Take the latest CAD Manager Survey!
DWF is being pushed by Autodesk as the way to easily transfer data to others. PDF’s have been used for some time. Which one are you using?
Again, continuing the conversation about working with your Users. Now I move to your Worst User.
Don’t let anyone tell you that they are not valuable to the firm, even the other users who may have to pick up the slack from their shoddy work. By keeping them involved, you gain an understanding of how the system can be abused. These folks are not motivated to greater understanding and use of the tools so you have your work cut out for you.
First off – your Worst User may very well be higher than the Best Users in the pecking order of the firm. The worst users may carry a lot of weight and can prevent you from getting things done and making improvements.
Here is a short list of how to work with them.
1. Identify them. Make sure that you know who they are. They may be hard to spot sometimes if you do not work on their files. The other users know who they are. Ask them.
2. Isolate their thought process from others. Keep them from sharing their perspective with others. You do this by keeping your ears open for when they may be complaining. You may not be able to challenge them in open conversation, but you need to let them know that they need to not spread discontent. Talk to those that they have talked with to counteract their points.
3. Don’t isolate them from other users. It may happen naturally as others prefer not to work with them. Make extra effort to keep them involved with better users. Some of the good habits may rub off on them.
4. Keep them close to you. Make sure you talk directly with them whenever you have a new tool or other item that you are sharing with the masses. Defuse their concerns and address them directly.
5. Be patient with them. They may not know that they are the worst user. Target some special time with them to gently point out their areas of weakness.
6. Listen to them. They really do help in getting you to be your best. If you can win them over, or make something easier for them to embrace, then the rest of the users will be a cinch.
7. Don’t let them get away with it. Never let them become complacent. Never let them do bad things to good drawings. Always point out and correct there shortfalls. Do it privately and consistently.
8. Have them fix the problems that they may create. Teach them how to do it right and get them to fix it.
9. Never attack them on a personal level. Do not let others attack their character. Do not let others demean them.
Don’t let your worst user drag you down. Keep a positive and friendly attitude as you work them away from Worst.
I wanted to continue the conversation about working with your Best Users. They are an invaluable cog in the wheels of your firm. By keeping them involved, you gain not only their input and expertise, but also their loyalty. They typically are highly motivated anyway, but small amounts of input and focus will allow you to reap great gains.
First off – your Best User may not be high in the pecking order of the firm. The best users an not necessarily the best in design or engineering. They may not carry a lot of weight in managing projects or working with clients. But they can crank on the software tools that they have.
Here is a short list of how to keep them on your team.
1. Feed them new tools. They soak it up and want to take in more. Keep them looking into new things that come your way. Each new release goes to them first to try out. All of the little utilities that you buy, let them try it first. Put them at the front of the line.
2. Have the research a new feature. Ask them to look into some area of the software that you are under using. Have them come back to you with their findings. If they like the tool, roll it out to others.
3. Give them a chance to go to outside events (like CAD Camp).
4. Bring them into conversations with vendors. Have them look at demos. Let them have input into your process.
5. Bounce ideas off them. I like to stop in the middle of the day to have short (5-10 minutes) chats about software and standards and methods, or whatever. Having them provide input keeps them on their toes.
6. Have the read articles that you copy out of magazines and provide their thoughts.
7. Have them be part of the training process. Get them to participate in training others. Passing on what they know. It will make them feel valued (and they are).
By engaging them in the process, decisions and flow of CAD you maximize their “belonging” at your firm and involved in your progress. It is a Win-Win.
When developing CAD Standards and policies you need to keep in mind two users that impact these areas.. Your Best User and Your Worst User.
Mr. Best will want to use the latest and greatest tools that you have. He will reach into the deepest depths of the software and find some little trick or setting that makes the unusual possible. They will apply the tools in ways that the developers may never have envisioned. They are creative and investigative in their efforts to squeeze every last drop of functionality out of the current release. When the new release is rolled out, they want to instantly start using the new features and fixes.
Mr. Worst will want to use the software as if it were four releases behind the current offering. They are just now embracing some of the tools that were added in AutoCAD 2000, if not 14. They are productive but set in their ways. They are not really interested in learning new functions, because they are efficient with the old ones.
Now – Mr. B and Mr. W both work in your environment and they both share files and work on the same projects. The balance that you need to achieve is somewhere between the two.
My philosophy is that you set your CAD Standards based on the workflow of Mr. Worst and base your training on Mr. Best.
By training at high levels and pushing everyone toward the Mr. B level you will be advancing the tools as they become available.
By basing your Standard on Mr. Worst you will be setting the least common denominator that everyone has to achieve. I am not saying that you have some lame, outdated standard. You need to set the bar high enough to not let Mr. W become complacent.
Keep pushing the Standard ahead and keep training for the best use.
You will also have to have conversations with both about working with the other.
Mr. B will be frustrated by having to slow down and dumb down his files and methods. He will have to know that he cannot introduce some fancy method that others do not understand and know how to use. You may want to place the training efforts on his shoulders. Don’t let him introduce methods into production that are not approved.
Mr. W will want to throw the brakes on any advancement that you are trying to achieve. He does not want to expend the effort it takes to learn and master a new tool. He is slowing everyone down and he needs to move along. Don’t let him drag you down too much.
By understanding the perspectives that both bring you will be able to achieve a balanced CAD environment where progress is measured, controlled and advancing.
Totally cool interactive demo for ADT 2007 on the Autodesk site. You may see it as a blatant sales pitch, but it does address some of the questions that most non-users may ask. I am all for getting as much info as I can about the tools I choose or am looking into purchasing. Give it a shot…
You should take the time to see this… Click Here
It seemed to take a while for it to load but it is well worth the wait.
From what I can remember it looks like not much change from ADT 2006
Recommended System Requirements
- Intel Pentium 4 processor, 3 GHz or greater
- Microsoft Windows XP (SP2 or later)
- 2 GB RAM
- 1.9 GB free disk space
- 1280×1024 monitor and display adapter capable of 32-bit color
- 128 MB or greater, OpenGL-capable workstation-class graphics card
- MS-Mouse compliant pointing device
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 (SP1 or later)
I attended an analyst briefing on the topic of “Why are CAD and CAE software so hard to use?” by Steve Wolfe of Cyon Research. It was a lively discussion on the topic of why CAD seems to be so hard for people to learn and what can be done about it. Many of the software developers were there to listen in on what the problems may be.
Here are a few of the bullets on the why side that were of interest to me.
1. CAD is too complex with too many features
2. New Features are underdeveloped when they are first rolled into the software
3. Dialog boxes work differently within the same package
4. Nomenclature and wording are not standardized between packages
5. Vendors do not fully understand the users work process and flow
There were many others and I am hopeful that the developers were listening.
All in all – I think that the developers are headed down the right track. They do usability studies and engage the user community in various ways in order to make the products work intuitively. I think we have seen major strides in the last few years, but there is no end to the process of making it easier to use and learn.
I am attending COFES (Congress on the Future of Engineering Software).
COFES is a gathering of vendors, users, developers, marketing and even venture capitalists in the desert of Arizona. There is an open exchange of ideas and thoughts among the participants that relate to where the various industries are headed and what the future may look like.
There have been involved with many vibrant conversations and presentations since arriving yesterday. Here are some highlights and thoughts that I have come away with so far.
1. Peter Marks of Design Insight presented on how we can web enable many of the processes that we are not using today. Currently we have enabled mostly just the review process of design and need to move beyond that. He discussed how we have moved through several phases of the maturing of web technology, from using it for transactions like e-mail and FTP, to the current state of “it’s all about me” – like myspace and others, and are moving into the “community” phase where it is all about us and sharing efforts and collaborating on large scale endeavors.
2. Alan Cooper of Cooper Consulting discussed what he called “the death march” projects. Those projects that seemed to be doomed to failure. He discussed how they got there and how they can be avoided or salvaged. He is the author of “The Inmates are Running the Asylum”. He discussed how some times it is not what we don’t know that hurts but what we do know. Sometimes we are trapped by the fact that we have mastered something and think of things from a preexisting focus.
3. Jerry Laiserin of the Laiserin Letter provided some thought provoking topics. Such as “Is BIM too focused on building the model?” – in other words, does BIM encompass the whole data and information gathering that the design, build, occupy and maintain process of a building goes through. BIM does not just mean the software used to create the model. Jerry is always thought provoking…
4. Dave Jordani took up where Jerry left off (or should I say ran out of time to discuss). He discussed FM and the BIM process. What new services are we missing out on? How does BIM interact with Building Life Cycle Management? and the more fundamental – “Does BIM have to be 3D?”
Wow – lot’s to think about and lot’s more to go… COFES 2006
A federal jury in East Texas returned a $18 million verdict against Autodesk for infringing on two software patents owned by a Michigan technology company.
Loading ...