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Happy Friday, Friend.
How has your week been? Fantastic I hope.
Today I had a VERY enlightening conversation with a DSP company owner in the commercial UAS industry who caters specifically to civil engineering clients. I learned a lot more about the current state of drones in civil engineering. This is going to influence the book in a couple of ways which I'll share with you here.
Unfortunately, he said only a handful of people know about the best work that his company does. And it has to stay that way for many years - until someone feels compelled to go through a public release process.
That is because his most challenging projects are for critical infrastructure. Fortunately, we should agree, we need to keep this information out of the public domain. (And Chinese government servers - let's not kid ourselves!)
He couldn't answer all my questions, but the ones he did are going into the book.
He also said the next 2 years are going to be just as dynamic and crazy as the previous 2 years, when the Part 107 law went into effect in the U.S. After talking with him, I agree.
Also this week, I talked with product managers from two companies that produce state-of-the-art software that a lot of drone operators and customers use for image processing. An example from each of these companies will be in the list of HIGHEST ROI USES of drones in civil engineering.
One of them gave the full green light to use their example and images. But the other person has to submit the relevant section of the book to their corporate office for legal, IP, and PR review. That process got started today on their end. We shall see if they can handle my 2 week deadline (which is very sporty for my following work too).
Some key takeaways and adjustments I expect with the book based on this week: * this book will have to be called a "2018 edition." Next year will probably require an update to be accurate and relevant. * talking with other leaders in the field to gain real-world data points and more first-hand insights is taking more time than expected, but it is very high value. Definitely worth it for a better final product. * These discussions and approval processes puts our target publication date of April 30 at risk. I'm using my best time management and project management skills possible to honor this self-imposed deadline. Since you gave me your email to tell you when the book is available (thanks very much for that), I'm letting you know the honest situation.
That's a quick update from me, Friend. Another delay - being honest - is that I celebrated another birthday this week. That shouldn't have been a surprise in my planning... but somehow another one did manage to sneak up on me. :-p I'm very glad I got to see another one.
Thanks again for your interest in the book. My offer still stands - if you have any questions you want answered in the book - or personal experiences that can serve as useful data points or lessons to others in the field - please reply here or give me a text or call at 210-753-0843 (PST). With your engagement this will be a fantastic resource to help you succeed with a drone - safely, legally, and profitably.
Upward and onward, Brett
P.S. My email service is telling me that not everyone is opening my emails to them. Sad, but not surprising. I understand and empathize. But if you want to be sure you aren't missing my other occasional emails Friend, please look at my subject line and look for others that start the same way in your inbox. I'm using that consistent format so you hopefully notice and open them easier when they arrive. Thanks again for staying in touch!
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