There's Got To Be A Better Way

When is the last time you heard someone say, “I love email?”


I would bet, probably never.


Every day it seems like we’re swamped with more spam. And when we
do actually rely on email for something important, well, you know
how that goes. You send someone an email and ask them three
questions. They reply to one. You reply with a comment about
their reply and re-ask your other two questions. They reply with
a comment on a whole other subject and before you know it you’ve
got a long list of back and forward messages you’re scrolling
through looking for who said what, when.


It's just so totally inefficient.


Now, imagine that you’re an architect and you have to rely on
this kind of communication with multiple contractors and
sub-contractors to manage a construction project. This is what
actually happens in the real world. It’s crazy. And that’s why
Chuck Perret created a company called Centerline. Chuck says the
goal of the company is, “to kill email.”


Centerline is cloud-based data management for architects that
pulls all of their project-related information out of their inbox
and puts it into what’s called a Project Information Model.


Chuck launched Centerline in 2021, began taking clients in 2022,
saw 350% growth in 2023, and today the company has architectural
firm clients across the country.


If  Centerline is a software solution that solves a problem
for a specific industry, imagine a company that solves any kind
of problem, by simplifying any kind of task with software
solutions, for any industry. Oil and gas. Maritime. Healthcare.
Even sports, and local government.


You might be thinking, “That sounds a bit ambitious.” Well,
sometimes shooting for the stars works, because that’s what
Kellen Francis’s company, Codegig, does.


One of Codegig’s major clients is Shell. Not a local Shell gas
station, but 30 different departments of Shell Oil, including the
entire Gulf Coast. They also work with another couple of
companies you may have heard of: Dow Chemical and Valero.


Anyone who’s ever had a job has had "one of those days" at work.
One of those days where whatever we’re doing is so tedious, or
the opposite – so mind-bogglingly difficult – that you just stop
in your tracks and think, “Theres’ got to be a better way.”


What happens after that, typically, is that we suck it up and get
on with it. But every once in a while, guys like Chuck and Kellen
come along and actually invent a better way.


Ann Edelman sits in for Stephanei Riegel on this edition of Out
to Lunch which was recorded live over lunch at Mansurs On
the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and
Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.la.


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