Craig Barbieri joins the podcast to talk about his experience of hard-won lessons from the trenches. We get practical about what actually moves the needle in firms: training culture vs. one-off sessions, reality capture as “cheap insurance,” ACC-era coordination, and taming tool sprawl with strategy. We also dig into framing ROI so leaders and teams align, where AI is quietly helping today (think specs and submittals), and how to bring VDC thinking upstream.

To learn more about Craig Barbieri, see the full show notes with links at https://trxl.co/207

To get more great conversations with AEC technology leaders on the TRXL podcast please visit https://trxl.co

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Episode Sponsors:

AVAIL

AVAIL's content management system (CMS) simplifies access to your firm's content in one easy-to-use platform. Search and access files from anywhere, create standards-compliant models, streamline documentation, and onboard new hires faster. Try AVAIL for free and request a demo at https://getavail.com

Confluence Events & Podcast

Join AEC industry technology leaders at Confluence, a series of in-person events and a podcast fostering conversations between firms and tech companies to support innovation. Learn more, explore upcoming events, and listen to podcast episodes at https://confluence.getavail.com

TRXL Leadership Edge

TRXL's AEC Leadership Edge newsletter delivers insights on architectural practice and technology for busy professionals. Each edition features analysis of podcast conversations, key takeaways for AEC leaders, and concise episode summaries.

Ready to gain your leadership edge? Join TRXL+ today and never miss an insight that could transform your practice.

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Rachelle Ray joins the podcast to talk about how AEC marketing and BD teams are really using AI today: what’s working, what’s not, and where things are headed. While proposals are a recurring thread, the broader focus is on how AI can clear space for strategy and creativity by reducing manual, repetitive work.

Rachelle brings insights from OpenAsset’s customer feedback from both survey data and real conversations to highlight common challenges, misconceptions, and the growing demand for AI tools that actually understand AEC workflows.

To learn more about Rachelle Ray, see the full show notes with links at https://trxl.co/206

To get more great conversations with AEC technology leaders on the TRXL podcast please visit https://trxl.co

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Episode Sponsors:

OpenAsset

OpenAsset helps architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms streamline project workflows and centralize digital files in one easy-to-search platform. Now, with Shred.ai, OpenAsset’s AI-powered proposal writing tool, AEC marketers can surface past proposal content in seconds, draft and edit with ease, and pull in project photos and files to make every proposal compliant and polished. Together, OpenAsset and Shred.ai are clearing the way for creativity and removing the busywork, so your team can focus on strategy and storytelling. Learn more at openasset.com

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Sign up to become a TRXL member.

• Free members get email notifications when new episodes are released and when new posts are published on TRXL.co
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Robert Otani and Alexandra Pollock join the podcast to talk about how they’re rethinking Thornton Tomasetti’s engineering practice by making technology the foundation rather than an add-on. They share practical lessons on bringing computation into practice at scale, adopting product thinking inside a services business, measuring the ROI of innovation, and eliminating redundancy so teams can focus on the work that actually moves projects forward.

Rob traces CORE Studio’s origins and early bets on parametric tools like Grasshopper, then walks through some other tools they’ve developed that sparked healthy debates about accuracy, transparency, and trust and informed how newer AI tools are designed. Alex highlights how open, community-driven learning at their AECtech conferences and hackathons accelerates capability building and open-source collaboration. The trio also dig into how AI can compress the path to professional proficiency and why leaders must proactively redesign their business model to stay ahead as “conventional consulting” shrinks.

To learn more about Robert Otani and Alexandra Pollock, see the full show notes with links at https://trxl.co/205

To get more great conversations with AEC technology leaders on the TRXL podcast please visit https://trxl.co

_____

Episode Sponsors:

AVAIL

AVAIL's content management system (CMS) simplifies access to your firm's content in one easy-to-use platform. Search and access files from anywhere, create standards-compliant models, streamline documentation, and onboard new hires faster. Try AVAIL for free and request a demo at https://getavail.com

Confluence Events & Podcast

Join AEC industry technology leaders at Confluence, a series of in-person events and a podcast fostering conversations between firms and tech companies to support innovation. Learn more, explore upcoming events, and listen to podcast episodes at https://confluence.getavail.com

TRXL+ Membership

This episode of TRXL is brought to you by TRXL+ members! Join our community of supporters to get exclusive benefits like ad-free episodes and our AEC Leadership Edge newsletter. Your support keeps these valuable conversations going. Click here to learn more and become a member today.

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Sign up to become a TRXL member.

• Free members get email notifications when new episodes are released and when new posts are published on TRXL.co
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Provide feedback for this episode at https://trxl.co/feedback