ISO vs. Innovation

Does a quality control system such as ISO 9001 stifle innovation?

You might think that a company could either be good at consistency and quality OR be good at innovation and change. Does one goal preclude the other? Or can you have both?

It's my experience that quality control actually fosters innovation - but innovation of a certain kind. Our ISO system encourages incremental change and improvement - but not 'radical' new ideas.

Our focus on measurable objectives makes us aware of small changes in turn-around times, efficiency, quality and customer satisfaction. When we change processes or technology we can quickly gauge the effects. This feedback gets us thinking about how we can raise our scores - how we can marginally improve everything.

We're always looking for 'soft innovations' - simple things that will make our clients lives easier.(Seth Godin's book Free Prize Inside is required reading at our office!). Is there some way that our service could be ever-so-slightly better? Or perhaps just a little less annoying?

The ISO mindset puts us in Malcolm Gladwell's Late Bloomer category. We are like Cezanne - slowly discovering and elaborating a long term vision. We're not like Picasso - we're not coming up with radical new concepts and suddenly changing direction.

I think we have a proven track record for innovation and product development. But it's not radical blue-sky stuff. We try to get a little bit better and deliver a little bit more value each year. We work closely with our clients; we try to understand them and we build products and services that make them more efficient.

Digital Archaeology

At the Toronto Reference Library there are sets of Fire Insurance Plans know as Goad Maps after their creator Charles Goad. The oldest ones go back to the 1850's These are highly detailed plans of the city that show the outline and configuration of every building. Because they were used to assess insurance risk they also include building materials and things like lumber yards and coal piles.

It's really interesting to compare old maps to the current environment. Using Google earth, it is possible to import a scan of a map and place it over the satellite imagery. It's a bit tricky to get the scaling and orientation just right, but once you do, you have a nifty little digital archeology tool. You can shift the transparency of the map to vary what you can see through of the satellite imagery.

Here are some examples. I have taken a map from the 1880's and laid it over Toronto in Google Earth.

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You can see how landfill has been used to expand the area of the city. The old water front ran through where the CN Tower is today: more than half a kilometer from the present water's edge. The Skydome, the Gardiner and the waterfront condos would are all built where once there was deep water:

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Further west you can see the effect of a now vanished ravine. Over a hundred years ago a substantial ravine created by the now vanished Garrison Creek cut through the city fabric. Today the Creek has been filled in, but evidence remains in the odd curve of streets and a long swatch of public property in the form of schools, city owned housing and parks:

Space Database Management Team

Check out our new management team page. We thought you might want to know a bit more about the people that look after your data. Here are their profiles:

Chris Gadula, President and CEO

Chris joined Space Database in 2007. He is directly responsible for key customers and oversees the sales, marketing and business development functions.

For the past fourteen years, Chris has focused his career on corporate growth opportunities, turnarounds and startups. His expertise in growing companies, including those publicly owned has resulted in significant value creation and shareholder return. Previous to joining Space Database, he was CEO of Control and Metering, President of Beltronics and Transtel Communications, Senior VP of the Loyalty Group, and Executive VP at Avotus Software and Kasten Chase. Earlier in his career, Chris gained extensive experience in the telecommunications industry, having served as VP at AT&T, Santel Communications and Siemens Canada.

Chris is a graduate of the University of Waterloo. A native of St Catharines, Chris and his wife Marie have one daughter, Alexandra; they have lived in Toronto for thirty years. Chris is an avid golfer. He has previously served on the board of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and the Addiction Research Foundation and has chaired or co-chaired several major fundraising campaigns at the University of Waterloo and for the United Way (while at AT&T).

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Mikael Sandblom, Co-Founder and COO

Mikael co-founded Space Database with John Zsolt in 1994 and has been the key architect of the company's software development. As COO, Mikael leads the software development team, and oversees information technology, customer service, finance & operations.

Mikael is a graduate of the Technical University of Nova Scotia, now part of Dalhousie University (Master of Architecture 1991) and has his MBA from the Rotman School of Business, University of Toronto.

Mikael was born in Lund, Sweden. He and his wife Viz have two children. Mikael enjoys skiing in the winter and sailing in the summer. Mikael also enjoys a minor career as an artist. His work is represented in various collections including the provincial Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.

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Greg Mounsey, Account Executive

Greg joined SDI in May, 2009. As Account Executive, Greg is responsible for new business development in North America. Prior to joining Space Database, Greg accumulated more than 10 years of commercial real estate experience within the brokerage industry, Royal LePage Commercial, and as a Manager, Office Leasing at Morguard Investments Limited.

With his real estate background, and as a former client of Space Database, Greg is very well positioned to understand the needs and complexities of both new and existing clients.

Greg was born in Toronto and graduated from the University of Western Ontario (BA). He and his wife Christine have two children. An active volunteer, Greg formerly donated his time and efforts to Canadian Cancer Society fundraising campaigns. He is currently a head coach with Mississauga's Meadowvale Hockey League and is a Chair of sponsorships and ticket sales with Boost Child Abuse Prevention and Intervention.

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Jitesh Mandalia, Production Manager

Jitesh joined Space Database in 2004 and is our BOMA standards expert. As Production Manager, he is responsible for training and scheduling the survey team, ensuring quality, consistency and accuracy of all measurement information, CAD documentation, pricing and analytics.

Prior to joining Space Database, he worked in a variety of positions in the building industry including a position as Architectural Designer/ Technologist at Black & Moffat Architects. His background has given him a thorough understanding of building systems, CAD software, layering standards and graphic presentation.

Jitesh was born in Nairobi, Kenya. He has a Bachelor's degree in Architecture, from De Montfort University, United Kingdom.

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Virge-Kai Lindaja, Customer Support

Virge-Kai came to Space Database in 2004 with over twelve years experience as a self-employed project coordinator handling facilities, spatial, equipment and furniture design projects as well as CAD project management. A background in software training with a track record of using well developed problem solving, time management and client relationship skills while meeting deadlines has been very beneficial in helping grow the fledgling customer support program at Space Database.

Her customer support and application configuration responsibilities include client training on Tru-Measure, INDEXIO and Space Dashboard, responding to client questions and concerns as well as customizing application settings and profiles to match the processes and management structures of client companies.

Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Virge-Kai is a graduate of McMaster University (Bachelor's degree in Urban Geography) and Ryerson University (certificates in Project Management and Design Management).

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Daniel Martin, Information Manager

Daniel joined Space Database in 2004 and is responsible for everything that is on-line in our Tru-Measure database. Daniel also plays an important management role in our annual ISO 2001 review and re-qualification.

Prior to joining Space Database, Daniel was employed as a Technical Consultant assessing the eligibility of projects to receive Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax credits, a CAD Designer at the Putting Edge Corporation and a Field Engineer for a commercial real estate measurement competitor.

Daniel graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science - Engineering - from the University of Toronto and more recently earned a certificate in Environmental Engineering Science from Ryerson University. Born in Brezno, Slovak Republic, Daniel and his wife live in Toronto and have a baby daughter.