CAD Manager's Newsletter (#418)

A CAD Manager's Wish List

It's time to stop wishing and start communicating your desires to your users, managers, and software suppliers.

Over the years, I've received all sorts of wish list items from CAD managers. These wishes range from CAD software improvements to things we want our users and bosses to know, resources we'd like to have, and a variety of behaviors we wish we could stop. Alas, simply wishing for things doesn't make them happen; if we want anything to change, we'll have to communicate our wishes.

In this edition of the CAD Manager's Newsletter, I'll summarize the wishes I hear most often from CAD managers, in the hope that we can reach the users, bosses, budget approvers, and CAD companies who can make our wishes come true. If we all send this list to those who can help us, they might grant our wishes! (Download a printable version of the CAD Manager's Wish List here.) Here goes.

Image by uglycat / stock.adobe.com

To My Users

Let's do things better! If we can interact with each other via a proactive mode of communication rather than a reactive one, we'll all have a more positive attitude, and things will get better over time. Focus on asking, "How can we do this better?" instead of complaining that "This doesn't work." I'm here to listen to your good ideas for improving things!

Please understand that I am only mortal. I don't know the answer to everything, but I'm usually able to find the answer if I take the time to look it up. Please know that you could likely do the same if you took the time to look for the answer yourself.

Write down my answers. You wouldn't believe how many times I must answer the same questions. If you could please take notes or otherwise capture the information I provide you for future use, it would save me — and you — a huge amount of time!

Follow the standards, unless you can tell me a better way. Ignoring standards because you just don't like them causes support problems and inconsistencies in our projects. As stated above, I'm all about doing things better, so if you've got an idea for improving our standards, I'm all ears.

To the IT Department

I need administrative access to install software and fix problems. As a CAD manager, I'm called upon to solve software problems, restore files, and perform all sorts of minor miracles to move projects out the door every day. Getting all this done is challenging enough without having to wait for an IT representative to restore a file or clear a printer queue. I understand that security is very important, but I'm already entrusted with managing all the CAD data, so why not give me the tools I need to do my job quickly and efficiently?

Don't assume cloud CAD tools are simple. From bandwidth problems to security issues to license policy changes, cloud CAD tools are sometimes problematic to implement. Before you make any judgment calls, come talk to me about the problems we could create by jumping in headfirst.

Let me help you with software deployments. I know you're awesome at pushing out updates for web clients and general office software tools, but CAD and building information modeling (BIM) tools are different because they are often highly customized. If we work together to create CAD/BIM deployments that are fully customized for real-world use, we'll both save time — and the users can get to work sooner. Read more »
 

Tools and Resources

Topcon Introduces Documentary Videos on Infrastructure and Technology
Topcon Positioning Group has launched a new series of documentary videos featuring interviews with industry experts and business representatives — including comments from Intel Corporation, SAP, Solar City Corporation, among others — offering their perspectives on how technological advancements have changed infrastructure and what to expect going forward.
 

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