Eight Wishes of a CAD Manager
There are many ways to think about your
CAD environment that might help to review your progress at making your firm
top notch. Here are seven that come to mind.
1. Users that ask the right
questions, at the right time.
They ask questions about standards and
how to do things right. They are not tied to their
chairs and are willing to get up and seek out the answer.
They also ask these questions BEFORE they make mistakes or
deviate from the standard.
2. Project Management that
keeps you informed.
When a project starts, they come and
talk to you. When a project gets in trouble, they come
and talk to you. When they are courting a client that
has a CAD Standard that you must comply with, they talk to
you. When they have a client that demands a certain
kind of software, they talk to you.
3. Vendors that knew how
you think and what it takes to manage CAD.
Software developers need to think like
a CAD Manager. Not that they had to do everything that
I wanted, but for them to consider every tool they provide
may not be something that I want my users to have.
That way they could allow me to control and turn things off
that would damage or compromise my environment. They
have come a long way, but every new tool needs an on/off
switch.
4. Universal lockdown on
systems unless they inform you that they are downloading
software trials.
Without restricting the internet for
proper use in research, searching and just getting things
done, I wish that my users could not download beta software.
I wish they could not get 30 day trials without my
knowledge. I don't want to rule out all investigation,
I just want to be informed when they are doing it.
5. A Standard that everyone
actually followed.
Not too much to ask for... or is it.
I wish for a standard that everyone knew well and followed
to the best of their ability. Not one that is ignored
or set aside to suit the mood or moment.
6. Software that actually
worked, stayed the way your left it and prevented BAD CAD.
Software does work, but not without
flaws, bugs, inefficiencies and limitations. It also
seems like things don't stay the way I left them. I
wish that weird things did not happen, but they do.
And finally, can't the software prevent bad CAD habits.
I wish it would.
7. An environment of shared
learning, total communication and adventurous
experimentation.
I wish that everyone would share
everything they learned. Knowledge is power, but
sharing it should be rewarded. Giving away what you
know is central to a good environment. I also
wish that everyone would understand the training they get
the first time and not need reminding. and I wish that
users would be a little more interested in new tools and not
settle into using the old ones so much that they cannot
change.
8. New hires are testing in CAD software knowledge and it
actually is used to determine who would be hired.
I wish that there was a test that I
could give new hires that determined their real world
knowledge of CAD. And that that test results actually
mattered in the hiring process.
These are some of my wishes. They are
not complaints. They are not grumblings. They are
the things that I wish would change to make everyone work
better.
