CAD Standard Concept – Not a “How To”

I have posted a lot of scattered concepts that may impact your CAD Standard.  Here are some of them… and a new one.

The Standard is an Ideal – you may never reach perfection

The Standard is a target to be hit, not a path to follow

The Standard is not to be Set in Stone

If the Standard is silent – users can do whatever they want

Now a new one…

The Standard is not a “how to” manual

Do not make the standard into a how to manual or a training manual. The reason I say this is that I think those docs need to be separate from the actual Standard. Remember my statement above about the Standard being a target to hit, but not a path to get there embodies this concept.  Some people like to make one book out of it – I do not.

I say to keep them apart is for the following reasons:

The training will change for each version.

There is a chance that the training manual will change as you update the software. From release to release there are subtle changes in the commands that are changed by the developers. It is out of your control. This would require an update of the training manuals.

Your training docs may not get updated as often as your standard

If you are starting to define you standard it will keep evolving and expanding as you move into ever increasing areas of definition. As you add pages to your standard, you impact the whole document. Your training efforts may skip a release or two, but your standard should not.

Your “how to” may be documented in several places.

Some may be written, some may be video and some may be screen caps. Having training modules embedded in your standard just clutters things up.

You may have to share your standard with others.

A lot of clients and consultants may ask for a copy of your standard.  This is a good thing.  Share it.

But, if you include your training portion with it, then you are giving away your methods.  You should avoid doing that.  Sharing a standard does not give away trade secrets, or let people know how you do things.  Everyone has a standard.  Yours is nothing special.  But the methods you use to achieve that standard may be unique and you would not want to let everyone know your inside productivity methods.