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Outdated CAD Standards

Personal CAD Standards impact everyone because they are not shared.  Each person is doing what they want.  This causes files to differ from one person to another.  These differences cause production slow downs.

Outdated CAD Standards can do the same thing.  Here are a few things that might happen if your CAD Standard is out of date:

1.  You don’t use the power of the newest tools.  You are stuck complying with a standard that was created 2 or 3 releases back.  Missing out on the productivity can be harmful.

2.  You have trouble interacting with others.  You get files from other firms that use newer features and you have to “dumb them down” so that you can work on them.

3.  You force guidelines on people that are no longer valid.  Cramping the expansion of your team based on guidelines that do not take into account the changes in the industry.

4.  You get a false sense of productivity.  You may be faster doing CAD in an older fashion but no one else is.

5. You do not include newer methods of organization that might be available.  Not just the tools have advanced, but your users have also.  They have found new ways of doing things, but you have not included them in the standard.  This fails to share the latest processes with the entire team.

6.  You set your standard up for being ignored.  People will soon stop using it.

3 Comments (Open | Close)

3 Comments To "Outdated CAD Standards"

#1 Comment By Sean Doughtie On November 16, 2009 @ 9:01 PM

Thank you for posting these and the ‘personal CAD standards’!

Whenever I see CAD standards or CAD Management I get this sickening feeling that someone is trying to control. When I managed a CAD department many years ago, I paid special attention to not encroach on individualism. Our standards always spelled out corporate expectations (ie: layers, line weights, colors, nomenclature, etc) so that others could also work on the project and suggested procedures; however, they never required CAD Technicians to do things a certain way. People are individuals, they know the most efficient way that they do things; in other words, do it anyway you want just deliver me the product that I want!

#2 Comment By Jeff Koellman On November 17, 2009 @ 6:20 AM

Again you are on target. New releases always bring new tools to be applied. I would also add that if you have customized your software and not documented it as part of your standards, upgrading becomes more traumatic. It also never hurts to review a procedure and improve it. CAD standards are never ‘done’.

#3 Comment By Sean Doughtie On November 20, 2009 @ 7:41 PM

Speaking of Customization, now that Autodesk is on a 12 month development cycle customization has gone out the door. Gone are the days of custom menu systems and using dialog boxes for your libraries. It makes upgrading way too painful. We started using the DesignCenter for our block libraries and scaled back the use of lisp routines.

From a personal standpoint, I prefer using a unmodified install of Autocad now. It keeps me efficient no matter what company I work for. In other words, you’re not tied to a custom setup if someone gives you a test at an interview…