I am going through my annual year end desk/office clearing and cleaning process. Each year I take some time, before the Christmas break, to clean off my desk, clear away the clutter and go through my collections of documents and more. I take a hard look at what I am keeping and getting rid of. It takes some time and is often hard to make the call about getting rid of something, but it is worth it.
CAD Managers need to save a lot of information and examples. I have a box full of CAD Standards Manuals that I have collected or written over they years. I use these to get ideas about what I need to think about. But they also need to not save so much.
Here are my tips for cleaning and clearing your desk of all of the hard copy and papers:
1. Run through it Fast
The first time through just make a quick pass on everything. Get rid of the stuff that you know you do not need. If it has been sitting on your desk or shelf for a long time – chances are you don’t need it. If it is a hard copy of something that you have electronically – get rid of it.
2. Sort before you Eliminate
Before you start throwing away too much stuff, maybe you could sort it first. Make a pile for Keep, Store, Scan and Trash.
Keep – means keep it on your desk. This should only be actionable items. Things that need you attention now.
Store – means keep it, but get it off your desk. Store it away. Store it permanently, whatever, just not on your desk.
Scan – means scan to PDF. Store it electronically.
Trash – means just that – toss it. If you cannot think of a vaild reason to keep it – get rid of it.
If you are like me – you will agaonize over the stupidest little items. If you cannot quickly think of a good reason to keep it, but cringe at tossing it, then put it in a box under your desk. If you have not dug through the box to get it in a month or so – then toss it.
More to come…
CAD Manager’s Survey 2008 Report
Robert Green’s annual survey provides a lot of interesting information.
The results are in and they show how market forces continue to change the CAD manager’s job.
Check it out on the Cadalyst site.
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I started another blog for BIM Managers. www.bimmanager.com
Take a look…
It is focused on BIM issues
Click Here or on the image above
Thursday – what a day – more classes. The list of AU presenter is long and deep. There is so much information, tips and techniques being passed on helps everyone do their job better.
Today was a long day of classes. On just about every topic you could think of. After those classes were done – there were more classes.
Many that I spoke with had trouble remembering the class topics they had on the first day. This is a common problem. There is so much learning going on that it is hard to keep track. It will all come back to them when they return to their offices and review their notes.
All in all it was a grand day of learning.
For many of us who attend Autodesk University a common question is always… What day is this?
Well it was AUGI Day.
The AUGI Board met with users at the AUGI Unplugged meeting. We chatted about the existing and future plans and answered questions with our members.
Then it was off to my next presentation on Preventative CAD Management, after that Lunch and then presenting on CAD Leadership.
AUGI members were encouraged to put on AUGI wear. Anything and everything that has AUGI written on it. A winner was selected that had the most creative outfit. Top DAUG continued with live updates on the top 10.
AUGI had is Annual Meeting and Beer Bust. The Annual meeting included the presentation of the AUGI Wish Lists for Inventor, AutoCAD, Revit and Civil 3D.
More to come tomorrow on the last “full” day. Friday is a half day calendar. Then everyone heads home (or heads for the casinos)
If you want to tune in to the AU2008 live stream…
It will be active for the next few hours. It is a camera in the AUGI booth on the show floor.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/caddmanager
Tune in and see what’s going on.
Wow – what a day.
Started off teaching my class on CAD Manager Career Path. I discussed the process of moving your career ahead and taking control of it. Do not let your career just happen. Plan on making progress.
On area I discussed was asking for a raise. One point I brought up was that fact that you need to update your resume before you go talk to your boss about a raise. No you are not going to look for another job, but the process of updating your resume will remind you of your value, experience, training, breadth and education. You won’t share this during the process, but it sure helps to think things through.
After that it was off to meet with the past presidents of AUGI. I ended up late for that meeting because I was talking to users and the time got away from me.
After that it was prep and deliver my next class. It was on the BIM Manager position. This title has not been around for very long, but it is advancing in the industry. One of the points i brought up was associated with who has a formal written job description. I did a survey while preparing for the class. Here is what I found out.
Most people working in this area do not have one.
After my class – it was off to the Exhibit hall for a long evening of connecting up with a whole lot of AUGI members and more.
Tomorrow we start of with AUGI Unplugged – a chance for those that are here to ask the AUGI Board their questions and give us ideas for needed programs.
Monday was a full day of events that started for me with an AUGI Board meeting to discuss and finalize all of the AUGI plans for AU.
Then it was off to lunch and the Community Leadership Event. Robert Green, Beverly Arnoldy speaking on leadership and planning for growth in a user group. Leading RUGIE, the Revit User Group of the Inland Empire has been one of my efforts. This event gave me some new perspectives on the process.
After this event I jumped into the International reception for a few minutes before heading out top the Enoteco San Marco – At the Venetian – on the Piazza San Marco. A wionderful dinner with 14 of my fellow workers from HMC Architects.
After that I ran upstairs for the AEC Mixer – just in time to catch the tail end of the event and catch up with some old friends and meet some new ones.
More to come on Day 2 tomorrow…
Day one is on Monday -so Sunday must be Day Zero.
Arrived on Sunday at 6:00 pm after a drive from home (So Cal) to Vegas. Checked in to the Venetian and hoofed it over to the Palazzo Hotel for dinner with the AUGI Board. Our host was Extension Media. They publish the Autodesk Resource Catalog. See one here.
Monday starts the events. First an AUGI Board meeting to get all our ducks in a row, then on to the Community Leadership event.
I plan on posting each day as the event progresses. Stay tuned…
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