CAD Managers have many opportunities to succeed. Getting things organized and running efficiently. It could be setting up processes and procedures. It might include moving from chaos to clarity. It may be your efforts to unifying the users. Yes there are many, many was of succeeding.<\/p>\n
There are also many opportunities for failure. We have all seen challenges and obstacles. Some seem to exist at every firm. Some seem to be created by the users or management. Some may be created by financial restrictions. Some come to us by the technology limitations of our hardware or software.<\/p>\n
Most of opportunities for failure come upon us from beyond our control. They require us to apply resources and solutions that are a combination of our talent, training and technology to turn them into successes. But sometimes opportunities for failure are created by those who are focused on success and they don\u2019t even know it. I want to take a look at some of them.<\/p>\n
I have stepped into every one of these at some point. They are the things that might happen to you if you are not careful to avoid them. Here are some of these areas \u2013in no particular order.<\/p>\n
1.\tFailing to define the target – your standards are not good enough<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes \u2013 I always start with the standard. If you have not provided a well defined target for you CAD users to hit then you cannot expect them to hit it with much consistency. If your standard is not solid, then users will get creative about how they get things done. They will seek solutions on their own and end up finding them. The trouble with that is that they will not be unified. This leads to Chaotic CAD. Let\u2019s say that your CAD Standard is solid. You have covered everything that needed to be addressed. You have added to areas that were weak. You have expanded areas that were too sparse. You may feel comfortable that you have it all together.<\/p>\n What may happen is that the process is in place but it is not monitored. You have set the ship in motion but you are not checking the maps or the compass to see if it is staying on course. You need to have some way to verify that everyone is actually following the standards. You need a Quality Assurance process. You need a CAD QA process. In a nutshell, this would be a checklist based on your standards. Compare the files against the checklist to see how things are going. Whatever you find that is not compliant, fix it.<\/p>\n 3.\tFailing to care about Quality<\/strong><\/p>\n Similar to the area above is the fact that it is very easy to start letting quality slip. It happens little by little. If you fall into the trap above you will never have a process for checking on quality. This trap is when you have a process, but do not continue to follow it. Good habits are hard to develop. It takes a great amount of diligence to maintain top quality. Don\u2019t let your focus wander. Put a regular checkup day on your calendar as a reminder. Write it on your \u201cto do\u201d list.<\/p>\n 4.\tFailing to keep learning new things<\/strong><\/p>\n This is like teaching an old dog new tricks. No \u2013 I am not calling you \u201cold\u201d. But you may appear to be that way if you stop learning new things. Everyone needs to continue learning. Reading is one of the best ways of doing that. Taking training classes yourself is another. There are many ways to keep learning and that do not cost anything.<\/p>\n There is the AUGI Training Program<\/a> Check it ou. You can sign up for classes and download free tutorials.<\/p>\n There is AUGI e-learning provided free by www.cadlearning.com<\/a>
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\n2.\tFailing to watch over the process<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.augi.com\/education\/elearning.asp<\/a><\/p>\n