No Rules

Standards are a compilation of rules…

But some things need to float free for a while until you have enough information to make a call on the best practice.  When a new tool or feature presents itself, let users fiddle with it until they figure out some optional ways of using it.  Let them play around and try it out.  Work it through a few files or even a project or two.

Once you have a few people who have tried a few ways at doing one thing, get them together for a discussion.  Ask them what method should be used by all.  Let them defend or sell their way.  Let them knock off the rough edges and come away with a unified method.  Have them all test it out and then if they all agree - put it into the standard.

There will be a time when no rule applies to new tools.  Embrace that time and use it to your firms advantage.

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If you have a rule for most things - people will expect a rule for everything.

I am surprised from time to time when I tell people “do whatever you want” when asked how something should be dne to standard.  I say this because the standard does not cover the subject in question.  My perspective is that when the standard is silent, you can do whatever you want.  Understanding that you need to use common sense and do the best you can to figure out what others would do in the same situation.  When you do this, then others can understand your methods and techniques.  They make sense.

When asked if I want to make a rule, I take the perspective that you should make a rule “only if needed”.

“Only when needed” for me means that if there is not a real problem with people doing different things, then don’t worry about making a rule for it.  Making people do thing in a specific way takes more time than just doing what they want.

This does not mean that you just let users do whatever they want on everything.  You made quite a few rules in your standard.  They have to follow those.   But there must be some limit to what you create rules for.  You cannot make a rule for every last thing that will come up.

Some things need to be free flowing.  Or at least free flowing for a while until you have enough information to make a rule…

More coming on this…

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I was interviewed on an AU Beat podcast and it was posted today.  It is all about what AUGI is doing at Autodesk University and beyond.

Give a listen…

AU Beat: AUGI…It’s More Than the Beer Bust!

From the site…

Mark Kiker, president of Autodesk User Group International (AUGI), explains that AUGI is much more than the beer bust at AU. Do you know about all the benefits of this free membership? How about in-person and online networking, AUGI Cad Camp, and much, much more…. [7:27 mins]

For more information, visit the AUGI website.

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I have long wanted Autodesk to suggest best practices…

Kyle Bernhardt of Autodesk wrote on his blog… under the heading of Required reading

Revit Platform 2009 Technical Notes - Direct from Autodesk

“it is a comprehensive paper that discusses best practices for optimal performance and productivity within the Revit 2009 family of products.  It is required reading for all Revit users interested to know this information straight from the Product Teams themselves.

It is the result of a comprehensive effort among the Designers, Developers, Quality Assurance, Consulting, Customer Success Engineers, and Product Managers, and we are excited to get this information straight to users.”

Some major topics that are discussed:

• Project Structuring
• Worksharing
• Linked Files
• Hardware Optimization
• Large Model Performance

He list where you can get it - but it used to be a subscription only location.  Now it is available to everyone.

Click here to see… Revit Platform 2009 Technical Notes

For more info - go to the AUGI thread that started this whole thing…

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I came up with another one…

Add Time to the four T’s and you get success. What appears to be failures or stuttering starts end up being success when you add time.

How does this work?  What make bad things into good?  What allows the planning of yesterday become the foundation of tomorrow and the expansion into the future?

Time - just give it some time…

Give Tools time to mature

New and exciting tools are being developed, but they cannot do everything you want them to do.  None of them can.  Because as soon as they do - you want them to do more.  But look backwards and see that the troubles of yesterday are being addressed by the tools today.  Just give the developers time (and let them know what to work on) and they will mature the tools they offer.

Give Talent time to play

Talented people need tools and they need time to play with them.  They need some space to fail and room to experiment.  Allow those who are the best and brightest to just fiddle with new things, try out new software and push the limits of your efforts.  When you do this, they will not always succeed. But they will learn and find new approaches to old problems.  They will help you get past the hurdles of Tools that are not mature yet.

Give Technology time to catch up

When Talented people push technology they attempt things that the developers never thought they would try.  I have heard developers tell me that they never thought users would try to do what they are trying to do.  I have seen the light bulbs turn on in their minds as users mention options that they never thought of before.  This means that the real world of design is always setting the bar higher and the developers are playing catch up.  So give them some time and they usually get the technology focused on your needs.

Give Training time to sink in

Finishing a class does not make someone an expert.  It begins the path to expertise, but the job is not completed.  Add time to training and you end up with a ever increasing level of users who can operate on their own.  Sometimes management thinks that when training is done, the users are up to speed and can do everything needed.  But give them a little time and some project work and they will develop into advanced users.

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New technology tools constantly make me a newbie.  Even technology that is easy to figure out make me have questions that I cannot answer right away.

According to Wikipedia… Newbie (also said as nooby or newby) is a slang term for a newcomer…  a somewhat clueless newcomer… It can have derogatory connotations, but is also often used for descriptive purposes only, without a value judgment.

I just got a new blackberry device (I use to have one of the older models way back when).  So I am “getting up to speed” on it.

I wanted to try to figure it our myself, so I did not ask for help, did not read the book and did not go online.  I wanted to see what an unassisted newbie felt like. I quickly figured out most of the functions, but eventually ended up asking on others.

What did I learn from trying to figure out my new device (and from other things)

• That newbies are all around us.
• That you can be an expert in one area and a newbie in another.
• That newbies feel lost from time to time.
• That newbies are not as productive as others.
• That Noobs are often left without help.
• That noobies often cannot help themselves.
• That newbies depend on the internet to find out how to do things.
• That newbies are not to be blamed for not knowing.
• That newbies often do not get it right.
• That newbies need help and it is not their fault.
• That I am a newbie in many areas where I have not ventured yet.
• I have been a newbie in the past and I will be one in the future.

All of this means that the CAD Manager needs to be patient and helpful to newbies.  Kind of a no brainer, but a good reminder anyway.

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Tools - Talent - Technology - Training

Keep the four T’s in your mind at all times.  Working all of these four areas together will provide you with a good platform for success.

Select the tools that you will use, seek out the talented people in your firm, give them the right blend of tools and then train them for all it’s worth.

By constantly moving through these areas, reviewing the successes and lessons learned your CAD environment will be making progress.  If you find an area that need attention, spend some time focusing your efforts to make that area stronger.  Working through each of this will provide yu with a roadmap of improvements.

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Tools - Talent - Technology - Training

These four T’s can be used to define your efforts in you job. Combine these four and you get a balanced approach to CAD.

Training is how you get everyone there. Provide it and you succeed. Let it laps and your best tools and talent go stale.

Training is the battery pack that gets everything energized.  Firms that fail to pay enough attention to training find themselves behind the curve.  Training is needed for new users. Training can help you avoid the Project Killers I spoke of before in the August Journal.

Here are several posts I have done on Training over the years.  Read up and plan some training.

Here is a good reason that most firms avoid training…

The Quadruple whammy – away from work, not billable, training cost money and you have to pay for their time. This has always been a sore spot for firms that are thinking of earning and saving money (and who isn’t). Since they have to dedicate the time to training it takes them away from being productive and contributing to the project (on the short term). They also are not billable when they are in training since they are not contributing to the project deliverable. It costs money to send them to training.  And finally, you have to pay their salary while they sit in training.  That is four slams on the project and your budget.

Don’t let the negatives stop you from trying.  Securing the training budget is crucial to your team moving forward.

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Tools - Talent - Technology - Training

These four T’s can be used to define your efforts in you job. Combine these four and you get a balanced approach to CAD.

Turning now to the technology of CAD

Technology is your approach to using the tools and the talent. Who gets to use what? What mix can they have? When do they select the tools? When do you push toward the next great tech tool.

In the Tools post we talked about selecting individual tools.  Now we will turn to the mix of tools that you have and how you effectively blend that mix.

If you are like most firms, you have several tools that you use.  Some of them are focused on one area and doing one function.  Some are broader and can be used for just about everything.  Your selection of what tool to use for what job falls under your use of technology.

Merriam-Webster defines technology as “a manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods, or knowledge”.  Within this definition is the concept of what processes and methods and tools you use.

The CAD Manager is in a perfect position to suggest how best to use the tools.  What tools are used for early conceptual design?  What ones are best suited for rendering?  Which ones do the best at producing hardcopy output?  Some of the tools overlap.  They do multiple phases of work.

Defining the mix of tools allows the end user to not have to struggle through selecting them themselves. You should have a preferred selection of which on to use for each step.  Make a list of all the software and what phases of work it can cover.  Then select the preferred one for each phase.  Seek to have everyone use the preferred tool.

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