Distributing the CAD Standard once it is developed should be done via hard copy. I still think that each user should have a copy at their desk. They can keep it open to the layer list of the folder structure. You can refer to it when they ask a question.
It should also be stored electronically, on your company Intranet. In read only PDF format.
Part of your standard document should define where users can get another copy. When someone is looking for where it is located, it should be written into the standard in the introduction section so that people looking at the hard copy they can find the original. There will be many people in your firm who will come in after the initial distribution. Explain where users can get a copy. Is it going to be posted on your Intranet? Is it located on your servers somewhere? Is hard copy the only way to get a copy? If they need more copies, where do they find them?
Example:
The CAD Standard can be found on the company Intranet. Go to the left sash and select CAD Documents, and then select the CAD Standard. It is a PDF document.
It can also be found in the CAD Docs folder on the S: drive on the corporate office server.
Do not copy the document and store it in any other location.
Who owns your CAD Standard? You do or your firm does. Be sure to include a copyright statement on every page. It is not a big deal to add one. It protects you from unauthorized use.
All you need to include is a copyright statement. Update the date on the copyright every time you update the standard. In fact,even if you do not add a copyright statement, it is still covered.
If you publish your CAD Standard, even internally only, how do you know your copyrights are in place? Copyrighting is not complicated or difficult; there is a quick and easy way to copyright anything you produce, at least in the USA.
Copyright law in the United States is extremely generous toward the creators and owners of new works. Legal copyright protection is in effect immediately and automatically upon the creation of any “original work of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression.”
In other words, a copyright notice is not necessary for your work to comply with U.S. Copyright law. For example, when authors, webmasters, amateur writers or anyone else submits a creative work of any kind for publishing, that work is automatically copyrighted. No copyright notice is necessary to be legally binding.
But – include one anyway. It lasts for the length of your life – plus 70 years. If you wrote it for your firm and they paid you to do it, then the company owns it and the copyright lasts for 95 years.
Read more about US copyrights here. (http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf)
Example:
Copyright © 2004, 2006, 2009, CAD Manager Journal – www.caddmanager.com – All Rights Reserved
Let those who have assisted in developing the standard have their place in the document. Mention teams and members by name. This not only produces ownership of the document and reflects appreciation for contributing, but it also enhances accountability.
Example:
A CAD Steering Committee was formed to oversee the creation and revision of this standard. It is comprised of two persons at this time. Bill Johnson and Jane Turner.
Under the direction of the CAD Steering Committee a team was formed called the CAD Standards Committee. This team actually defined and developed the standard. The members are: Joan Lettensow, Brad Stretter, Amit Honami, Cesar Jalisco, Stan Chan and Bridget Quinn.
We appreciate all the time and effort these people have done to create this standard.
The first thing you need is to have an introduction. Why do you need this? Who cares about something that most people won’t pay attention to anyway. It is just extra wording that you don’t need. Or is it?
Here are some things that I think need to be set forth before you publish your standard. You have defined how these work, so you need to let people know.
Document Overview.
Keep it brief. Tell them how you may have come to create the document. One paragraph at most. Just a quick statement that says why you are doing the whole thing.
Here is an example:
The CAD Manager at XYZ Inc. is involved with developing, enhancing and maintaining electronic CAD Standards to enhance the ability to consistently develop CAD files and share work across multiple offices.
XYZ Inc. is focused on sharing work among offices and companies. Our goal is to provide ways for every user to learn how to better unify the output of our CAD system.
The general goal is to comply with the National CAD Standard. Where the NCS is silent we strive to use the “best of breed” methods gathered from the A/E industry. By complying with the NCS, we can also share work with subs and clients who have also adopted the NCS.
The development and use of the CAD Standard and software tools is not seen as an end in itself. The goal is to enhance productivity and share work among users and companies. To this end the process will never be completed. We will continue to develop and enhance our standard and the CAD tools that we use every day.
Okay let’s get down to business. Here is where we start writing the standard. You have collected information and organized what you have. It is time to start writing things down so you can see what you have and what you are missing.
Start with a skeleton outline
Just jot down the areas that you think need to be involved. Use the basics that I have written about. You could just use those as chapter headings. Don’t fill anything in yet. Just include the bones of the standard, no meat yet.
When you have the outline completed, you can start adding and expanding the sections. I do not expect to write a standard from start to finish, one time through. I go back over it multiple times before I finish the first draft and then have multiple drafts in the process of reaching toward publication.
I want to focus in on the beginning of the document at this point.
The Standard should not get overly focused, nor spend too much time documenting things that people are not having problems with.
Don’t spend too much time majoring in the minors. If you do then you will create a monstrosity CAD Standard that no one uses. It is overly focused. It moves past the concept of creating the target and it starts defining the exact way of hitting it.
Sometimes this is okay. If you have a definite demand for doing something one way only, then that should be documented. If you have a pain point that many users are falling in to, then document how to avoid it.
Otherwise, just paint the target and let them define how to get there. This is not to say that you should allow any method that might get overly creative. Your standard should define the proper end result without defining the steps to get there. That is reserved for the training manual.
Spending too much time and wording on areas that most people never have trouble with may get your team mired in the minutia and not moving toward productivity.
The amount of time you spend on any given topic is related to the amount of time that you spend correcting the problem. If an area is not a problem, move through it quickly. If it is a constant source of troubles, then spend more time working through that issue. The time you spend on these areas will pay off.
The Standard should not handcuff creativity
Many times I have heard people say that “a standard handcuffs creativity. When we put rules in place, creativity stops.” They say “When someone is tasked with following a standard, they get bogged down in rules and creativity is dead.”
I say that standards allow greater creativity because you are not burdened with trying to figure out what to do in any given situation. You just look up the answer in the standard and move on. You don’t have to waste time discussing what could, should, must be done. It is already documented.
Creativity can thrive because the boundaries are in place. This allows more people to handle your file and work creatively in it because it works the way they expect it to work.
I have posted a lot of scattered concepts that may impact your CAD Standard. Here are some of them… and a new one.
The Standard is an Ideal – you may never reach perfection
The Standard is a target to be hit, not a path to follow
The Standard is not to be Set in Stone
If the Standard is silent – users can do whatever they want
Now a new one…
The Standard is not a “how to” manual
Do not make the standard into a how to manual or a training manual. The reason I say this is that I think those docs need to be separate from the actual Standard. Remember my statement above about the Standard being a target to hit, but not a path to get there embodies this concept. Some people like to make one book out of it – I do not.
I say to keep them apart is for the following reasons:
The training will change for each version.
There is a chance that the training manual will change as you update the software. From release to release there are subtle changes in the commands that are changed by the developers. It is out of your control. This would require an update of the training manuals.
Your training docs may not get updated as often as your standard
If you are starting to define you standard it will keep evolving and expanding as you move into ever increasing areas of definition. As you add pages to your standard, you impact the whole document. Your training efforts may skip a release or two, but your standard should not.
Your “how to” may be documented in several places.
Some may be written, some may be video and some may be screen caps. Having training modules embedded in your standard just clutters things up.
You may have to share your standard with others.
A lot of clients and consultants may ask for a copy of your standard. This is a good thing. Share it.
But, if you include your training portion with it, then you are giving away your methods. You should avoid doing that. Sharing a standard does not give away trade secrets, or let people know how you do things. Everyone has a standard. Yours is nothing special. But the methods you use to achieve that standard may be unique and you would not want to let everyone know your inside productivity methods.
You need to be talking about the process you are using for defining or refining the CAD Standards to as many people as you can. This allows them to be informed and to offer input. It also allows them to see that you are working in a measured progressive way. It lets them know that you have planned it out and are now working the plan.
Start letting people know what you are doing.
The first ones who need to know are the teams that you have developed. These are defined here. Let them know as much as you possibly can about each step of this journey. Show them documents and planning papers and whatever you have created to schedule the process. If it would help to create a PowerPoint slide deck then do that. Do whatever it takes to get the message out.
Don’t operate in a vacuum.
Not talking to those who are impacted by the standard or those that can help you get it done may have negative consequences. They will feel like you are acting without consulting anyone. They may feel slighted. Or they may think that you are doing or planning something that you are not. It never stops amazing me how rumors and corporate scuttlebutt changes the most innocuous plan into a diabolical offensive to take over the world.
Don’t let it happen to you. Talk to people.
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