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About BrainOpener

BrainOpener is the personal blog of Mark. L. Smith

 

A Legacy of Engine Building

Engines are funny things. We don’t really think about them until a machine breaks down and we identify the failure of the engine as the cause or the culprit. When we think of engines, most of us conjure up an image of metal, grease, nuts and bolts. But it takes a different kind of person to see all that, but also see beyond that.  For these people, an engine is not just a clump of metal. Neither is it just a sum of all those parts.  What these people see is the engine’s potential–how all those parts working together produce results. These people are engine builders.

Mark comes from a long line of engine builders–four generations, in fact. Raymond Smith, his great grandfather, was an engine builder both literally and figuratively. He worked on gasoline and diesel engines as a car mechanic. He also built his business from the ground up–making it work and run like–well, like a well-oiled engine.

He passed on his knowledge and love for engine building to his son, Richard Smith, Sr. (Mark’s grandfather), who became a car mechanic as well. Richard Sr. also ran his own farm.

Richard Smith Jr., Mark’s father, got into a different sort of engine. Not one with metal, grease, nuts and bolts, but one with wires, circuits and bytes of intangible data. Richard Jr. was a computer engineer who managed two kinds of engines: one, the software engine that powered a large insurance system for his company; and two, the human engine–the team–that was responsible for running and maintaning that insurance system.

Mark got his passion for computers from his father.  As a child, he was one of the very few who owned a computer at home and he grew up with that kind of technology as a matter of course. It didn’t take long for Mark to realize that computers are machines driven by the engine of technological innovation. By the age of fifteen, Mark programmed and marketed his very  first piece of software called Menu Manager. He was able to sell the rights to a consulting firm.

Since then, Mark has worked in the corporate and start-up worlds developing not just software, but processes and solutions to make software products successful.  His experience working with teams and implementing systems and processes for successful companies has given him an added insight into the idea of engine building.

For Mark, it’s not just the computer, nor the software, that comprises the engine of the modern technology firm. The people and the processes involved in the development of a product or service are also key components.  Without all these elements, he believes, an engine won’t reach its full potential.  By integrating and developing people, technology and processes into an engine that produces results, Mark hopes to continue the  legacy of engine building that he got from his father, grandfather, and great grandfather.

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Mark L. Smith is the President of Spring Valley Consulting and a Co-Founder of DigMyData, an online tool that streamlines the processes of online businesses. Want to know more about Mark’s software background and corporate experience? Read his profile in LinkedIn.