Leaders look farther down the road than others. By constantly forcing themselves to see farther, they get a better perspective on what might happen tomorrow and beyond. This perspective allows them to present the future to others.
What is vision? It is just painting a picture of where you could go. It is taking into account all of the talents, resources and knowledge of a group and pointing them in a direction that best fits their ability and the needs that they are trying to fill. It is looking at where you are now, where you could be and then providing a possible plan to get there.
During this process, a leader points in a direction but remains flexible and agile enough to change direction, if the situation calls for it. Sticking to a plan that is flawed is not well advised. Staying the course when the landscape changes is not being responsive to the situation. Leaders must constantly review the vision to see if it is on track and still the best goal.
Leaders restate the vision constantly. New members of the team need to know the target. Those who have lost their focus need to be reminded. The entire team needs to concentrate on the same effort and result. Only then can a leader keep things moving. Leaders take the time to reaffirm the group goals, provide progress reports, check the status of all areas and continue to peer into the future to maintain a long range view of what can be done.
Thursday (Day four) was my BIM Manager class…
Part of the presentations was a discussion about how you became a BIM Manager.
Most grew into it from within the firm
Some hired into it from outside
Some create the position and fill it
Some were forced into it – or took it on by default
Some were already doing CAD Support and you expanded to BIM
Most achieved the title via software skills and knowledge
AUGI Top DAUG finals took place in the AUGI booth
Read all about it at BLAUGI
A few remaining classes and then the ending Party – which included a trip through Shark Reef.
Friday was a wrap-up day and then travel back home.
Day three started with an AUGI board meeting followed by my CAD Leadership 2009 presentation.
Here is some of the info from that presentation:
When you started down your CAD career you had no CAD Skills. Once you got CAD Skills you thought… Maybe I could be a CAD Manager…
So you added Management Skills. Then you thought… Why am I still having trouble?
You need to add Leadership Skills!
CAD Skills got you to step one – It was all about what you know
Management got you to step two – IT was then all about what you do
Leadership will get you to the top – This is based on who you are – your character
After this was the AUGI Past Presidents lunch. Sitting around discussing how AUGI got started and the milestones along the way. AUGI is turning 20.
The AUGI Annual Meeting and then the AUGI Beer Bust.
What a day
The day started out with the CAD Manager Power Track – CAD Manager Best Practices
Here is some of what I presented. I culled them from these past posts.
- Jumping to Conclusions
- Attacking the Person not the Problem
- Allowing others to make your decisions
- Offering False Hope
- All or Nothing
- Being Too Flexible
After that I met with the board members from AUGI Japan. Followed by an AUGI International Assembly meeting.
AUGI Top DAUG competition opened in the AUGI booth.
The classes start tomorrow, but the festivities started today. Kicked off the day with AUGI meetings. Connecting up with sponsors and CAD Camp planning.
In between these meetings I ran to the other side of the conference center to tape two interviews for Autodesk. I am not even sure where they will be posted or used. I need to find out.
The AUGI Leadership Conference was next. I spoke on leadership in general and then Philip Madeley presented on the AUGI UK chapter followed by John Morgan presenting tips for starting and managing a local user group.
Attended a quick Power Track logistics meeting with Matt Murphy and then it was off to the AUGI Local Chapter Presidents Meeting.
Topping off the day was the Blogger and Speaker social followed by the AEC Mixer.
Exhausting day – and it really has not started yet.
Tomorrow morning I start off with the CAD Manager Power Track kickoff at 8am.
General comments and observations…
I have already run into too many people who are out of work.
There is a lot of energy at this event, even though some are commenting that the turnout is lower.
Autodesk is interacting more with everyone than they seem to have done in the past.
The international presence is expanding. Many differing languages are being spoken in the halls.
Leadership is a much needed quality that most people are looking for in others. They want political leaders, sports leaders, business leaders, spiritual leaders and so much more. But what about that quality in us? Are you a leader? Do you have leadership qualities? I am speaking on the subject of leadership at Autodesk University. So I present some of my thoughts here.
What makes a leader?
There are many list of traits and qualities that leaders possess. Some are very formal. Some are kind of random and not really presented in an organized manner. I don’t really think that any one quality of leadership stands first or second. Some rank them as if you could get a top ten list. I have produced lists, but no top tens. Every time I create a list I think I can get them in a specific order, but when I look again – the order changes.
Others may make lists in specific order and I appreciate that. I have no problem with writers attempting to place things in order, but with leadership it is hard to do. This is because leadership is a complete package. It is the combination of many qualities that make the whole. Every leader has a different mix. No one list is the consummate, complete or exhaustive collection. Even if there was a list like this, no one would embody the entire list at all times.
Leaders are flawed. A leader may excel in an individual trait at one time and just to fail at that same trait at another time. What makes leaders succeed is the overall collection of traits they possess and the percentage of positive times they exhibit that trait. The greater percentage of collective positives makes them a leader.
Whenever I look at a list of traits that someone makes for leadership, I see areas that I need to improve, areas that feel fairly good about and areas which I continue to fail at over and over.
So what makes a leader? A leader is usually either one because of desire or need.
Leadership may begin with a desire to be one. A desire to improve. A desire to work at it. This desire may come from inside you, or outside. But a desire is there. Leaders want to be leaders. This goes beyond just being a better “You”. It is a call toward making an impact on others.
Leadership may come from a need. Someone needs to lead and you may be stuck doing it. This may not be a great reason, but it happens. The first (a desire to lead) is better than the second. I do not think that this is really leadership. It is more akin to management. Someone needs to make sure something gets done. It could be leadership, but if you are pressed in to service, it is most likely management skills that got you there.
You can create a new layout using the Create Layout wizard. The wizard prompts you for information about the layout settings, including
A name for the new layout
The printer associated with the layout
A paper size to use for the layout
The orientation of the drawing on the paper
A title block
Viewport setup information
A location for the viewport configuration in the layout
Command entry: layoutwizard
The Layout wizard contains a series of pages that lead you through the process of creating a new layout. You can choose to create a new layout from scratch or use an existing layout template on which to base your new layout.
Depending on which plotting device is currently configured, you can select a paper size from those available. You can select a predefined title block to apply to your new layout.
When you’ve finished using the wizard to specify your layout settings, you can modify any of the settings using the PAGESETUP command from within the new layout.
You can edit your layout settings by right clicking on the Layout Tab…
Layout Tabs were added to AutoCAD in version 2000 or maybe 2000i. It allows multiple
Layout tabs are created in Paper Space. In Paper Space, you can place your title block, create layout viewports to display views, dimension your drawing, and add notes.
In paper space, one unit represents the paper display of a plotted sheet. The units will be in either millimeters or inches, depending on the plot setup for your plotter.
On a layout tab, you can view and edit paper space objects, such as layout viewports and title blocks. You can also move an object (such as a leader or a title block) from model space to paper space (or vice versa).
When creating your CAD Standard you should include the following related to Layouts:
• Do you have standard layout names? Can you name them any way you want?
Including the standard naming of Layouts so that everyone creates them the same. Even if you decide to use the default out of the box names – state that. Prevent people from getting creating with Layout names.
• Can you combine multiple Sheet on one file? Can you make as many as you want?
Do you allow multiple Layout tabs on a single file – or restrict it to one Layout?
• Do you have them in a specific order?
If you allow multiple Layouts do they need to be in a certain order. Full size first, Enlarged plans next, etc.
• Do you have one defined for plotting?
Do you have one specific Layout for plotting – at a specific scale – with a specific name? – include that in the CAD standard
All of these items should be defined and documented. It keeps a unified look to the files and allows custom routines for productivity.
Check out more on using Layout Tabs for Sheet file creation…
Can you be productive without a CAD Standard?
I have asked this question to many users over the years…
I get the same answer most of the time… “Yes – I can be productive without a CAD Standard”
When I delve into the issue a little more they tend to rethink what they have said.
At first blush, the answer above is correct. I really don’t argue their perspective. They are correct, if they are thinking of a printed hard copy standard that is sitting on their desk or stored as a PDF file on their system.
It is correct because the standard is in their heads and it is a personal standard. Personal standards are developed and used all the time. They are created on the fly, by the person behind the mouse. It is theirs and they love it. They settle into systems of production that work well for them. They define symbols, layers, layouts, definitions and more. All in their heads. All working great on their files, on their PC.
We all do this – it is a natural process. You are not going to make things up as you go forever. You are going to settle into patterns. These patterns become your personal standard. It works great – as long as you are the only person working on the files and projects from start to finish.
But – and here is the bigger issue that I bring up…
If you have to share your work – it begins to fail. You might share your work with only one other person – but wait… they do things differently. They don’t do things the way that you do. They use their personal standard which is different from yours. Now you get frustrated because you have “work with” their files, or you have to “fix” their files. Note: they are thinking the same thing – they are frustrated also.
Expand that to sharing project work inside your firm with a team of players. If they all do whatever they want – it will be chaos. Add on consultants that do not work in your office. Now add on delivery of the files for future use by someone that you don’t even know. It snowballs into totally dysfunctional files.
Enter the CAD Standard. Created to unify the production methods of CAD. Shared by all.
Without it – chaos. With it – the possibility of unity (possible but not guaranteed)
Loading ...