- CADDManager Blog - https://www.caddmanager.com/CMB -

Steering the CAD Standards Process

When you start thinking of creating or reviewing your CAD standards, it has to be done through teams. Not many firms will just let one person define the standard without talking to anyone. Even if the group is small, it still needs to be defined.

If you have a small firm, you can keep things fairly informal. The bigger the team, the more formal the structure will need to be.

If you are a small shop, you will have a small team. There may not even be one person designated as the CAD Manager. You can just talk amongst yourselves while you are working each topic out over lunch or even while you work. Someone should write down what you are deciding and take notes. Keeping it informal allows it to move at a good pace.

A mid-size firm may have a CAD Manager who is tasked with developing the Standard. They may set the topics and pace for discussions. It may be a little more formal and have scheduled meetings.

For very large firm you will need a small, 2 to 3 person steering committee. This small group will steer and coordinate the process. They will define the topics and make sure that the team stays on task. They should get together to define what the plan is for developing the standard. The reason for a steering committee is so that no one person is charged with making the standard for a large firm. Politically having one person responsible for such a large impacting process is tough unless the CAD Manager has a high level of influence within the firm.

So define first if there is a need for a steering committee or not.