Boskalis recently had a special team activity: Bord&Stift illustrator Betina came by to give a drawing workshop! With a team of 23 people, they dealt with various aspects of drawing for 4 hours: from 2D and 3D drawing to designing and presenting a new product. Afterwards Betina called Vincent van Gool, manager Research and Development at Boskalis, to hear more about his experience.
Why did you want to do a workshop with your team?
“I always say that new ideas only consist of a quarter of technology and three quarters other aspects, such as communication. These aspects are needed to get things moving. We’re always gathering information at our Research and Development department. To pay more attention to various forms of communication, we started doing the drawing workshop. “
Why did you choose a drawing workshop from Bord&Stift?
“We did a scan of similar companies. The majority focus on drawing puppets and visualizing processes. We wanted to draw physical equipment, such as excavators and ships. I saw a Bord&Stift illustrator who came from a technical education background. When I saw the sample drawings, I thought: This could work. “
Was there anything that surprised you during the workshop?
“As a final assignment, we had to design and present a new product in groups of four in the form of a poster. We started brainstorming a little, to think about what idea we were going to work on. You do that automatically with words. At some point someone started to draw and then the rest went along with it. This greatly accelerated the brainstorm. It confirmed that drawing can be a very good tool for decision making. “
Did you enjoy it?
‘Very nice. It was really a wish for me to start drawing, but I noticed that I felt a bit of a barrier: can I do that, do I really want to? That threshold is now completely gone. “
How did you end up at Boskalis?
“While studying mechanical engineering, I did an internship assignment at Boskalis, which led to a graduation assignment. Before it was finished, I was already offered a job in the Research and Development department. I have been working there for 21 years now. In between, I made a trip to Melbourne, where I worked for two years for a Boskalis dredging project. Very nice to do, but I noticed that my heart still lies with new developments. That is why I am so at home at Research and Development. “