CAD Manager's Newsletter (#208)
9 Dec, 2008Dealing with Bad Economic News
No doubt, times are tough, but there are things you can do to soften the effects of company cutbacks.
This past week I attended Autodesk University, where I taught some classes, gathered information on new products, and spoke to a lot of CAD managers. Ordinarily I would write an event report to catch you up on the details, but this year I found the economic news so serious that I'm dedicating this issue to passing along some tips for surviving the downturn. Here goes.
A Little History
Over the years, I've conducted informal surveys of CAD managers to gauge the economic stability of the companies we all work in. I usually do the survey by a show of hands and ask the following questions:
- How many of you work in companies that have too much work to get done?
- How many of you work in companies with good/normal workloads?
- How many of you work in companies that are laying off?
Throughout 2006, while speaking at 35 CAD manager and user events, I asked the "laying off" question and counted exactly seven hands. Roughly 50% of the group indicated companies that had "too much" work, with the balance in the "good/normal" category. Clearly 2006 was a good economic year, particularly for those in civil engineering and architectural industries. Read more »
:: CAD Manager's Toolbox: Standards Enforcement via Auditing
You could see dramatic results if you get your whole production team involved in upholding standards.
I received a great suggestion for standards enforcement from reader Todd Schuler in Ohio last week, and I want to share it with you. Todd has found that by examining some production drawings in a team-training environment, all his users have become more aware of the errors they make. They also have a heightened awareness of following standards because the likelihood of having their errors spotted goes up. Read more »
Got a question for the CAD Manager's Newsletter? Send it to me at rgreen@cad-manager.com. If I use your question in the newsletter, you'll receive a cool Cadalyst prize!
Cadalyst Job Search
Looking for a job? The Cadalyst Web site offers a job search section with extensive listings of CAD-related jobs in the United States. You can do a custom search with your own key words or search the listings by state. Check it out and bookmark the page now!
California Electric Utilities Summit
December 11, 2008
Glendale, California
This event, hosted by U.S. CAD, will focus on how electric utilities can improve efficiency, response times, and decision-making by using Autodesk software to design and manage infrastructure assets. Read more »
Webinar: Introduction to ArcGIS Data Interoperability
December 11, 2008
9 a.m., 11 a.m., 3 p.m. PST
During the seminar from ESRI, attendees will learn about the features of ArcGIS Data Interoperability extension that support data workflows. Read more »
Cloud Computing Conference: An IT Paradigm Shift
February 11, 2009
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Plum Communications' conference will explore the assessment of PaaS (Platform as a Service) and infrastructure models, the challenge of scale, migration risks and rewards, and security. Read more »
For a complete list of CAD meetings, conferences, training sessions, and more, check out our calendar of events on Cadalyst.com.
