Expert CAD Management The Complete Guide phần 1 pptx

Advance PraiseWhether he’s demystifying electronic document-management solutions or offering sound advice for justifying training budgets, Robert Green writes as one who inti- mately kno

Expert CAD Management

The Complete Guide

R o b e r t G r e e n

Wiley Publishing, Inc

16531ffirs.qxd 3/19/07 3:12 PM Page iii

Advance Praise

Whether he’s demystifying electronic document-management solutions or offering sound advice for justifying training budgets, Robert Green writes as one who inti- mately knows the CAD manager’s world When CAD industry veterans seek out CAD Management consultants, Robert Green is at the top of every list.

—DOUGWIETBROCK, President, DC CADD

The master of CAD Management, Robert continues to be an accurate knowledge base of information Robert has a great combination of philosophy, real life experience, and raw data that can give you the insight and advantage over your competition.

Having traveled with Robert Green to multiple AUGI CadCamps and Autodesk Universities over the past few years, it has been amazing to watch the managers of many firms using Autodesk’s suite of applications, as well as other CADD systems, flock to his classes on CAD Management His timely tools and ideas have consis- tently placed him as one of the highest rated instructors and consultants in the Autodesk Community, and NOW, we get a recap of those tools and ideas presented

in a book FINALLY!! Fantastic!!

Robert’s articles continue to provide practical guidance in the face of an developing CAD industry The insights he shares have been invaluable in mapping

ever-a pever-ath for CAD growth in our compever-any for yeever-ars.

—TIMTHOMPSON, CAD Manager, PSC, Inc

As a proven leader in CAD management, Robert Green combines his many years

as a CAD manager, writer, and trainer to communicate complex topics with ease and enthusiasm Robert can relate to CAD managers in an understandable and entertaining way that only a fellow CAD manager can appreciate.

—HEIDIHEWETT, AutoCAD Technical Manager, Autodesk, Inc

Robert has developed into the premier authority on matters relating to CAD agement His articles are widely read and shared by CAD managers everywhere.

man-—TARAROOPINDER, Editor, TenLinks.com

16531ffirs.qxd 3/19/07 3:12 PM Page i

Robert Green draws on many years of real-world experience as a CAD manager and consultant to deliver recommendations that work for any size and type of organization He’s the top resource for CAD managers looking to increase per- formance and efficiency

—SARAFERRIS, technology writer and editor, former editor of Cadalyst

I have been a longtime reader of many of Robert’s articles on the subject of CAD and business management and consider Robert to be a clear and focused expert on the topic In order to be effective as a CAD manager you must stay current and knowledgeable, and Robert has the subject covered for you.

—SHAANHURLEY, Worldwide MyFeedback Programs Mgr., Autodesk, Inc

Surviving in today’s CAD industry means being able to adjust and adapt while managing and elevating a technical staff to greater productivity With over 20 years

of experience, Robert Green is the most accomplished expert I know who stands the issues and pressures revolving around CAD management and has devel- oped a strategy that is clear, concise, and direct in solving those issues.

under-—MATTMURPHY, Speaker/Trainer/Author, ACADventures

Expert CAD Management

The Complete Guide

R o b e r t G r e e n

Wiley Publishing, Inc

16531ffirs.qxd 3/19/07 3:12 PM Page iii

Acquisitions Editor: W ILLEM K NIBBE Development Editor: L ISA B ISHOP Technical Editor: N ANCY S PURLING -J OHNSON Production Editor: M ICHAEL G ORDON Copy Editor: T IFFANY T AYLOR Production Manager: T IM T ATE Vice President and Executive Group Publisher: R ICHARD S WADLEY Vice President and Executive Publisher: J OSEPH B W IKERT Vice President and Publisher: N EIL E DDE

Media Project Supervisor: L AURA A TKINSON Media Development Specialist: K IT M ALONE Media Quality Assurance: A NGIE D ENNY Book Designer: F RANZ B AUMHACK l Compositor: C HRIS G ILLESPIE , H APPENSTANCE T YPE -O-R AMA Proofreaders: N ANCY R IDDIOUGH , R ACHEL G UNN Indexer: N ANCY A NDERMAN G UENTHER Anniversary Logo Design: R ICHARD P ACIFICO Cover Designer: R YAN S NEED

Cover Image: © D IETER S PANNKNEBEL , D IGITAL V ISION , G ETTY I MAGES

Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada

to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the lisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

pub-For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S at (800) 762-2974, outside the U.S at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002 Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats Some content that appears in print may not be available

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

My mother—for pushing me toward higher education and teaching me to not beprovincial, but rather to take a larger world view.

My father—for pushing me to achieve practical results and to always be aware ofthe financial aspects of being in business

Walter Davis—the best teacher anyone could ever hope to have His teachingsdeveloped my curiosity for physics and dynamic systems that led me to study mechanicalengineering

Larry Stewart—a great boss, mentor, and friend who helped me to achieve farmore in my early engineering career than I ever thought I could

Roopinder Tara and Arnie Williams—Roopinder took a chance on me in 1998and gave me an opportunity to write the monthly “Manager’s VPOINT” column for

CADENCE magazine, and Arnie helped me achieve my conversational writing style via

mentoring and editing

Cadalyst magazine—for allowing me to continue my monthly CAD management

newsletters and columns and serve as a contributing editor

Lorraine, Alex, and Austin—Ultimately, though, it all comes down to my family

My wife, Lorraine, and two sons, Alex and Austin, put up with the travel, extended ing sessions, late-night programming, customer calls, road-warrior stories, and ever-presentToshiba laptop (even at the boys’ hockey games) that define being a CAD managementconsultant None of what I do would mean anything without my family; I love each ofthem very much

writ-This book is dedicated to all the engineers, architects, designers, and power users who keep their companies’ CAD installations humming It has been my pleasure to work with so many of you

over the last 16 years.

16531ffirs.qxd 3/19/07 3:12 PM Page v

Robert Green earned his degree in mechanical engineering at the Georgia Institute ofTechnology (Georgia Tech) in 1983 Upon his graduation, he moved to the Santa Clara,California area to pursue design-engineering employment in the semiconductor capitalequipment field

Over the next four years, Robert performed various engineering tasks includingthe design of wafer-handling robotics that functioned in intense heat and vacuum environ-ments The analytical modeling and analysis Robert performed led him to early usage ofsoftware tools such as SDRC’s IDEAS modeling and transient thermal-analysis modules,ALGOR stress-analysis modules, and combined-mode transient analysis using NASTRAN.Along the way Robert became familiar with a PC-based CAD program called AutoCAD,which he has used since 1985

In 1988, Robert relocated back to the Atlanta area, where he was a computerapplications engineer specialist for Combustion Engineering specializing in CAD andanalysis for power and petrochemical industries By 1991, Robert decided to start his owncompany, and he has been providing training, programming, writing, and public speakingservices throughout the U.S and Canada ever since

In his free time, Robert can be found at various Atlanta area hockey rinks watchinghis two sons play; or at civic/political events with his wife, Lorraine, who serves as anelected County Commissioner Robert also enjoys playing rock guitar, singing, and explor-ing digital recording technology, but he has no illusions about quitting his day job! About the Author

Robert Green is an icon in the CAD Management world—plain and simple.

He has learned his art by living the role day in and day out Unlike many who profess to

be experts in the field, he is the real deal I receive countless e-mails each week from CADusers asking for advice relating to CAD management, and Robert (poor Robert) is alwaysthe one I send them to I know they’ll get a great solution to their problem and have animproved customer experience And let’s face it—working for a software company, that’sone of my biggest concerns

I’ve known Robert for over a decade, and I admit it—I’m a fan! His nonstop fessionalism and willingness to help his fellow user has remained consistent over the years,even as he’s become more and more in demand One of my roles at Autodesk consists ofcontent management for Autodesk University, our largest user event We have requestedRobert’s guidance more than once to create the framework for our CAD Managementtrack because we know he is well aware of the hot topics and issues confronting today’sCAD managers He is consistently a high-rated speaker and clearly knows the pulse of theindustry I have even quoted Robert along with the results found in his popular CADManagement surveys in many of my own presentations

pro-If you purchased this book, you’re probably looking to excel in your role of CADManager You may have a dual role as CAD Manager and CAD user, or you may be for-tunate enough to focus entirely on all things CAD Management Regardless of your situa-tion, you’re sure to find some helpful techniques within this book to make your role moreeffective and productive (and hopefully less stressful) Robert will guide you through thesteps to take to walk down the road to CAD Management Mecca! I’ve seen him leaveaudiences in awe as they try to write down every single suggestion he has to offer Luckyyou, you get all those finely tuned tips and suggestions in this one book! So do yourself afavor, and set aside some time each night to read a little more of this book (we all knowyou’ll never get a chance to do this at work) Then, try the techniques you read about inthe office where appropriate How many times do we read great information, acknowl-edge it as great information, and then never use it? I know I’m guilty, and the techniquesfound in this book are just too good to let that happen!

Foreword

16531ffirs.qxd 3/19/07 3:12 PM Page vii

Robert Green travels all over, helping users solve their CAD Management issues;

if he’s ever in your area, do yourself a favor and go hear him And take your book—he’d love to sign it, but watch yourself! Everyone in the room will want to get theirhands on it!

Here’s to your bright future of CAD Management success!

Autodesk Technical Evangelist, Cadalyst columnist

Understanding the Users’ Perspective 6Management’s Perspective 7

Balancing Tasks and Perspectives 9

The Business Angle: Money Talks! 11

Gaining the Power to Do Your Job 14Making It Happen 16

Chapter 2 Taking Stock of Your Current Situation 17

User Skills Assessment 18

Contents

16531ftoc.qxd 3/19/07 1:35 PM Page ix

Budgetary Assessment 29

Making the Assessment 30 Find the Disconnects 31 Drawing Conclusions 32 Standards/Process Assessments 32

A Formulaic Approach 33 Getting Ideas 34 No Shortcuts 34 Drawing Conclusions 35 Prioritizing Based on Need 35

Chapter 3 Managing Your Management 37 Manage: Not Manipulate 38

Debunking the Myths 39

Why Management Is out of the Technology Loop 42

Meeting Company Needs—Not User Wants 42

Explaining Standards to Management 44

Managing Management’s Expectations 46

Reporting to Your Management 46

Why Reporting Matters so Much 48 Avoiding the Technology vs Management Trap via Clear Communication 48

It’s All About Balance 49 Chapter 4 Managing Standards 51 Formulating and Writing Standards 52

Existing Standards: AIA, U.S National CAD Standard, and Others 54

Information Exchange 56

Vendor Control via Standards 57

Auditing and Taking Control 59 Working to Client Standards 60

Getting Started 61 Outsourcing Control 62

Standard Application Deployment 64

Managing the Multi-CAD Office 65

Processes Will Change; React Accordingly 66 Documenting What You’ve Found 68 Standards Enforcement via Management 68

Getting Help with Enforcement 69 Bringing It All Together 70

Chapter 5 Training, Hiring, and Managing Users 73

Training Methodology 74

Sorting Out the Methods 77 Building a Training Plan 78

Identifying Training Needs 78 Connecting Training and Standards 79 Fixing Processes/Standards (If Required) 80 Delivering Your Own Training 80

Prepare with Good Materials 80 Delivering Training 81 Recycling Training for Maximum Effect 83 Hiring and Testing Staff 84

Avoiding Bad Hires 85 Prioritizing the Candidates 87 Selling the Value 88 Diagnosing Existing User Skills 88

Encouraging Self Study 89

Making the Most of Your Power Users 90

Creating Junior CAD Managers 92

Handling Renegade Users 93

Summary 96

Chapter 6 Managing Software (and Change) 97 Changing Methods 98

Understanding Software Licensing 99

It’s Not Really Your Software 99 It’s Really a Lease 100 Licensing Limitations 101 Purchasing Software 102

Informing Management 105 Performing Upgrades 105

Understanding the True Cost 105 Computing the Benefits 106 Making the Decision 107 Upgrade Barriers 108 Training Notes 109 Closing Thoughts 109 Easing the Transition 110

Juggling It All 111 Analyzing 3D Migration 111

16531ftoc.qxd 3/19/07 1:35 PM Page xi

Summary 120

Chapter 7 Understanding Financial Processes 121 Budgeting 122

Managing Perception 122 Gathering Data 123 Changing Parameters 123 Using a Disciplined Approach 125 The Faster/Cheaper Paradigm 127

Examining Old Projects 127 Faster or Cheaper, or (We Hope) Both 128 Faster/Cheaper Data 129 Thinking Like Management 130 Finding the Faster/Cheaper 131 Planning for the Future (via the Past) 132 Faster/Cheaper Internet 132

The Possibilities 133 Using ROI Metrics 134

Defining ROI 134 Computing a Quick Example 135 Drawing Conclusions 137 Putting ROI to Use 138 Performing Bottleneck Analyses 138

Building Your Own Case 140 Bottlenecking Conclusions 140 Chapter 8 Building a Long-Term Plan 141 Capturing Good Ideas 143

Prioritizing Ideas on a Cost Basis 145

Prioritizing Ideas on a Complexity Basis 146

Prioritizing Ideas on a Cost-Savings Basis 147

Documenting Your Processes 148

Plan the Work, Work the Plan 150

Sequencing Your Approach 151

Writing an ROI-Focused Summary of Your Plan 153

Selling Users 154

If You Can’t Sell It, Watch Out 155 Implementing Your Plan One Step at a Time 156