Role: Head of Design
Years: 2017
Projects: 1
Team

Bechtel

Rocksauce handled nearly two-dozen projects for Bechtel, from bespoke software, AI driven recommendations, to comics, books & action figures. We had a blast!

Software

Bechtel had a training library nobody used and a leadership-development problem nobody could see coming: on jobsites where crews number in the hundreds, there was no way to tell which workers were quietly investing in their own growth.

I led the team that turned that library into a game: points for skills like safety and initiative, career paths shaped like skill trees, a leaderboard, and eventually a real point-to-currency economy, BecCoin, that let supervisors reward people with something they could spend at the company store.

A grid of sixteen project logos designed for Bechtel, including Pipefighter, HorseTrader, Skyline, Steel Slayer, Cornerstone, Terminator, ProScope, Pricecast, BecCoin and Launchpad. — Fig. 1: The software, each project with its own logo.

Two BecCoin phone screens, one for sending recognition and one with a redemption QR code and coin balance, beside the iPad point-of-sale storefront. — Fig. 2: BecCoin on mobile for recognition and redemption, and the iPad point of sale for the store.

The BecCoin web market, a grid of Bechtel-branded goods with coin prices. — Fig. 3: The BecCoin web market, with Bechtel-branded goods for coins.

Fig. 4: Launchpad, the training portal behind BecCoin. Points for skills, badges, missions and a team leaderboard.

Two Launchpad screens: a career path map of Bechtel job titles, and a classroom program page where each module awards points by skill. — Fig. 5: Launchpad career paths and classroom programs, with points awarded by skill.

Three HorseTrader phone screens: an equipment timeline, an equipment filter and a jobsite map. — Fig. 6: HorseTrader, a mobile app for booking equipment on a jobsite.

Four Pipefighter desktop screens in Bechtel red and slate: a work-package view and the foreman dashboard, then the planning module with weekly work columns and its dialog for adding out of scope cost codes. — Fig. 7: Pipefighter: work packages, the foreman dashboard and planning.

Change Management

Change is tough. Bechtel understood this. Our job was to explain the massive software updates we were building in other ways. Building analogies, like upgrading a robot from a junker to state of the art. Or gorgeously bound & printed books showcasing the expansive benefits of the change we'd already accomplished. And John Gholson's amazing comics & illustrations.

Three interior pages of the Bechtel 2020 comic book showing a meeting between engineers and managers in a plant. — Fig. 8: Pages from Bechtel 2020, a comic book we illustrated and designed.

Three blueprint posters of the same robot. Stage 1, the past: a clunky old robot with claw hands and tank treads, with paper piling up through its body. Stage 2, in progress: the same robot being fitted with modern armored limbs and connected systems. Stage 3, the future: a sleek, fully armored robot wired together with glowing lines. — Fig. 9: The BechMech posters in story order: Stage 1, the past, a junker of a robot; Stage 2, in progress, upgrades bolted on; Stage 3, the future, a fully integrated system.

The printed Smart JobSite book on a wood table: a black cover with a large white and red mark, the line Increasing productivity and efficiency, and a red Bechtel tab at the corner. — Fig. 10: The Smart JobSite book, printed and bound.

Two spreads from the Smart JobSite book. Top: black and white photos of dam construction beside the headline Technology will come and go. Bottom: the Connectivity spread with the Base Camp cart, a smartwatch push to talk screen, power lines and a rugged phone. — Fig. 11: The Smart JobSite book, the opening argument that technology will come and go, and the connectivity spread.

Two more Smart JobSite book spreads. Top: the Pipefighter spread with a foreman dashboard on a tablet. Bottom: the closing spread, For Bechtel, smarter jobsites are not just an idea, they are our commitment, beside construction and refinery photos. — Fig. 12: More of the Smart JobSite book, Pipefighter on a tablet and the closing spread.

BechMech

Of course, then there's the BechMech itself. A limited run of 100 toys were manufactured and stand proudly on the desks of key members of the Bechtel team.

The BechMech toy, a silver and red armored robot, standing on a desk of blueprints beside a ruler and pencils. — Fig. 14: The BechMech toy, standing and in its box.

BechMech open in its foam-lined box beside the red BECHMECH retail box. — Fig. 14: The BechMech toy, standing and in its box.

Overhead: the BechMech toy lying among rulers, pencils and robot sketches. — Fig. 15: The toy on the drawing table, out of the box and in it.

Overhead: BechMech in its foam tray beside the red BECHMECH box, on robot sketches. — Fig. 15: The toy on the drawing table, out of the box and in it.

Rocksauce & Bechtel created huge changes for the company, and its people. Better experiences for field & office teams, up to $90m saved on some projects with our tools deployed, and continued culture of innovation that helped both companies grow.