Baker Hughes (BHI) has lifted the lid on its software development effort in an article in its Connexus Magazine. BHI’s user interface/user experience (UI/UX) group performs testing on the software used in directional drilling and logging while drilling activities. The idea is to deploy software that, like a smart phone, does not require a ‘binder full’ of operating instructions. UI/UX lead Joel Tarver said, ‘Today’s users want an uncomplicated experience whether they are making a phone call or logging a well.’ The team works out of the BHI usability lab in Houston. This ‘Silicon valley-inspired’ complex has an observation room with one-way glass, surveillance cameras, and eye-tracking equipment. Some employees were recruited from the video gaming industry. Tarver described the lab as a ‘a microcosm of culture change’ for the company.
BHI has presented its data visualization concepts to Statoil in a pitch to support a new field development. The forward looking program seeks to leverage concepts ‘that may become reality’ within the 30 year lifetime of the project. Tarver believes that today, industry wastes time ‘fighting software that is ‘working against us.’ The UI/UX lab is set to transform the tide of available data into information to support clients’ decision making. More from Baker Hughes.
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