The Character and Skills of a CAD Manager – Part 2

Continuing the thread of this series about what I think a CAD Manager should have as far as character and skills.  Here are the next few:

Recently I was involved in a process where I had to define what I thought the personal character and skills of a CAD Manager should be.  I pondered this question and started jotting down my first impressions.  It was a concise list that did not go into great depth on each individual characteristic, but just provided a quick summary for each area.

I realized that the list kept getting longer and also included items that I wish I exhibited all the time.  This list is a goal and something to reach for.

Here is what I came up with:

Here is a great link that I was informed about. (Thanks Charlotte)

It has a great list of AutoCAD Shortcut keys for Mac and a printable template that you can use to add to your keyboard.

Here is an example.  Get the full PDF here.

Like most people, I have documents, data and information stored in Google Drive.  Like most IT people, I am concerned about backups.  I find that I have backup processes in place and multiple options.  I have backups of my backups.  I have cloud backups and local hard drive backups and external device backups and thumb drive backups.  I have backups.

So when I think about my Google stuff…  where is the backup.  They have backup options for my data, photos and items that on on my devices.  They offer cloud storage.  But who backs up their backups?

Here is a snippet from one of their “about” pages I found…

Rather than storing each user’s data on a single machine or set of machines, we distribute all data—including our own—across many computers in different locations. We then chunk and replicate the data over multiple systems to avoid a single point of failure. We randomly name these data chunks as an extra measure of security, making them unreadable to the human eye.

While you work, our servers automatically back up your critical data. So when accidents happen—if your computer crashes or gets stolen—you can be up and running again in seconds.

Lastly, we rigorously track the location and status of each hard drive in our data centers. We destroy hard drives that have reached the end of their lives in a thorough, multi-step process to prevent access to the data.

So – they back up all the stuff they have… but what about my data?  how do I back that up myself?

Enter Google Takeout.

Google takeout allows you to download to a zip file that you can store on your hard drive and backup yourself.

Just log in to your Google account and go to https://www.google.com/takeout

You can select what to backup:

And then hit Next

Select any options you may want in delivery – you can add it directly to Google Drive.  That would not address my desire to have the data in hand, so I choose the download option.

Then click on Create Archive.  It does its work and sends you an email when completed.  Once it is done, you get an email from “Google Takeout” similar to this…

Your account, your data.

The Google data archive you started on February 24, 2015 is ready. It will be available for you to download until March 3, 2015. The archive contains your +1s, Bookmarks, Calendar, Drive, Google Photos, Google Play Books, Google+ Circles, Google+ Pages, Google+ Stream, Groups, Hangouts, Maps (your places), Messenger, Profile, and YouTube data.

Manage archives – click to see all archive

Download archive – click to get your archive

Just click on the link and get your stuff.  Your download times out, so go get it prior to the expiration date.

It downloads your zip and you can store it anywhere you like.

Could not be easier.  Give it a try!

Google FAQ on this topic.

It is interesting to me where former Autodesk staff end up.  Over the years there have been so many transitions that it is hard to track, but I do notice when a name pops up in the news.

Jay Bhatt, former Autodesk AEC SVP.   He was responsible for Autodesk’s global Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Solutions Division.  He presented at Autodesk University many times.  If you were AEC related – you should have heard about him or from him.

He is now with Blackboard – on the educational side of things.  Here are a few recent articles.

Who is Jay Bhatt, Blackboard’s incoming chief?

K-12 is big focus for Blackboard, says CEO Jay Bhatt

From a recent FAQ on the topic… “Autodesk is gradually transitioning new software purchases for our products to subscription options only. In the first phase of this transition, new seats of standalone desktop software products will generally be available only as a Desktop Subscription beginning February 1, 2016.”

This is the next step in ADSK’s slow march toward this licensing model.  This will make a direct connection between you and Autodesk realted to the ongoing use of the software we all love.  But not if you already have a product. Again from the FAQ “Customers who have purchased a perpetual license prior to February 1, 2016, will be able to continue to use those licenses.”

Here are the products effect now:

• 3ds Max®
• AutoCAD®
• AutoCAD LT®
• AutoCAD for Mac
• AutoCAD LT for Mac
• AutoCAD® Architecture
• AutoCAD® Electrical
• AutoCAD® Mechanical
• InfraWorks®
• Inventor ®
• Inventor® Professional
• Inventor LT®
• Maya®
• Maya LT™
• MotionBuilder®
• Mudbox®
• Navisworks® Simulate
• Navisworks® Manage
• Revit® Architecture
• Revit® MEP
• Revit® Structure
• Revit LT™

Find out more via two online FAQs: Perpetual Licensing Changes and Autodesk Standalone Perpetual License Discontinuation Public FAQ (PDF).

Recently, the publishers of Cadalyst Magazine interviewed me for their CADSpeed blog as part of their “Expert Interview” series.  The interview included a quick review of CAD Manager duties, the impact of the “maker” movement, qualities of a good CAD Manager and more.

You can read the interview on their blog at  “Expert Interview with Mark Kiker of CADD Manager on Best Practices For Cad Managers”.

While you are on their blog, check out the other interviews on PLM, Innovation, and Seeing the Big Picture.  The list goes on and on.

At the request of Melanie Perry and the AutoCAD Blogger Council… here is my day.  hashtag #CADdork

Started off with a bang – or maybe a whimper. My laptop has been dogging it for some time and I cannot figure out what the issue is. It is running slow and apps are hanging. It is really annoying. It culminated today in a browser failure or two. Firefox tanked. IE locked. I was getting blank white screen on Google. Nothing. But Chrome worked. Maybe Google had finally taken over the world, but I could find nothing about that in a Google News search 🙁

I have been cleaning and searching for what is causing it for some time. CCleaner, Malwarebytes, uninstalls and more (no luck). Since I recently installed AutoCAD 2015 (went very smooth), I even uninstalled A360, Autodesk Application Manager and ReCap. (They were not the problem though). Still having hangups. Outlook locks, browsers freeze. It happens about 15 minutes after I log in… so I disabled my cloud backup tool that is supposed to only use CPU idle time. We shall see what happens.

On to a meeting to discuss deployment of software tools that are not related to CAD. So not much detail here other than to say that time spent in prep and planning is never wasted time.

On to another meeting that seemed to be focused on planning for a future meeting 🙂 Here are the takeaways I saw from this meeting:

1. Not everyone is on the same page, even if they think they are
2. Defining terms is critical
3. Unified vision is so valuable

After that meeting I went to another meeting. My days are not usually filled with non-stop meeting. This was a unique day.  Anyway, this meeting was to discuss Google Apps and Google Drive and how we might embrace them for project workflow.

Not that much of a CAD Day… but that is what today entailed.

Finally, I sat down to go through email, journal my day and then think about this post.

Today was unique in the number of meetings but not unique in the interactions I have with people.  I as a manager and leader, must interact with others, clarify direction, define tasks, get things moving, and keep the focus where it is needed.