The Right Tool for the Job

"This might take me a while..."

I was sitting on my flight to come down to PTC/User 2009, when the gentleman next to me struck up a conversation.  “Do you work with PTC?”, he asked.  He, too, was attending PTC/User – he is a customer.  Most of his experience revolved around Pro/ENGINEER and Windchill, and had only a cursory knowledge of Mathcad.

He asked me, “So how does Mathcad differ from other math applications, like MATLAB or Mathematica?”  So, I replied that Mathcad’s hallmarks are its intelligent units management system, its whiteboard interface, and that it manages three kinds of content simultaneously: mathematics, images, and text.  So, an engineer’s true intent can be captured all in one application.

He pushed a bit more, and asked how Mathcad compares to the other two software applications he mentioned.  I indicated honestly that each tool has its own sweet spot.  On a broad basis, sure – Mathcad is a competitive product with the other tools mentioned, plus more.  But I wasn’t about to engage him in a conversation where it pitted Mathcad against other tools.  Instead, I highlighted where I think Mathcad is the best choice.  I returned to the example of units management, and how Mathcad lets an engineer do the things they are paid to do: engineering.  They needn’t worry about carrying units forward in expressions and calculations, making sure they cross-cancel out and resolve to a more common unit type (for example, a kilogram-meter-per-second-squared is a Newton).  I also highlighted how the Mathcad interface is excellent for assisting an engineer or other higher-order math user in documenting her calculations so that anyone else with whom she shares her worksheet can follow along.  Done correctly, there’s no mystery about data locked inside cells or decoding a complex script.  It lets a user document what they did, why they did it, and what they were thinking, right along with the calculations.

Just then, the woman next the gentleman I was talking to (row 9 on JetBlue, Sunday, 9:35a flight!) asked which application we were talking about.  I indicated that I am a Product Manager for Mathcad, and we were talking about Mathcad as it relates to other engineering mathematics tools.  She said, “Yes – I know exactly what you mean about the documentation aspect!”  She is a Program Manager for an aerospace company, and she is familiar with many of the tools we were discussing.  She said, “I work with engineers who think in matrices.  So, when we review each others’ work, I have to say to them ‘OK – this is good, but you need to explain it in a form that others can understand!’”

I thought this was a great way to explain one of the key value propositions of Mathcad, and I couldn’t have said it better myself.  There are many software applications on the market that perform similar tasks, as well as applications that perform tasks that no others do (or do well).  Mathcad is each of those.  Similarly, we’d all be lying if we said that price isn’t a factor in just about every purchase we make, whether it’s a personal purchase (like a car or a TV), or something related to business (like a consulting contract, or a piece of software).  When it comes down to it, you need the right tool for the job (and sized and priced appropriately).

We continued to talk a bit more about how Mathcad fits into the entire PTC Product Development System, and then trade industry stories about our individual lines of work.  As I was walking off the plane, I was thinking, “This is great – here’s someone who, unprompted, totally gets one of the greatest features of my product!”  It’s refreshing when people “get it”.  Of course, I would have also liked to hear what she thinks could be improved.  Sure, a more challenging conversation, but one that is just as interesting.  Getting user feedback is what helps make good products great, and great products the best.

Now, if I could only get my wife to be as interested in my work as my fellow passengers on my JetBlue flight, that’d be great.