Have you ever seen another firm’s standard? Have you worked for others and used their standards? You have a great starting place since you have seen and used others. You know what you liked about them and what you did not like.
No one needs to start from scratch. There are resources out there to help get you started.
Do a Google search on CAD Standards and you will find many examples and some may actually be good. Many public entities and DOT’s post their standards. Ask around and you may find others that are willing to share their standard with you.
The National CAD Standard
You could start with the National CAD Standard located at http://www.buildingsmartalliance.org/ncs/
It is not cheap, but it is a needed document for everyone who will be creating or editing a CAD Standard. It is exhaustive, but not specific to any one industry. This will cause you to need to do more work than just buying the book. You need to use it as a guide but get specific for your firm, discipline and industry.
From their website: The NCS is a consensus standard incorporating industry publications. It is comprised of interrelated standards, guidelines and tools for uniformly organizing and presenting facility drawing information. It is the only comprehensive standard for facility planning, design, construction and operation drawings. NCS v4.0 is comprised of the National Institute of Building Sciences’ Foreword, Administration, and Plotting Guidelines modules, the American Institute of Architect’s CAD Layer Guidelines module, and the Construction Specification Institute’s Uniform Drawing System modules. Visit the NCS content page to view sample pages from each module of the NCS.
Using a Client Standard
You could ask for a client’s standard. If you have a large client that is generating a major portion of your firms work you likely already have a copy. Using a client standard as a guide can benefit you because your teams may already be doing a lot of what is in their standard. No transitions needed.
Use one you have used before
You might start with a company standard you have worked with before, maybe at a prior firm. You may not want to tell people where you got it, depending on their perspective of that firm – chuckles… Using one that you have used before gives you a head start because you know it and you know its strengths and weaknesses.
You might ask around to see if anyone else has a prior firm’s standard. Get more input… Collect comments… Gather ideas…
Most firms have some form of standard. Some may not have one, but I would think that there must be some shred of a standard at your office, even if it is old, outdated, and never used.
What if I have no standard now? Then you may be able to start from scratch. But even if you are starting from scratch you need to keep in mind that most users have methods they are following. They may not have anything written down, but they have a method to the CAD madness.
Document what users are doing – Get it down in writing
Ask around – see if someone has something from the past. I am positive you will find something. If you find nothing, then start asking what people are doing and take some notes. Collect these up so that you have some idea where everyone is at. Keep these notes in mind as you look into creating your own standard. The people who have offered these will expect them to be incorporated. Keep the conversation open, even if you think their way is totally wrong.
What if you have an existing standard and want to know what to do with it?
Some may feel like they want to toss it in the trash – har har
Ask if it is really being used. Talk to the users to see if they even knew the thing existed and what they are using from it. Make a note of who is using what. Just write their names on the copy you have. When you work through that issue, make sure you get some input from that person. They will have a stake in the outcome of that area.
See what people are using. Don’t just take their word for it. Watch a few users or open a few files to see if you see the actual practices being put in place. If someone says they use the file naming guideline, check on it. If someone says they use the XREF process defined, check on it.
See what other offices are doing. Don’t just ask the people you think will give you the answer you want, ask around. Call other offices and talk to them. Better yet – pay them a visit. Do it face to face. Talking in person works best especially if you don’t really know the person personally. You can provide comforting words that the process will be reviewed and managed and that their opinion counts (if it does).
How much will you cover?
Defining how in depth your standard will be will assist you in knowing when you have enough to publish. You want enough to make it effective, but not so much that people don’t read it or know what is in it. It is a delicate balance.
We discussed the overall plan
Now we turn to what will be included.
Here is what I posted before and I don’t want you to miss the list on what I think the standard should contain.
There are 10 Basics that all CAD Standards should have, 29 critical items for Basic AutoCAD and 37 critical items for ADT (the vertical tools need more coverage)> I have not included 2010 issues yet since I have not fully thought through what you may need to include for this version. I hope to post on this later.
Each of these topics needs to be covered at some level. Show your team the entire list. Make sure you add or take away what you think needs to be done. Don’t be afraid to take a stab at it. You can change it later if needed.
Your team can help work through the list. Solicit input.
Once you have your list, you are ready to start…
Let’s face it – CAD Managers have to get involved. There are a lot of times that you will not be invited in to meetings, planning efforts, new hire orientation, project setups, reviews, or more. So you have to just stick your nose in.
How do you do that? without offending? Without getting pushed aside? Without jeopardizing you chances of getting invited back?
It is an art form. Something you have to get good at. You may not be good at it at first, but you will get there through practice…
Here are some few tips for practicing on a small scale…
Start small
Don’t just jump into a major meeting or project without some practice. Start with “butting in” on some users. Just wander up to a user and start a conversation. Ask them what they are working on. Or what they are doing this fine day.
Ask Random Questions
One of the best ways to interrupt someones process is to ask a question. Go ask some people how the software is working. You just want to start them talking. Ask if they have noticed any speed slowdowns in the last week – everybody wants to talk about how slow their PC is working. The whole concept is to start the conversation flow. Ask them if they have a minute to talk at the beginning. You do not want to waste their time. It could make them less receptive to future conversations if they feel interrupted.
Ask for Help
Ask them to help you with something, anything. Again to get the conversation going, you need an opening. So ask them to help you understand the process they are using for “whatever”, plotting, file creation, submittals, it does not matter. Once the conversation is flowing move to the topic that you are interested in.
Ask Related Questions
You could ask about the thing that you are interested in finding out about, but not if it is a negative. If you are trying to stick your nose into an area that is not following standard – you may not get far by asking them why they are not doing what they are supposed to do. Start by asking to understand the process they are using (without a critique at first). Then move the conversation toward the offending process. Do this by asking questions. Ask in the following manner… “That is an interesting way to go about it. Did you check the standard on that?” or “That seems to be working, but did you know that their is another wy of doing it? Can I show you?”
Getting to the Point
Once the conversation is flowing and you have successfully turned the topic to your area of concern, then you have succeeded in Sticking in Your Nose. Now move to the point. Show them the answer, the standard, the solution or whatever. Just start the straight talk about the topic you wanted to bring up.
Keeping meetings flowing and on topic can be tough. It is not an easy task. Here are some tips that I have used to help me make progress.
Create an agenda and stick to it
Nothing kills a meeting more than not having an agenda. And the better the agenda is, the better the meeting will flow. So make an agenda and stick to it. Put start times on each agenda items. Stick to the agendas. Move as quickly as you can without stifling conversation. Always press toward actionable results. Put agenda items that are off topic in “the parking lot”. This is a list of items that are deemed worthy of discussing but not at this time. Put the parking lot items on the agenda for next time.
Define the time frame and stick to it
Start on time and end on time. Leave a few flex minutes at the beginning for late starts. Some people have watches set a little different. Get in the habit of starting on time and do not retrace your conversations for those who arrive late. Restate the topic of discussion, but not the whole conversation. When the time for the meeting is reached, end the meeting. You can ask about going longer if the majority says that it is okay. If you go over, keep it short. Fifteen minutes at most.
Make sure all decisions are actionable
When you reach a conclusion, document the action that the decision triggers. Who will follow up? What is the next step?
Take ownership of the progress
The meeting will be as productive as you require it to be. If you allow people to just chat about things, then this will settle into the flow of the meeting. Keep people focused and on topic.
Take minutes
Have someone take minutes of the meetings. A meeting without minutes is not a meeting. Participants will soon forget what was discussed or get confused about the outcomes. Keep them short and to the point, but make sure that people know what was discussed.
Write it all down
When you reach agreement on a point, document that decision. Do this apart from the meeting minutes. This is beginnings of your CAD Standard. Each topic should get at least a paragraph or more. Each topic gets its full documentation. Everyone can review it and agree that it covers what is needed.
There are many ways to have meetings that are unproductive. Confused topics, no prep, misunderstood agendas and more can wreak havoc on your progress. So many of these creep into your meeting attempts and derail your efforts. So let’s discuss some ideas that might help keep your meetings on track.
Start by Setting good ground rules.
Let everyone know what is allowed and how topics will be discussed. You may want to mention that it is all to be kept professional.
Everyone should participate. No one is there to fill a seat. They are all needed and every person has a voice that needs to be heard. If they don’t speak up, they may as well not be attending.
All opinions are equal, but not all voices carry the same weight. There will be those who know more than others and this should be taken into account, but that all opinions should be voiced. You never know where a good idea might come from.
What is mentioned in the meeting stays in the meeting. People need to know that their perspectives are protected. That no one will go outside the group and badmouth anyone based on what is said in a meeting.
Silence equals approval. If the team does not take a vote then those who may not have spoken up will grant that they agree with the majority. If someone does not speak up, it is assumed that they agree with what is going on.
No sidebar conversations. Everyone is to stay on topic and together on the issue at hand.
No subgroups or teaming up to get additional leverage, unless the full group commissions small teams to define topics. No one should be making pacts to get certain issues advanced. Every person on the team has an equal voice and the conversations should involve the entire team. Having people work out their perspectives jointly limits the individual input of all members.
There are some general items that the CAD Standard reviewer will oversee. They typically do not work for the CAD Manager but are involved beyond the level of CAD User. They will help you define and review the docs and standards you create.
Below is a list that I have used to outline the duties and responsibilities that I would expect from someone taking on this role.
CAD Standards
- Develop, Refine and Maintain the CAD standard
- Provide feedback on the CAD Standards
- Police the CAD files on projects
- Keep their eyes and ears open for problems
- Help in defining and refining the standard methods of production
Communications
- Speak openly and professionally
- Seek to understand what others are suggesting
- Have an open mind
- Assist in documenting processes
- Pass on information gathered at CAD Standards meetings to their office/department
- Bring back ideas from their office
Training
- Train others in your Office in the use of the Standard
Miscellaneous
- Help Create custom tools
- Set up standard methods of production
- Test the methods proposed
When beginning the discussion on CAD Standards it may be helpful to do a quick triage of subjects.
Check out my list to see a good starting point.
Use a quick list like this to define what areas you will need to dig deeper on and which ones you can move through quickly. You can think through each of these from the perspective of the impact of not having a refined standard for that area, or from the point of view of how much positive progress you can make by defining or expanding the topic.
Put them in the order that you would like to start discussing them. Run your list past a few others to get their input. You could run it past the entire group, but that might take longer. The point of this effort is to get a fast priority order, not to perfect the process. Coming up with a priority list will help you take steps toward moving through the overwhelming list of possible discussion areas.
Some of the areas will move to the top of the list and others will sink to the bottom. This will make enough difference so that you do not really need to spend a lot of time on it. Getting a general group of top level items and bottom level items will assist you with starting in the right areas and leaving the not so important areas for later.
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