Indoor Air Cartoon Journal, February 2022, Volume 5, #127

[Cite as: Fadeyi MO (2022). Computation of value experienced by the end user of a solution: Relevance to indoor air quality management. Indoor Air Cartoon Journal, February 2022, Volume 5, #127.]

Fictional Case Story (Audio – available online)

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There was a culture of defining value in terms of the ratio of acquired revenue from a solution to invested resources used to produce, sell, or manage it in the built environment industry. The culture benefited the developer and contractor, but often not the end user. A misfortune that happened to a young woman due to poor indoor air quality led to a journey of changing the culture in the industry to a culture that created value for all stakeholders involved in the development and consumption of a solution to solve the end user’s problem. The journey leading to the development of value computation equations for all stakeholders and artificial intelligence and many digital solutions for accurate computation of value in real time is the subject of this short fiction story.

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“Darling! My water just broke! I think the twins are about to come out.” Mrs. Jenny Martial screamed while calling for her husband, Mr. Marcus Martial. “What?” Mr. Martial shouted, threw away the newspaper he was reading, and ran towards the bedroom where Mrs. Martial was after she came out of the bathroom. Mr. Martial was surprised because Mrs. Martial was not due to deliver until another three weeks. Mr. Martial called a neigbhour, Mr. Johnson, to lend him his car to take his pregnant wife to the hospital, which was about forty-five minutes drive away. Mr. and Mrs. Martial were living in a mass housing building. “No problem, Martial.”  Mr. Johnson said to Mr. Martial.

Mr. Martial walked his wife to the car he borrowed from Mr. Johnson. It was already raining heavily by this time. Mr. Johnson drove Mr. Martial and his wife to the hospital in the rain around 10.30 pm. Unfortunately, the car broke down in the middle of nowhere on their way to the hospital. While Mr. Johnson was trying to fix the car in the rain, Mrs. Martial was already in labour, screaming very loud because she was suffering from severe pain. Mr. Martial was helpless but tried his best to support his wife.

The neighbour finally solved the car’s problem and got Mr. and Mrs. Martial to the hospital at around 1 am. Mrs. Martial was rushed straight to the operating theatre to deliver the babies. Mr. Martial and Mr. Johnson were asked to stay in the lobby.  A few moments later, the consultant, Dr. Helen Bernie, in charge, came out of the operating theatre to tell Mr. Martial that Mrs. Martial could not deliver the babies herself due to certain medical complications. Dr. Bernie provided a brief explanation of the medical condition to Mr. Martial. “Mrs. Martial will die if she delivers the baby herself. She will have to deliver the babies through C-section to have a better chance of saving her and the babies.” Dr. Bernie told Mr. Martial.

“Sir, can we get your permission to proceed, please?” Dr. Bernie asked Mr. Martial anxiously while emphasing to him that they have to act urgently. “Yes! Yes!! Yes!!” Mr. Martial repeatedly said while feeling helpless. “Please save my wife and babies, Doctor.” Mr. Martial said in a begging voice. Mr. and Mrs. Martial had been married for 7 years with no children. Mrs. Martial had lost two pregnancies during the 7 years of marriage. Mr. Martial stopped working as a factory worker to help take care of his wife full time after she was about 6 months pregnant. They were both living on their savings. They had come from the northern side to the southern side of their country, which is one of the largest in the world by land size. Thus, they had no family around to support them.

Dr. Bernie came out five hours after going into the operating theathre. She came out with red and watery eyes. “There were unexpected complications from the pre-existing medication Mrs. Martial was suffering from during the operation. Unfortunately, we lost her and one of the babies due to the pre-existing medical condition. We tried all our possible best, but we could not save them.” Dr. Bernie said with a sorrowful voice. Mr. Martial collapsed and fainted upon hearing the terrible news. Mr. Martial woke up about 15 minutes later and was led to the surviving baby’s room. Mr. Martial carried the baby, a girl. “How am I going to take care of you alone?” Mr. Martial said in a crying voice while asking the baby the question repeatedly without expecting an answer from her.” Mr. Johnson tried his possible best to console his friend, Mr. Martial. Mr. Martial named the baby girl Jessica Martial.

Mr. Martial took care of Jessica alone with his income from being a taxi driver. Taking care of Jessica alone without his wife was very difficult for him, but he persevered. The only consolation for him was Jessica was a dutiful and brilliant girl. She did not have any problem with her studies and did not make his father worry about her. At the age of 19, Jessica gained admission to one of the best universities in the country. She enrolled in a 4-year BSc (Honours) programme in Environmental Engineering. At 23, Jessica graduated with a second-class upper division, popularly called 2.1. Jessica believed she could have made a first-class she barely missed out on if not because she had to work part-time throughout her undergraduate studies to help his father fund her studies. She loved her father so much that she never wanted to disappoint him or see him suffer.

Jessica worked as a tuition teacher for 1 year after graduation. After 1 year of not getting a job for what she studied at the university, she went back to the university to pursue a 2-year MSc degree in Environmental Engineering with a specialisation in IAQ. At the age of 26, Jessica graduated with Distinction. Upon graduation, Jessica got a job with a construction company called Baresi Construction Private Ltd as an IAQ quality manager. The company worked on many construction projects as a contractor and provided IAQ and mechanical systems services. The company also offered facility management contracting services in this area of specialisation.

A year into joining Baresi, Jessica made several efforts to ensure that quality and safety provided to their clients are not compromised while ensuring the country makes profits. The company’s leadership and processes jeopardised all her efforts to deliver value-oriented services to their clients. The President and CEO, Mr. Knox White, had made it very clear to all staff that it is all about making profits as much as possible. He was reported to have said to all staff in a town hall meeting, “this company is in the business to make money.”

He was more interested in reducing the cost invested in delivering their services as much as possible, even if it comes at the detriment of the value created to the consumer (end user) of their services. He wanted to make tremendous profits by any means. He was more interested in how the company creates value in the financial markets. It was no wonder the company was performing very well in the financial markets. The financial power he created for the company made him a favourite of the company’s chairman and board of directors. No one questioned him about the quality and safety delivered to the clients.

The company’s stock value was one of the top three in the financial markets. Their services were provided to clients cheaply. There was a slogan in the company that goes like, do more with less. The more, in this case, is the revenue for the company. The company reduced the number of people working on their projects. The company staff was encouraged to take shortcuts through positive appraisal and financial rewards. There was less focus on doing things right. Adequate quality and safety controls and checks were not a priority as long as the money flowed into the company’s purse. Thus, the company staff was not interested in finding errors and fixing them because the senior management did not appreciate such practices. Everything was about saving time and cost instead of solving problems that could hinder the delivery of value to the consumer (end user) of the company’s services.

A position for quality manager became open at Baresi Construction Private Ltd when the quality manager, Mrs. Mary Bella, resigned six months after joining the company.  She was demanding problems to be solved before work could proceed. Office politics set in. She was taken out of the picture in many of the work processes decision-making she was supposed to be managing. She decided to resign when she did not get support from the senior management. She did not even get support from quality inspectors reporting to her. 

Jessica was recruited to be the quality manager without knowing why the person who previously held the position left the company. After having a similar experience as Mrs. Bella, Jessica also exercised the thought of resigning. However, she could not because she needed the money to take care of her father, Mr. Martial, who was in his 60s, suffering from a diabetic condition with frequent visits to the hospital. She stayed on in the company with the hope that she could eventually change the mindset in the company, or at least prevent disaster from occurring.

Unfortunately, disaster struck a year after Jessica joined the company. Twenty-four people died, and more than one hundred people that were working in one of the buildings Baresi provided construction services to on IAQ and mechanical systems were critically ill. The incident was due to an outbreak of legionnaire disease caused by legionella bacteria. Investigations done by the authority blamed Baresi Construction Private Limited for the disaster. The investigators found that the poor construction of and materials used for the cooling tower and facility management services to maintain it led to the growth of legionella bacteria. The investigators also found evidence for poor Baresi’s construction and facility management services in many buildings the company was involved in.

The investigators found that aerosolised water from the cooling tower of the building where the disaster occurred contained the legionella bacteria that were spread into the building’s indoor environment via the fresh air intake. The fresh air intake was constructed to be facing the cooling tower, against the instructions from the building services design engineer. The company’s senior management decided to settle out of court with $1 billion to prevent the case from going to court. The company also blamed Jessica because she was responsible for managing the quality of their projects. Jessica was fired. The company also insinuated that it was Jessica’s fault whenever their representatives gave a press briefing. Jessica was attacked on social media as a murderer, and the company did nothing to help her.

The decision of the authority not to prosecute Baresi Construction Private Limited in court angered the public, especially the victims’ relatives, despite receiving compensations. A cousin of one of the victims who died, a gang leader called “Killer” decided to punish Jessica. He found her as an easy target to release his anger on. He also believed that the incompetence of Jessica killed her beloved cousin. He set up a plan to kill Jessica in her home with some of his gang members. “Bang! Bang!! Bang!!!” Killer and five of his gang members shot sporadically into the air at around 2 am. “Where is that useless, Jessica?” The gang shouted. Killer and three of his gang members who came with him went to look for Jessica in her apartment.

Everyone in the mass housing estate Jessica was leaving with her father was woken by the gunfire sound. They hid in their apartments. No one dared to come out. The gang broke the front door of Jessica’s apartment open. They found Mr. Martial standing in front of Jessica to protect her. “Old man, get out of our way! We are not here for you. We are here for your daughter.” Killer said. Mr. Martial refused to bulge. “You have to get through me.” Mr. Martial said with a protesting voice. Then, he started pleading profusely with the gang not to do anything to her daughter. As he was pleading, he was hit with a gun on his head and kicked in the stomach. Mr. Martial fell behind. His fall made him and Jessica trip over the three steps behind them. He fell on Jessica, and Jessica landed with her head. She fainted immediately, and blood started coming out of her head.

Upon seeing her daughter lying on the floor unconsciously with blood coming out of her head, Mr. Martial instinctively launched towards the gang member called Scorpion, that hit and kicked him without fearing for his life and started saying, “why? why? why? You must kill me too. I can’t live in this world without my daughter.” “Oblige him Scorpion!” Killer instructed. Scorpion opened fire on Mr. Martial. Mr. Martial died instantly. Scorpion went towards Jessica and cocked his gun to shoot her. He shot his gun, but the gun jammed. He cocked his gun again.

“Stop!” Killer shouted. “Let us go! Let her bleed to death if she is not already dead.” Killer said. Killer and his gang members rushed downstairs and got into their car with two gang members who came for the attack already waiting in the car. They drove off while shooting into the air sporadically. The neighbours only came out of their apartment 30 minutes after Killer and his gang members had gone. “Jessica is still breathing!” One of the neighbour shouted. The neighbours rushed Jessica to the hospital. She was operated upon immediately. The doctors successfully tried their best to stop the blood and prevent her head from swelling.

Jessica did not wake up after the brain surgery. She remained in a coma. After the brain surgery, something sparked in her brain that made her “live in the future,” 30 years ahead of her time while in the coma. She experienced “future” technological developments and their application to benefit humans. One of such experiences includes Jessica finding herself in a lecture of a module she registered for in a university. The topic being addressed was the computation of value experienced by the user of a solution: Relevance to indoor air quality (IAQ) management. “Professor! How to calculate the value provided to an end user or consumer of a solution designed to solve an indoor air quality problem?” Jessica found herself asking a question.

“Hmmm, good question!” the professor replied. The question by Jessica led the professor into a detailed explanation of the value delivery computation and presented the value delivery equation shown in Figure 1 below. The professor started by saying, “the goal of any value delivery efforts is to ensure the usefulness (U) delivered to the end user is always greater than the invested resources (I) as much as possible.” “The worst-case scenario in which value equals zero, i.e., waste delivery, would be if resources are invested with absolutely no usefulness.” The professor said. There is no best case scenario because the effort to make value delivered to the end user of a developed solution to be greater than one as much as possible should always be a lifelong journey needing continuous improvement efforts.”  The professor emphasised. 

“Resources are invested into a series of tasks forming an overall process (value stream) leading to a solution needed to solve an end consumer’s problem, thereby delivering value to the end consumer (user). A producer develops a solution to solve a problem. There can be many producers and consumers of different kinds of solutions in the value stream leading to the final solution for the end consumer (user). A consumer at a stage in the value stream can be a producer in another stage for a consumer in the new stage. This can continue until the end consumer (user) has a solution to solve its problem. The value required by the end consumer should dictate how the producers and consumers at all stages of the value stream define and compute their value. The target set for each element in the equation for computing value for each producer and consumer in the value stream should be dictated by the target set for each element for computing value for the end consumer (user).” The professor shared.       

To better explain his idea, the professor gave examples of major stakeholders involved in producing and consuming a solution (building) for delivering healthy IAQ. The stakeholders the professor mentioned are a contractor, developer or building owner (with the facility management team), and user, i.e., a building occupant exposed to the indoor air. Before sharing more, the professor said the value delivered by a solution (building) is related to healthy IAQ delivery. The same concept can be applied if the value of a building is defined in the context of overall building performance delivered. Building performance is dictated by healthy indoor environmental quality status, which IAQ is part of, and building integrity, e.g., maintainability, structural stability, security performance, resource efficiency performance, etc.  

The professor continued to explain his idea. “In this context, the process of developing an IAQ solution to solve the user’s IAQ problem starts with the contractor. The goal of the contractor developing the solution is to maximise the acquired revenue as much as possible. The developer or building owner pays the revenue to the contractor. The revenue payment is done with the assumption that the required quantity (Q_t), quality (Q_L), and safety (S) by the user of the solution has been provided. The revenue is part of the usefulness the contractor will hope to achieve from the resources invested in developing the solution required by the user.”

“Revenue paid to the contractor is a summation of the invested cost (C_t) by the contractor and the profit gained from developing the solution to solve the problem of the end user. Profit can be in the form of money, and monetary implications of opportunity, prestige, item used for a transaction, or in-kind contribution acquired. The other determinates of the usefulness are the level of comfort (C_f), convenience (C_v), and awareness (A_w) gained by the contractor from the acquired revenue for each of the three determinant groups, i.e., quantity, quality, and safety.” The professor further explained.

“The cost (C_t) invested by the contractor includes the direct cost (labour, material, and equipment, sub-contractors, etc.), indirect cost (supervision, job trailer expenses, temporary utilities, testing, and inspection, etc.), and monetary implication of time spent. The cost is part of the invested resources. The level of discomfort (i.e., comfort, “C_f”, sacrificed), inconvenience (i.e., convenience, “C_v” sacrificed), and the knowledge or information (i.e., awareness, ‘A_w”) sacrificed by a contractor to acquire the solution’s usefulness are also part of the invested resources.” The professor shared.

“The higher the number of activities that are unnecessary and also consume resources with no required usefulness delivered in the process (value stream), the higher the resources the contractor would need to invest into the process of developing the solution with no guarantee that the level of required solution’s usefulness will be delivered. The end user is not willing to pay for such activities. The best is to eliminate these activities from the process. Examples of such activities are those that create or introduce defects into the process causing the delivered solution (building) to provide unhealthy IAQ.” The professor shared.    

“The higher the number of activities in the process that are necessary but not responsible for delivering the required usefulness, the higher the resources the contractor would need to invest into the process of developing the solution with no guarantee that the level of required solution’s usefulness will be delivered. The end user is not willing to pay for such activities. The best is to simplify these activities in the process as they are still necessary. The simplification will help reduce invested resources. Examples of such activities are verification activities for quantity, quality, and safety provided by the developed solution. However, the activities in the process that are necessary and responsible for delivering the required usefulness should be optimised to get more required usefulness from invested resources. The end user is willing to pay for such activities.” The professor explained.

“Suppose there are many wasteful activities in a value stream. In that case, contractors will be motivated to cut corners and set a low level target for the usefulness, especially in the case of quality and safety, to be delivered to the end user. Thus, the end user will invest more resources with little usefulness acquired, i.e., low value delivery. The risk of the contractor not delivering the required value to the end user will also be higher when priority is given to rushing the development of the solution to save time as much as possible at the detriment of the solution’s quantity, quality, and safety.” The professor shared. “What does low priority for the delivered usefulness, especially in the case of quality and safety, mean to the end user?” The professor asked without planning to answer the question or expecting the students to answer the question.       

“Rushing the process of developing a solution will inhibit the proper planning required to minimise hazards and vulnerabilities in the value stream that can increase the consumption of resources with little or no usefulness delivered to the end user. It will also inhibit the ability to benefit from benefits inherent in using digital solutions for effective planning for value delivery to all stakeholders, including the end user, involved.” The professor shared. The professor later gave specific examples of how artificial intelligence, and many available digital solutions can be used to aid effective planning for adding value and removing wastes from the value stream (process) of creating a building (solution) that delivers healthy IAQ to the end user.  

“The need to deliver quality and safety often requires additional time and activities, especially at the planning stage. The removal of these time and activities may save the contractor invested resources while the revenue acquired from the developer or owner remains the same or more despite not delivering the required quality and safety, and in some cases, the quantity. Suppose the contractor’s revenue has been decided upon. In this case, the profit to the contractor will be higher whenever the invested resources are reduced.” The professor shared.

“The rush to develop a solution in short possible time is often championed by the developer or building owner in situation where they are involved in the process of developing a solution for the end user. The developer or building owner often knowingly or unknowingly market the developed building (solution) to have systems that can provide healthy IAQ to entice potential occupants. Each occupant is the end user experiencing the building (solution) designed to provide healthy IAQ.” The professor shared.

“The revenue paid by the end user with the assumption that the required quantity, quality, and safety and other usefulness determinants of the developed solution will be provided is a determinant of the acquired revenue by a developer or building owner. It is important to note that the context being discussed here is that the building owner is the developer.  If the developer is different from the building owner, the building owner will be a layer between a developer and the end user. Such context is beyond the scope I am talking about here.” The professor explained.

“Revenue paid to the developer or building owner is a summation of invested cost (C_t) and the profit gained from selling the developed building (solution) to the end user. The invested cost by the developer or building owner is the summation of the cost paid in the process of creating, selling, and managing the building (solution) to acquire the revenue and the benefits the revenue brings to the developer or building owner.” The professor shared. “The revenue acquired by the developer or building owner from the end user is often boosted by the profit the developer or building owner accounted for in their revenue computation. The assumed or known level of usefulness (healthy IAQ) the delivered building (solution) will give the end user often plays a major role in determining the level of profit the developer or building owner wishes to acquire. Market dynamics may also influence the profit determination.” The professor shared.

“Unfortunately, profit is also boosted when the developer or building owner bargained with the contractor to reduce a small fraction of the revenue to be paid because the contractor did not deliver the required quantity, quality, or safety expected from the delivered solution or just plainly want to cheat the contractor.” The professor said, feeling disappointed in the culture in the industry. “The other determinates of the usefulness, i.e., the benefits the acquired revenue brings, are the level of comfort (C_f), convenience (C_v), and awareness (A_w) gained by the developer or building owner. Unfortunately, wastes involved in the process of developing, selling, or managing a solution will reduce the level of usefulness acquired by a developer or building owner.” The professor noted.

“The end user goes through the certain process, i.e., consumption process, of acquiring the usefulness involved in the created solution. The process stages generally include searching for, obtaining, installing, maintaining, repairing, upgrading the solution, and disposing of the solution after its useful life to the end user. If there are many non-value activities at each stage, the end user would need to invest more cost. The end user will sacrifice comfort (C_f), convenience (C_v), and awareness (A_w) with little acquired usefulness of getting the problem at each stage solved. The usefulness to the end user includes quantity, quality, and safety the solution provides in solving the end user’s problem.” The professor shared.

“The quantity refers to the end user having the right number of sub-solutions in the created main solution (building) needed to solve an IAQ problem. Quality refers to the building having the required capacity to solve the IAQ problem. The created sub-solutions (i.e., building systems) will determine the required capacity. Safety refers to the extent to which the developed building and its sub-systems avert the end user’s health and work performance problems poor IAQ could cause. The ability of the building and its sub-systems not to be hazards will also contribute to the safety level. The level of usefulness provided by the developed solution will also depend on the comfort (ease felt), convenience (ease of doing things), and awareness (useful knowledge) associated with the quality, quantity, and safety. Value delivered to the end user will vary with time as building and its sub-systems age.” The professor further shared.

The professor paused for a moment and asked his students, “why is it important to consider comfort, convenience, and awareness in all the value computation equations?” There was silence in the classroom. A silence that could make a pin sound very loud if it drops on the floor. “It is very simple. It is because human behaviour is informed them.” The professor answered his question.   

“Each parameter in each equation will be determined based on the achieved status, which starts from level zero, divided by the set target. Thus, if target equals status for each parameter or usefulness (U) equals the invested resources (I), value equals 1. Only in the case of Q_t, Q_L, S, and C_t can status be greater than the target. The maximum set target for C_f, C_v, and A_w cannot be beyond 100%. Thus, status cannot be greater than the target for C_f, C_v, and A_w. Any additional status level beyond the set target for Q_t, Q_L, and S will only be considered if their associated C_f, C_v, and A_w increase. Otherwise, they would be considered a waste (e.g., over-production and extra-processing) and ignored. The target level for Q_t, Q_L, S will be informed by the vulnerability level of the end user. The higher the vulnerability level, the higher the target level.” The professor emphasised.

“Tracking value delivery accurately in real time can be nearly impossible if the parameters in the equations are tracked manually.” The professor said. “The available artificial intelligence (AI) enhanced by machine learning and other digital solutions in the market are now available to make accurate and real time tracking of the target and status for each parameter. AI and other digital solutions also provide an opportunity for very detailed tracking, which is not possible for a manual approach. “AI and other digital solutions can also be used to predict the parameters accurately for all stakeholders, especially the end user, to make an informed decision on a solution and process that can give the highest possible value.” The professor said enthusiastically. “It would have been difficult to compute the value delivery accurately and in real-time many years ago even if they knew about the value delivery equations I developed”. The professor remarked. The Jessica era, which was 30 years behind, was part of this many years ago.

The professor went on to share several case studies with the students on how AI and available digital solutions are being used in the industry to determine and predict value delivered to all stakeholders involved in the production and consumption of a building (solution) to solve the end user’s IAQ problem and make an appropriate intervention in time. “The awareness provided by AI and available digital solutions led to a building (solution) having a better chance of completely solving the end user’s IAQ problem. They encourage prudent use of invested resources to maximise usefulness delivered by a solution where and when needed. The technology development also led to the development of value stream and solutions that help reduce the number of decisions stakeholders have to make to solve their problem.” The professor shared with the students who were consumed with the thoughts of contributions they could make to the industry.

Like her classmate after graduation, Jessica worked with companies to use AI and many digital solutions to aid the computation of value delivery for all stakeholders involved in producing and consuming a building that provides healthy IAQ. She gained a high level of expertise. After one year of being in a coma, Jessica woke up to her era. She was devasted after hearing about the death of his father. The neigbour helped bury his father. Jessica aided the authority to catch and prosecute Killer and his gang members. Killer and Scorpion were sent to death by hanging, while the remaining four gang members were sent to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

After the case, Jessica travelled to the United Kingdom to embark on an industrial doctorate degree in engineering (EngD) programme at Loughborough University two years after waking up from a coma. She used part of the money gathered for her through the Justice for Jessica movement for her trip to the UK. Part of the money was also used to pay her hospital bills. As part of her 4-year doctorate studies, Jessica was attached to a building and construction authority in the UK. The topic she worked on was “computation of value experienced by the end user of a solution: Relevance to indoor air quality management.

Jessica was ahead of her time in knowledge of the subject area by 30 years. People in her era had never thought of the value delivery equations and how to use AI and other digital solutions to aid the value delivery computation. She applied the knowledge she gained from the “vision” she had while in a coma to guide the direction of her EngD studies. Her innovation was highly felt. Many people were stunned by her work and the impact her studies could have on revolutionising the built environment industry if the infrastructure her studies suggested were developed at a large scale.

As a doctorate student, she impacted academics and industry in a positive way that many experts could never imagine they could make because of the era they were in. The very promising nature of Jessica’s doctorate work led the UK government to invest in developing infrastructure for AI and many digital solutions. This development was far ahead of their time. Jessica was recruited and made the Chief Technical Director at the UK building and construction authority, a government agency, immediately upon her EngD graduation. Jessica was asked to lead the effort of using AI and other digital solutions for effective value computation and value delivery in the built environment industry.

The delivery of buildings that provided healthy IAQ for the end user was not the only benefit Jessica, and her team provided. They also aided the delivery of value relating to healthy IEQ and building integrity. Productivity in the built environment industry increased astronomically. Contractors, developers or building owners, and end users were very happy. The productivity boom in the built environment industry also encouraged other industries in the UK to work with Jessica and her team. In no time, their productivity also increased. The key benefit of Jessica’s innovation is providing awareness of the value that can be achieved if stakeholders, irrespective of the industry, get onboard and guidance on how the stakeholders can achieve the value they want and need.   

Jessica received many accolades. Her success followed her everywhere. She became a global figure because of the revolutionary innovation she introduced to the built environment industry and other industries in the UK. Government officials, scholars, built environment professionals, and other industry experts travelled worldwide to learn how Jessica contributed to the transformation of the UK’s economy. Value-oriented productivity delivery was a major problem worldwide, especially in the built environment industry. UK’s built environment industry and economy development became the envy of so many countries.

Eventually, government officials from her native country sought her out to see how he could help her native country in improving the country’s built environment. Twenty years after travelling to the UK for her doctorate degree, she returned home to be Minister of Housing and Environment. “Hmmm! It feels good to be home.” Jessica said after stepping out of her airplane. She was excited to be back in her native country for the first time in twenty years. On the other hand, she doubted her ability to transform the built environment of a country that was always resistant to change and prioritise revenue by the contractors and developers or building owners at a significant detriment to value delivered to end-users. It was this culture that led to the misfortune she experienced.

True to her concern, she faced significant resistance from the contractors and developers despite government support and investment in infrastructure for digital solution adoption. She started with making headway on government-controlled projects. The contractors involved in the government projects got to appreciate that defining value from the end user’s perspective actually makes better business sense for them. Word of mouth from the contractors alone helped convince other hesitant contractors and developers or building owners in the industry to get on board. Very soon, many contractors and developers in the country started to buy into the idea until Jessica was able to transform the industry during her 8 years in the office as a minister. There was a significant improvement in the country’s built environment productivity. Like in the UK, the success was not limited to the built environment industry. Productivity in many other industries increased.

Jessica became so popular in the country that she ran to become the county’s president and won. Jessica became the first female president of the country. Jessica’s life story was so inspiring to so many. Her story was made into a movie that won Grammy and Oscar awards. Book on her life story also became a bestseller. Jessica opened a foundation in her native country to honour her parents. She named the foundation Jenny and Marcus Martial Foundation. The foundation was developed to help poor families survive and support their children’s education.

Jessica lived a long life with sound health with her husband, who supported and loved her dearly. Her husband, Frank Donald, worked in the company she was attached to during her doctorate degree. Frank and Jessica met during that time and got attracted to one another. They got married immediately after Jessica’s graduation. They were happily married. He supported her tremendously. Jessica died at the age of 93, a year after Frank died at the age of 95. They had four children and many grandchildren, and great grandchildren. The family is still wealthy today. Jessica’s innovation was the root of the family’s tremendous wealth. The children and grandchildren made efforts to develop the family business into a multi-billion dollar empire with influence worldwide. THE END!