive. Actually, mind-sets are neither good nor bad; they are unavoidable. People have no conceivable way of coping with the volume of stimuli that impinge upon their senses, or with the volume and complexity of the data they have to analyze, without some kind of simplifying preconceptions about what to expect, what is important, and what is related to what. Analysts do not achieve objective analysis by avoiding preconceptions; that would be ignorance or self delusion. Objectivity is achieved by making basic assumptions and reasoning as explicit as possible so that they can be challenged by others and analysts can, themselves, examine their validity
• "Satisficing"—selecting the first identified alternative that ap- pears "good enough" rather than examining all alternatives to determine which is "best." • Incrementalism—focusing on a narrow range of alternatives rep- resenting marginal change, without considering the need for dra- matic change from an existing position. • Consensus—opting for the alternative that will elicit the greatest agreement and support. Simply telling the boss what he or she wants to hear is one version of this. • Reasoning by analogy—choosing the alternative that appears most likely to avoid some previous error or to duplicate a previ- ous success. • Relying on a set of principles or maxims that distinguish a "good" from a "bad" alternative.
(*)
