CAD Manager's Q&A: Which Publications Should I Read?

What sorts of publications should I be reading to freshen up my perspective and assist me with my CAD management duties?

Robert Green replies: Of course I recommend reading Cadalyst magazine from cover to cover to get a CAD-based perspective on all sorts of issues that affect design, hardware, software and management.

In addition to Cadalyst, my favorite reading resources are listed here, along with the reasons I enjoy them.

InfoWorld: A great resource with an IT (information technology) slant as well as a good bit of business news. After all, CAD runs on networks, so staying aware of how networks and general IT issues are progressing is a key part of forecasting your CAD future.

eWeek: Formerly PC Week, this Web site is more business-driven than InfoWorld, but is still a great source of IT information, especially with respect to operating systems and hardware platform changes. Sometimes you’ll even see CAD topics in eWeek!

Wired and Wired News:Wired magazine is something altogether different from an IT or CAD reading resource -- and that’s precisely why I enjoy it. I always find something in Wired that makes me think differently about the impact technologies can have on industry and our lives in general. Some people will say that Wired is too far out to be applicable, but I really enjoy the mental jolt that Wired presents.

Taken together, these resources will help you be much more focused on IT and business metrics and how those issues shape the computing environments where your CAD tools function. You never know -- you may get some great ideas by looking at your CAD installation from a nonCAD perspective every once in a while.