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From Order to CAD Chaos, Part 2
14 Sep, 2011 By: Robert GreenHas your company's disregard for standards become pervasive? Try these tips to get back to an orderly, productive workplace.
In the previous installment of the CAD Manager's Newsletter, I began exploring what happens when a company allows its CAD management protocols to lapse and descends from order into chaos.
In this edition I'll conclude my examination by pointing out more warning signs, corrective actions, and management communication tips you can use, in hopes that you can prevent these problems from happening to your company — or at least reverse them once they do occur. Here goes.
Root Causes
Last time, I explained that the symptoms of chaos usually included the following:
- "Just get it done" trumps "do it right"
- Basic file management problems proliferate
- Standards are disregarded
- Software configurations devolve
- Pre-project coordination is lacking
- It's more difficult to generate output plots, PDFs, etc.
- Processes that used to "just work" no longer do.
The first three issues — which I discussed previously — usually surface first; they are typically the root causes of chaos I see in the companies I work with. The remaining four issues usually take a little longer to appear, since they arise as a result of the first three. So to examine the latter four, we'll assume that chaos has set in, and now you're trying to stop the chaos and reverse the damage.
A Potpourri of Software Configurations
When users are permitted to "just get it done," they will often rearrange their CAD software's desktop look and feel and craft their own time-saving shortcuts by creating their own libraries (of details, parts, components, families, etc.). I have also observed that many users create plotting standards that bear little to no resemblance to how other users work. In short, users set things up in a way that makes sense to them, with no thought as to how these ad hoc changes will impact other users.
If you've ever received a vendor DWG file with nonstandard layers, a subcontractor's mechanical assembly with a nonstandard coordinate system setup, or an architect's BIM project that uses nonstandard families, you know it takes countless hours to rectify those files before you can work with them. Now, think about what happens when this level of chaos permeates your organization to the extent that your departments can't even communicate with each other. The mental picture that emerges isn't pretty.
From a technical support point of view, it becomes almost impossible for the CAD manager to assist with software configuration, because each machine is constantly devolving to an unknown state of disrepair. Simply put, it is very hard to work on workstations when you have no clue about how their CAD applications are set up.
To quantify these types of impacts, ask yourself these questions:
- What does it cost the company to deal with nonstandard software use between users? Between departments? Between clients and suppliers?
- What type of project delays and errors might we anticipate as nonstandard software configurations breed problems that slip through the cracks during the life cycle of a project?
- What does it cost the company in CAD support to keep all these dissimilar workstations debugged and working properly, given the lack of standard configurations?
Have you seen these types of problems at your company? If so, you have deeply rooted chaos that needs to be challenged and uprooted as soon as possible. Try this tip:
Tip: Every time you have to address a problem of this nature, note how much time it takes, then record it on your time sheet using an NS (needless support) code. I used to use codes NS-P (plotting), NS-C (configuration), NS-S (standards), etc. When I would submit my time sheet my boss would always ask me about the codes and I'd reply, "The NS-S hours are because I had to rework 20 sheets that the CAD designer simply didn't follow procedures on. It isn't overhead time or me just noodling around with CAD stuff — I only had to spend the time because the user refused to follow the rules."
Key: The key thing you must communicate is that chaos costs time, and time is money. Once management learns how much time is wasted on these types of issues, they will start to see things your way.
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AutoCAD Tips!
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Comments
on: September 15, 2011 - 11:23am