| Hello Friend,
Too many drone owners and operators still think that piloting skills are the most important thing to focus on.
If you are a competitive FPV racer or just flying for fun as a hobbyist - ok - for those specific contexts, piloting skills might be most important. (But for overall success I'm still convinced that isn't enough.)
No matter what industry vertical you are in - or kind of business want to use your drone for - I still see so many people struggling to get off to a strong start. Or struggling to build a viable, legal, safe, and productive operation and program.
Success in this journey isn't about piloting skills. It's about how to make a realistic plan in the first place. Answering tough questions like these:
- How much is a decent system going to cost?
- How much time does it take to plan a mission?
- What SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) should I have in place before my first professional or commercial flight?
- What are the biggest risks to a successful program, and how to I protect myself (or my company) against them?
- Who are the key people I need to establish a good relationship with?
Have you struggled with any of those questions, Friend?
If so, help is out there. And more is on the way.
Here are some quick answers that you will find in my book that was published last year, Success with Drones in Civil Engineering:
One high-end DSP (Drone Service Provider) uses this rule of thumb when buying new equipment: if he isn't convinced that he will earn his investment back in 6 months or less from client work, he doesn't buy it.
That's how ruthless the market and the pace of technology innovation is!
If your cost and ROI calculations aren't equally ruthless, you will be in a world of pain with expensive equipment that made money for the vendors - instead of YOU!
99% of people vastly underestimate how long it will take to establish an official company or agency drone program. The US Department of Interior is a very useful example.
In 2017, they flew nearly 5,000 missions with 312 drones in their own fleet (and many more with outside contractors). But their Director of Aviation, Mark Bathrick, made the decision to start a drone program in 2006. Then he had to spend the next THREE YEARS building the systems, protocols, and infrastructure. Their training began in 2009. Their first operational flight was in 2010.
Their 2017 stats are exciting, right? But knowing the full history becomes rather humbling, doesn't it?
One more set of lessons for you, Friend. What are the biggest risks that you would love to know about ahead of time?
Here are some of the top risks based on the experiences of dozens of other commercial and industrial drone operators and operations: - Technical: data security, data storage, IT integration, batteries, communication & control systems
- Organizational: lack of training, lack of executive support, unhealthy work culture
- Project risks: cost growth, scope growth, quality control failures, schedule delays, poor requirements definition (the big killer!)
- External risks: changing regulatory requirements, weather, community resistance or backlash
Whew, what a list. More daunting challenges ahead...
Maybe none of this is news to you?
Here is something new to share.
The common theme with all of these concerns is one thing:
Strong PROJECT MANAGEMENT of a DRONE PROGRAM
That is why I've decided to extract and update Section 3 from my book - Project Management Success with Drones - into a stand-alone and updated book in itself.
My goal is to get this done quickly in 2019.
Is there any way that this can help you, Friend?
If so, please let me hear back from you with a reply.
At the very least, I hope you'll say subscribed here so you will get future updates. But I'm most interested in hearing from people like you to make sure that the information, lessons, and resources in this book will be exactly what you need and want to succeed with your drone program.
If you aren't interested in this topic, you can use the link below to unsubscribe from future emails. I respect your choice to do that. My thanks for reading this email in the first place.
If you have any questions or issues with managing your drone operation, please contact me so I can get to work on your behalf.
As another opportunity - if you think you are doing great things with drones and would love to see yourself featured as an example of how to DO THINGS RIGHT with drones - definitely get in touch with me about that. I'm looking for more success stories and best practices to put in the new book. That could be free (yes, free) advertising and promotion for you.
Take care and take charge, Brett Hoffstadt Folsom, CA Cell: 210-753-0843 (PST) | 
