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.