CAD Standards based on Principles

Users want to know what is required of them and they want a logical, easy to understand, Standard that provides the answers to the questions that they will ask about producing drawings.

By developing your Standard based on the Principle that you have developed, you are off to a good start.

Principles help you pass on the “WHY” of your standard. Once the Standard is developed you will have the “WHAT”

Here is a graphic that will help you see how principles keep you focused in the right direction.

You can move from Chaotic CAD to Destination CAD by trying to stay on track.

Drifting to the left will leave you with Ethereal CAD where no one documents the WHAT, and the conversation never moves past the vague discussions of what you should be doing.

Drifting to the right will leave you with Despot CAD where the rules are rigid and no one understands the WHY of the rules they are forced to follow.

Blending the right mixture of principles and rules will achieve what everyone wants. A solid Standard based on shared Principles.

I am convinced that developing Standards should start with Principles and move from there to Standard Concepts to Methods to Content and finally to Action

Principles -> Standard Concepts -> Methods -> Content -> Action

By starting with the Principles you can get everyone on the same page from the beginning. It is best to work through and talk about the overarching principles of your CAD environments. First develop a system of Principles that your standard will be based on.

Example: Our firm is production based and will drive productivity to the max. Therefore our standard will be focused on increasing productivity by reducing the steps it takes to get things done. This means that woven throughout our standard is the focus of speed and productivity

Example: Our environment embraces the full use of the tools we use. Therefore our standard will address every tool that is in the box.

Example: Our firm does not want to create or support overly fancy customization. Therefore we will use what is in the box and not create custom menu, LISP, etc.

Example: Our firm is dedicated to making the tool fit our needs. Therefore we will customize content and create tools that enhance the software.

Example: Our firm does not believe that we need to update the standard unless we update our version of software. Therefore we will stabilize our standard for the version we are currently using and not upgrade it at all until we move to a new release.

Once you have developed the principles of how you address your standards you can move toward the concepts of the standard. These examples above show the Principle and the Concept.

More to come…

Today CAD Digest (one of my favorite places to go to find the latest CAD info) posted three of my articles on the home page. That is a first for me.

If you have not discovered CAD Digest or TenLinks you need to get out more often.

Take a look at them on a regular basis – they are a gold mine and a silver mine. You decide which is which.

Having created many shortcut routines in LISP over the years, I have also developed certain guidelines for naming those shortcuts.

Here are my guidelines for short key in names…

• Keep them on the left side of the keyboard – close to the left hand that usually rests on the keyboard
• Keep them key-able with one hand. Don’t make me take my other hand off the mouse.
• Keep them somehow associated with the command name or function. (an abbreviation)
• Feel free to double up on characters
• Do not use numbers in the name
• Use three characters if needed
• Use grouped letters that are close to each other on the keyboard
• Do not make me move my hand back and forth on the keyboard if you use three characters
• It is easier to move from left to right on the keyboard than the other way
• It is easier to go from top to bottom on the keyboard

By following a few tips about naming the abbreviated command you can gain even more speed by reducing the thinking and typing required.

Corporate Facts

• 100% of Fortune 100 firms are Autodesk customers
• 98% of Fortune 500 firms are Autodesk customers
• Autodesk has 7 million users
• Autodesk has licensed users in 106 countries
• Last eleven Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects used Autodesk software.
• Products available in 20 languages
• 1,768 channel partners worldwide
• Over 1,400 Autodesk Training Centers worldwide
• Over 2,800 Autodesk Developer Network members
• Over 200 user groups worldwide
• Autodesk software is used in more than 50,000 educational institutions worldwide
• More than two million students trained on Autodesk products each year
• More than 10 million downloads of DWF Viewer

Ever get burned when someone has added a layer on one of your XEFs and did not tell you about it? It shows up on your plot and either you have to plot again, or you don’t notice and it goes out to the client!

Never Again!

Now you can set AutoCAD 2008 so that it will notify you when when this happens. It basically takes a snapshot of your layers when you SAVE or PLOT your file. Then compares that to the new layers that may appear.

Several options are available to use for when this check is done. See the dialog box clip above.

This may be worth the upgrade price for some of you.

Wow – this is cool.

AutoCAD 2008 has added an XCLIP Invert function that allows you to define a rectangle to cut a hole in your XREF. It kind of sounds like a WHIPOUT, but operates on the XREF itself.

You could use this to perform clips on areas of your XREF.

Before

After

NDA has been lifted on AutoCAD 2008 – so now we can talk about it.

AutoCAD 2008 enables you to directly attach MicroStation V8 DGN files as an XREF underlay. You can also import DGN data directly into an AutoCAD drawing.

You can also export DWG files to V8 DGN format.

DGNATTACH, a new command, attaches a DGN file to your AutoCAD drawing. When you attach a DGN file, it is displayed in the XREF palette with other files.

You can clip the display area of a DGN underlay using the new DGNCLIP command and you can adjust its properties using the Properties palette.

You have all heard management say “A warm body is better than no body”. This is usually in conjunction with keeping an under producer on the team long after everyone has recognized that they should be gone.

Is this really true? Are they really better than no one?

Here are a few problems with “Warm Bodies”

1. They are a proven low level producer – why do you think they are only warm?
2. They most likely don’t care about good CAD
3. They are slow learners – you have probably spent a good amount of time trying to get them to do thinks right and they still can’t
4. They slow others down – with all those questions
5. They mess up files – have I ever mentioned BAD CAD?
6. They are focused somewhere else – they are not fully invested in your project
7. They may know they are low producers and become unmotivated, waiting for the ax to fall
8. They bring down morale – why are we keeping this deadbeat?
9. Other employees loose faith in management – why don’t we cut this guy loose?
10. Other employees slow down to match them – why should I bust my tail when they are so slow and they still have a job.

Can you think of any more reasons to NOT keep the Warm Bodies?