TECHNICAL
Nearly two years ago, back when the world still felt relatively normal, I decided to leave the world of academia and research and step into commerce. To use a term that has now become part of everyday language, my learning curve was exponential. As the new Assistant Technical Manager at Maxwell Amenity, I found that the commercial world works at a far quicker pace than anything I had experienced in academia. By Abigail Graceson
T
he number of projects I might be working on at any one time was also far greater. However, the learning curve has, in the main, been an enjoyable one and I am pleased to say that many of the working practices and processes learnt within academia have proven extremely useful in my new setting. I have listed some of those that I have found most useful below: 1. Collaboration 2. Knowledge acquisition 3. Critical analysis 4. Knowledge transfer
Now, I am in no way suggesting that academia has the sole jurisdiction over these practices and processes, but that is where I learnt them and, I believe that sharing ideas and knowledge with others ultimately leads to improvements for all. I am now a Technical Manager at a far larger company, since the acquisition of Maxwell Amenity by Agrovista, which again brings a steep learning curve. Like all of us, the company and all the individuals within it are engaging in navigating our way through our changing social and economic landscape as world events, unprecedented within any of our lifetimes, unfold at lightning speed, causing us to think, plan, implement and re-evaluate to keep up with changing demands and requirements.
Now, as much as ever, there is a value in making scientific principles that encompass the attributes listed above the keystones for
Abigail Graceson
decision making; not just for those important decisions that are being made by policy makers at local, national and international level, but also within our day to day lives, both at home and in business. So, I would like to use the rest of this article to discuss why it is that science is always right but, simultaneously, often wrong and how critical analysis of the facts can help us make good decisions.
So, when you’re looking at the latest fact or idea from
science and thinking to yourself ‘that sounds like nonsense’, it almost certainly is. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but at some point in the future, the current facts will be debunked and replaced with new ones
PC June/July 2020 121
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