Chris Tisdel is the Founder of Ruckus Innovation Consulting and has 25+ years of global experience as a designer, catalyst for innovation, strategic consultant, founder, and angel investor in design, engineering, and technology industries. He has been an innovation leader in the private and public sectors.
Chris has facilitated over 100+ workshops thoughtfully guiding multiple organizations through their respective journeys for innovation. Facilitating amazing people along the way, Chris developed an integrated and highly adaptable innovation program methodology known at the Strategitorium. This program methodology puts people and their ideas first, recoils at the notion that “ideas are a dime-a-dozen”, and revels in the knowledge that your idea is going to be the next big thing!
As an instigator and alchemist of ideas, Chris started his career as a classically trained architect looking to turn lead into gold… or paper into digitally designed and fabricated beauty in the form of the built environment. To that end, he was one of the early adopters (circa 1999) of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in Austin, Texas (let alone the US) who designed and executed construction drawings based on virtual models developed for the high-tech, wafer-fab industry. The projects were complicated and the tools were cumbersome, but the connection between design and technology was forever hardwired in him after that first experimentation.
Chris merged the world of architecture with the world of academics around 2003 and while still practicing architecture, began research in the realm of digital design, construction as manufacturing, and on-site work as shipping and logistics. The question that he was asking at the time was essentially, “How can we digitally create modern architecture, manufacture that architecture akin to a 747, and drop-ship (a la FedEx) said architecture anywhere in the world to be assembled by a non-craftsman workforce?” Simple, right? To that end, he wrote and co-authored peer-reviewed papers on subjects regarding the 3D printing of both models and buildings, the modularization of buildings into ‘chunks’ for ease of manufacturing, and the virtual approach (early VR/AR) to construction via a model/model data in “real time” versus any paper documentation. This research formed the foundation for applied innovations that he put into practice in modular construction and data-driven design long before it was vogue.
Around 2007 he moved into an owner role becoming the Director of Building Information Modeling for the State of Texas. In this first-of-its-kind role for a State entity, he began to bring together all of the best practice technologies and processes at the time to assist the State in design, building, and managing new and existing structures across a diverse portfolio. Chris developed a standard and guideline for how the State would procure and manage AEC services, as well as the requirements of all professional service providers regarding this digital transformation. It was at this stage in his career that the people, research, process, and technology pieces all fell into place and started to form a direction for substantial, applied innovation at an industry level.
Following his work in the owners’ role, he moved back into architecture working with Gehry Partners/Technologies where digital and manufacturing processes met incredible design. While he was excited by the application of what he knew to be true, he could see that the impact was limited to a very small ecosystem of designers and clients. Chris wanted to go bigger… a wider reach and deeper impact. He knew that while technology is not THE answer, it is an incredible catalyst and thus found himself gravitating towards a position with Autodesk, Inc. In a global consultant role, surrounded by both incredible colleagues and some of the worlds’ largest AEC and EPC owners, designers, and contractors, he had the unique opportunity to bring all of his experience to bear on this industry’s most wicked opportunities and challenges. Also in this role, Chris began to facilitate others on their journey through digital transformation and organizational innovation.
Finally, he stepped completely into the role of facilitating and consulting around innovation and the culture of bringing something new into the world to make a significant impact. Chris has always enjoyed picking a fight with the status quo and getting into trouble with great people, so it was only a matter of time before Ruckus Innovation Consulting was launched. He has always been the person who steps around the next corner… who looks to the next horizon to see what is coming… who wants to share his knowledge and experience to the betterment of those around him.
