Sometimes CAD Managers have trouble getting their company leadership to understand their needs. The thinking goes something like this…
CAD Manager: “If they only knew what I know, they would care about my concerns”
Is this true? If the managers that you work with actually knew as much about CAD as you do, would they also share your intensity of concern about CAD issues?
I think not – and here is why…
1. They have other concerns that you don’t know about. You do not have the same level of understanding for their positions as you have for your own. They have many valid concerns that overshadow their concern about CAD. Project deadlines, technical content, quality control, etc. They are very busy worrying about their own set of concerns.
2. They often do know a lot about CAD. If they have been at this for very long, they have developed a long history with CAD also. Sometimes they may even know more than you, and yet their level of alarm at your issues remains constant.
3. CAD really does not appear on their radar – unless there are problems. Most Project Management level people and above spend little time dealing with CAD issues. The higher up the ladder, the less they need to think about them. Most managers think about CAD less that 5% of the time and many not even 1% of the time in a typical week.
4. They expect you to think about these things and fix them. They pay you to make things work. They depend upon you to get things running smoothly so they will not have to worry about them.
So keep this in mind… they don’t really want to worry about CAD and your job is to make that happen.
Back to the same question again this year as in April of 2005 and 2006.
When are you migrating? Are you on subscription?
Let us know so we can see what is on your mind.
Have you ever checked your Internet Speed? Here is a link to the tool that I use. It is very easy to use and the results are very understandable. Try it out.
Here is another one that uses the same engine (by Speakeasy) but has a different interface. It also has comparisons to others and rankings for your speed.
Being the survey kind of guy that I am, I sent out a survey to get some feedback from the employees that were involved in the move. I used Zoomerang. It is an online web based survey program.
Here are some of the results…
Did your computer work when you arrived?
Yes – 91%
No – 9%
Did your phone work when you arrived?
Yes – 86%
No – 14%
Overall, how would you rate the process for getting your IT or CAD problem resolved?
Very good – 88%
Good – 10%
Average – 1%
Poor – 0%
Very poor – 0%
Did anything prevent you from being productive after you arrived on Monday?
No- 86%
Yes – 14%
Please rate your agreement with the following statements?
The move was very well planned
Strongly agree – 81%
Agree – 13%
Neutral – 6%
Disagree – 0%
Strongly disagree – 0%
IT and CAD Staff were there when I needed them
Strongly agree – 83%
Agree – 13%
Neutral – 4%
Disagree – 0%
Strongly disagree – 0%
The IT issues were minor.
Strongly agree – 78%
Agree – 15%
Neutral – 1%
Disagree – 0%
Strongly disagree – 0%
I was able to be productive as soon as I wanted
Strongly agree – 81%
Agree – 17%
Neutral – 3%
Disagree – 0%
Strongly disagree – 0%
We are moving another group into the new building this weekend. Hopefully this move will be as successful as the last one.
This event is the main focus of the MicroStation community and is coming very soon to southern California.
Two areas that I want to find out more about include:
Innovations by MicroStation
Well, here is the list of things that did not come off as planned…
1. Xerox plotter blew the power supply – down time – 2 days
2. DHCP was not handing out IP addresses correctly to some stations – downtime – 30 minutes
3. Some users not mapping correctly, error in the login script – edits we made – downtime – 30 minutes
4. Server not recognized by some stations – reboot – downtime – 15 minutes
5. Employee fingerprint scanner access to the building – blown power supplies – downtime – 4 days
6. Toilets in the building back up into the kitchen – whole building with no toilets – half day.
So some things you can plan for and some you cannot.
From their website… www.be.org
The BE Conference will offer value to individuals and organizations looking for better ways to work and better ways to achieve optimal performance:
- Hours and hours of accredited learning
- A variety of networking opportunities
- Best practice sharing from peers and knowledge leaders
- Technology updates across all industries and disciplines
- Access to an exhibit hall featuring sponsors and exhibitors displaying the latest technology, products, and services to support users
We created an overall plan of attack for the move. We stepped through each issue and discussed the needed information, who would get it and what we would do as the next step. Several times we came across issues that required input from others. We invited them to our meeting and got critical input.
CAD and IT worked together on issues that related to licensing and operations of CAD. Plotters were scheduled for decommissioning as well as high end printers. We coordinated with third party movers to get the plotters, printers and copiers moved. We worked with the building layout to locate each piece of equipment on a map – no floor level decisions and scurrying to figure out where something would go.
As the final week or so approached, we met every day for 30 minutes to verify that we were all on track. We created a calendar for the time line and used sticky notes to define each critical item that needed to happen on a specific date. As the items were addressed we move the sticky off the calendar. Those items that were not addressed on time got reassigned a date.
By careful planning and forethought we avoided many of the small headaches. I am not trying to say everything worked perfect, but it was a very smooth move. I will update you on some of the items that did not come off as planned… next time.
We had our first IT Moving Day meeting on January 17th, 2007. The move was on March 17, 2007.
We met every week on Tuesday at 9:30 am for one hour. All IT staff was involved. We discussed every aspect of the move. Server issues, CAD licensing issues, prepping plotters, scanners, printers, desktop issues. All of it. The process at times was tedious and some may have thought it boring, but some meetings were highlighted by one person thinking of something we had not thought of before. And it saved time and money by having us address issues before they happened.
The whole point in the meetings is to have people talk. We had other meetings with Admins, Managers, Principals, etc. By allowing people to talk on a regular basis, we fleshed out every concern. We talked about all issues. We would be moving the data center for a 425 person firm with 10 offices. It impacted the whole firm. No work could be done over the weekend related to e-mails, accounting, intranet, etc. All services impacted.
Never underestimate the value of conversation.
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