Out of the Office – Lessons from a client visit in Edinburgh
As we travel professionally, sometimes we tend to miss some of the scenery along the way. We can get a bit of tunnel vision as we busy ourselves with client meetings, conferences, socializing with potential new clients, and uncovering new ways to improve and expand ourselves globally.
My first official trip to Edinburgh snapped me out of that. Edinburgh, Scotland’s compact, hilly capital, is a magical place. From its medieval Old Town and elegant Georgian New Town with gardens, I couldn’t help but slow down and take the time to appreciate my surroundings.
As I slowed down, little details caught my eye. I marveled at the public transport – so connected, punctual, convenient, and cost-effective. Not to mention the jovial nature of the Scottish people and the greetings and smiles I received every morning from strangers.
Between meetings, I squeezed in a visit an ancient monument – the Edinburgh Castle, Scotland’s most-visited paid tourist attraction. The Scottish monuments were quite spectacular and intricately detailed.
It was interesting to read that at the time of second world war, the Crown Jewels were kept in the Castle under a toilet! Of course, I had to see them, they didn’t allow a picture of the original but here is a photo its brass replica.
While I was in Edinburgh, I received the unfortunate news that Stu Sutherland had passed away. I was grateful for the time to wander Edinburgh’s cobbled streets as I reflected on the loss of another great mind and a genuinely great person. I had just been visiting with Stu at DAC where we were proud to have his SystemVerilog book on display at our booth. It was a sad and reflective moment in my trip, a reminder that we never know when are meeting someone for the last time.
The trip was not without its high notes as well. I was heartened to see IDesignSpec in action, with our local client making good use of the tool to jumpstart their project and bring their entire team to an agreement on the specification.
It is interesting when you realize there was a time in the not-too-distant past when no one had heard about register automation products. Yet now they seem ubiquitous, much the same way as code coverage tools were a decade ago.
I had written about the recurring topic of Hardware Software Interface (HSI) at DAC in an earlier blog and we are seeing the momentum continue. IDesignSpec is at the center of this trend. We also now have what I consider to be the “coolest of our tools”, IDS-NextGen, ready for the masses. This solution enables users to write their specification in Word/Excel, describe IP/SoC, and on Linux/Windows/Mac. It is truly versatile and we expect will be quite popular.
Thank you by the way to those of you that took our HSI Quiz that was so popular at DAC we made it available online to everyone. The online contest recently ended and we congratulated Deepak P. as the winner of a new 3D Printer. See our live drawing here.
Finally, just a reminder that I will be presenting our upcoming webinar on September 27th, Hardware Software Interface (HSI) Specification and Productivity Improvement. We will be discussing simple and complex interactions between hardware and software and how to keep your sanity. I hope you will join me.
As always, we invite you to contact us for a free evaluation or to learn more about our high-performance ASIC, FPGA, and SoC Software to solve complex design and verification problems for system development.
