Expert CAD Management The Complete Guide phần 3 ppt

effec-Manage: Not Manipulate By managing your management, I mean that you should know what you need to do,what results your management wants from you, and how to work that relationship i

Figure 3.1 No matter what you do, you can’t succeed without management Management serves as the filter through which all

resources you require must flow

Here are some universal truths about senior management that CAD managersseem to miss given the day-to-day technical environment they operate in:

Therefore, it should be obvious that if you don’t have a positive working tionship with your management, it’s going to be much more difficult to do your job

rela-In this chapter, I’ll pass along some techniques you can use to communicate more tively with your management and thus manage the relationship to your advantage

effec-Manage: Not Manipulate

By managing your management, I mean that you should know what you need to do,what results your management wants from you, and how to work that relationship in

a positive manner Communication is the key to managing your management staff andtheir expectations

In this chapter, I’ll introduce some methodologies you can use to identify whatmanagement expects from you and how to manage that relationship in the most con-structive and cost-effective manner possible Another advantage to you is that the moreyou manage your management staff, the less they have to manage you, and the morefreedom you’ll have

Budgets

Task Completed

Management Involvement

- via Budget Approval

- via Delegated Authority

- via Political Support

Your Tasks

Enabler

Results Training

Procurement

Processes

Efficiency

Debunking the Myths

I’ve spoken with many senior managers over the years, and I’ve discovered that many

of them believe certain myths about CAD managers Let me address those myths and

give you some strategies for debunking them

First, it’s worth pointing out that when management has a perception of you, it’simmaterial whether you agree with that perception or not If the perception is erroneous,

you must confront it and demonstrate that it isn’t true The easiest way to do that with

senior management is to communicate frequently in a purposeful manner that debunks

the myth that senior management has brought into the relationship

Many senior managers don’t know all the duties that the CAD managementposition entails (technical, managerial, process management, software and hardware

administration) If management doesn’t realize the scope of your job responsibilities,

they probably have some misconceptions about CAD managers Let’s consider some

of these common misconceptions and discuss strategies for getting rid of them:

Myth #1: CAD managers are technical people who don’t understand anything about

management Many times, senior management sees you dealing with complex technical

issues like installing software or debugging machines Chances are, the only time they

see you in action is when you’re working on a machine or leading a user through a

complex technical problem It’s easy to see how they get the idea that you’re exclusively

focused on technical aspects of the work: That’s what they see you doing

To dispel this myth, it’s crucial that management sees you performing managerialtasks They probably won’t see you working on a budget or talking to the IT staff

about future hardware or software plans Therefore, written communication via a

reporting mechanism to senior management is crucial Over the years, I’ve used a

sim-ple reporting format whereby I tell my management what I’ve done during the previous

week and what I hope to accomplish during the next week If your management reads

this brief report, they will see the wide variety of tasks that you have to deal with, and

they will gain a new perspective of and respect for the job you do They’ll also see that

not everything you do is technical This will go a long way toward debunking that

technical-only myth that I mentioned For more information about this reporting

for-mat, see the section “Reporting to Your Management,” later in this chapter

Myth #2: CAD managers are expensive; they’re always asking for high-end software

and hardware The first key to debunking this myth is to admit that it’s partially true.

Your software is more expensive than general office tools, and your hardware is more

expensive than the $399 loss-leader special from the large computer discounters But

the reason your hardware and software is more expensive isn’t because you have

gold-plated tastes: It’s because your software is more complex and requires more hardware

to run To debunk this myth, you have to educate management about the complex

higher-Every time you ask upper management for something, be it a new piece of ware or hardware, make sure you justify the cost of that object with some sort of pro-ductivity offset Don’t just ask for the new version of CAD software; say why you need

soft-it and what productivsoft-ity gain you’ll be able to achieve wsoft-ith soft-it Back up your sions and justifications with numbers By showing your management staff that it costsmoney to make money—or, more specifically, that it may cost money in the short term

conclu-to derive long-term productivity gains—you won’t be seen as asking for expensivetools; you’ll be seen as providing new capabilities Believe me, management under-stands how to look at long-term investments to get long-term gain The key is thatCAD managers need to stop being viewed as employees who always ask for newtoys and to start being viewed instead as achievers who are taking a proactiveapproach toward driving productivity improvement

Myth #3: CAD managers can’t see the big picture In Chapter 2, I discussed in detail

how and why you should address this issue by taking stock of your current situation.Specifically, in the “Process and Standards Analysis” section, I urged you to examineyour company’s overall work processes and the methodologies and standards you’reusing to achieve your work product This automatically focuses you on examining howthings are getting done rather than what is getting done Many of us function in a day-to-day environment where we’re so engrossed in solving our department’s or CADusers’ technical problems that we only worry about what’s getting done on any givenday Rather than thinking about the overall process, we get bogged down in minutia,and this feeds into Myth #3

To combat this myth, I propose you do the following:

• Draw other people into discussions of the process(es)

your reporting to, and conversations with, senior management

If you do these things, management will start to see beyond the myths and ognize the bigger picture of the CAD manager’s job It’s difficult I personally had trou-ble starting to delegate and looking at how other people worked And yes, it was hard

rec-at first to get away from the technical details and see the bigger picture But I was able

to make the change relatively quickly once I made a conscious effort to do so If youtake the time to focus on the bigger picture and look at work processes and how thingsare getting done, management will notice

Figure 3.2 Management’s perception of you controls how they treat you.When management’s

perception is based on myth versus reality, you’ll find it difficult to achieve anything

No, you won’t debunk Myth #3 overnight But it will happen over time if youcontinue to make these types of changes and look at the bigger picture I’ve found that

when they start paying attention to their companies’ bigger-picture issues, most CAD

managers can make a radical change in management’s perception within six months to

a year

No matter what you attempt to achieve in your job, you have to break throughthe common myths your management holds about CAD managers Use the guide-

lines I’ve outlined to take inventory of the myths your management has about CAD

managers and take the time to debunk them Once you’ve shattered management’s

improper perceptions, you’ll get more done and enjoy more respect from your

management

Why Management Is out of the Technology Loop

I frequently speak to groups of CAD managers, and I ask them this question: “Howmany of you feel that your management has no idea what you do for a living?” Thisquestion is usually greeted with mild laughter and a show of hands typically represent-ing 70–80 percent of the room This tells me that CAD managers are generally frus-trated that their senior management doesn’t understand the technology challenges theyface day-in and day-out Or, simply put, management doesn’t understand how hardyour job is Many times, CAD managers feel under-appreciated and not understood

I often respond to the audience by asking, “Do you think it’s good that yourmanagement doesn’t understand what you do?” Interestingly, most people say no Theyexpect management to have more understanding of what they’re doing as CAD man-agers But here is where I tend to buck convention I think it’s great that upper manage-ment doesn’t know what we’re doing technically: I think they’re out of the loop for areason They’re out of the technology loop because they hired us to handle that loop.Between CAD managers and IT management, upper management expects us to handlethe technological challenges on a daily basis They hired us to take care of it, so whyshould they have to understand it? When you think about it that way, it’s a good thingthat management doesn’t understand everything you do

I believe management is the art of dealing with problems Take a moment tothink about that statement and appreciate how true it is If your management staffdoesn’t understand what you do, then they don’t need to If you’re managing yourtasks and responsibilities effectively, they don’t need to understand everything you do

I also believe the reverse is true: When your management does understand everything

you do, that indicates there are problems If management feels that you’re not ing effectively, they’ll begin micromanaging you or somebody within the managementranks will start keeping a close eye on you So, if your management staff doesn’t seem

manag-to understand what you do, they’re most likely not concerned and are giving you thefreedom to move forward and do your job—and that’s a blessing You should celebraterather than be upset

Meeting Company Needs—Not User Wants

One basic thing you need to understand about your management staff is that they havetheir eye on what’s useful for the entire company They aren’t predisposed to thinking

process of CAD management to you If they don’t understand what you do, it’s because they don’t need to!

about what the average CAD user in their company wants They’re not thinking about the

latest technology tool that may make your job easier or about the latest server that may

make the network run faster Instead, they’re thinking about global business objectives like

how to sell more work, how to get more productivity per person, and other issues They’re

thinking on a higher business plane than we typically are as CAD managers

What’s important isn’t whether you agree or disagree with that concept butrather that you accept it, deal with it, and manage your relationship with management

accordingly You need to determine management’s expectations for you

In Chapter 1, I talked about management’s perspective I outlined the idea ofmanagerial principles overriding and sometimes being at odds with what CAD users

want If there are occasions when user needs and user wants come in direct conflict

with management needs or wants, we all know that management has to win The

rea-son is simple: Management funds your budget requests, and they’re the only people

who can enable you and empower you to do your job

Therefore, as CAD manager, you need to place an emphasis on understandingmanagement’s needs and put those company needs above everything else I would argue

that a truly effective CAD manager does the following:

Figure 3.3 Management’s perceptions of what the company needs represent the critical path of the CAD manager User wants are

represented as a block in parallel with company needs.You can work to accommodate user wants as much as possible, but never

to the detriment of meeting critical path needs

If you can find a common denominator by which facilitating CAD users’ wantsand needs meets a management need or objective, then you’ve won on both counts

Communicate this with your management Make this an ongoing dialogue, and discuss

Task Assigned

Critical Path

User Wants

Perform Design

Document Design

Deliver to Client

it as frequently as you can The key component is that through your reports and

con-versations with your management staff, you demonstrate to them continually that you

understand your job, which is to facilitate the overall productivity and functionality

of your company, and that this is the foremost goal in your mind If you communicatethat on a regular basis, you’ll establish a much better relationship with senior manage-ment and be seen as a more competent, task-oriented manager

Explaining Standards to Management

The conversation starts innocently enough: Management asks you to explain why youneed CAD standards To explain a little about what CAD standards are, you launchinto a discussion that includes any number of technical criteria for CAD standards such

as layers, colors, fonts, dimensional standards, sheet set-ups, and so on In reality, agement wants to know not so much what CAD standards are but why they’re neces-sary What good are CAD standards for the company? Why should you expend effort

man-to manage CAD standards? Why should you worry about whether CAD users are utilizing CAD standards? These are all good questions from an upper-managementstandpoint

The problem typically is that CAD managers are stuck in the technical whileupper management is thinking about process This fundamental breakdown in commu-nication generates problems for the CAD manager To remedy this situation, I recom-mend explaining to management exactly why CAD standards make sense Here aresome tips for communicating the importance of standards to management:

Having standards allows the company to stay consistent When work is consistent,

outcomes become more predictable, less fraught with error, and easier to manage

When procedures are consistent, they can be automated And when procedures are

automated via programming or customization, they become faster and smoother, thecompany gets more work done with the same number of people, error rates drop, andproductivity generally goes up This is the point in the discussion at which you shouldhave your management’s full attention This is where you get on their radar screen andkeep going

Once procedures are automated, you can revisit the automation to fine-tuneand improve CAD processes even more Here’s an example: After automating the cre-ation of correct layers, colors, linetypes, and fonts, you could expand your automation

to set up drawing sheets or plotting assistance, because these functions depend on ing correct layers and colors in the first place

hav-Once you’ve automated standard processes and procedures, you’ll realize thefull productivity benefit of getting more work done with the same number of people,thus achieving lower unit costs for every job you do When you’ve made this point,

management should fully understand what standards mean to the company: more

pro-ductivity They mean getting more done with the same number of people—and getting

more done with no more staff will always be popular with management

As I’ve tried to emphasize throughout this book, by approaching managementfrom a more process-driven viewpoint, by talking less about technical details and more

about productivity, you’ll get management’s attention They, in turn, will give you the

authority to make the changes in CAD standards that you need, because they

under-stand the benefit of doing so

It’s also sometimes useful to have a discussion with management and explainsome of the problems and inconsistencies that have popped up because you haven’t had

CAD standards These may include jobs that required excessive CAD hours because

plotting wasn’t automated, or contract suppliers or vendors that provided CAD in a

Figure 3.4 Think of CAD standards as a

transmission that allows the efficient flow

of CAD energy Like the gears pictured here,each portion of the CAD standards environ-ment (consistency, automation, and betterprocesses) links to those before it and after

it to achieve optimal productivity

conversa-Managing Management’s Expectations

As I discussed in Chapter 1, management has a perception of what you do on a dailybasis Management’s expectations of you are largely colored by how difficult they per-ceive your job to be If they believe you have a relatively small number of tasks onyour plate, they’re going to think your job is easy, and they’re going to expect you to

do more On the other hand, if they understand the complexities of what you’re trying

to accomplish—if, as I outlined in Chapter 1, you articulate the real tasks associatedwith each perceived task in your job—then management will come to understand what

a multifaceted and complex job CAD management is and will have more realisticexpectations

A big part of dealing with management is showing them what’s involved andwhat you have to do every day By doing this, you manage their expectations And bymanaging their expectations, you ensure that you’re both on the same page You won’tfeel overworked, and management won’t feel like you’re under-performing This is why

I continue to emphasize that you should develop a task list, as detailed in Chapter 1,and re-evaluate that task list on an ongoing basis

Don’t be afraid to adjust the real tasks associated with your job on a quarterlybasis, or as often as needed Be sure you go back and communicate the changes toyour management staff Telling them what you’re doing, what you’re up against, andwhat you have to deal with daily is the only way to ensure that management’s expecta-tions of you are realistic Remember to focus on tasks and goals rather than technicalminutia so that you get your message across clearly

The burden of communication is on you, the CAD manager By communicatingeffectively, you’ll set management’s expectations realistically If you don’t tell them,they can’t know, can they?

Reporting to Your Management

Communicating with your supervisor isn’t easy Any number of barriers to good munication exist, including scheduling conflicts and travel or other obligations thattake you out of the office, to name a few But regular communication—ideally

com-in person—is crucial, and a good CAD manager must establish a reportcom-ing processand stick with it After all, senior managers won’t know what you’re doing unlessyou tell them

Figure 3.5 Reporting your progress represents the final step of perception management because it’s the only formal

communica-tion in the process.Without efficient reporting, management doesn’t know what a great job you’re doing for them

Here are some reporting techniques I’ve found very valuable over the years,many of which I still follow today:

Create a weekly report This weekly report is a quick read, typically no more than one

page in a word-processing document or e-mail message This report allows you to

accomplish two things First, you delineate what you’ve done in the past week (this

reporting interval) so that management knows what you’ve achieved Second, you state

what you hope to achieve in the following week (your next reporting interval) so that

management has a look ahead at what you’ll be working on The following week, you

build on the first report to relay what you accomplished, and you project one more

week into the future

As you get going, you prepare a nice checklist for yourself so you stay on task

By looking at what you hope to accomplish next week, you’ll automatically be more

focused on working on the right tasks That way, you can report in your next

commu-nication to management that you achieved most of your objectives

What’s important here is that you’re providing a quick status update, easy toread, in an executive summary format, so your boss can see what you’re doing within

three to four minutes and tell whether you’re on track This opens all sorts of

commu-nications Of course, if you can have a personal conversation with your management to

follow up this report, that’s optimal But if you can’t, having the information in writing

ensures that management gets the message

Follow-up your weekly report with brief conversations These don’t have to be rigid

scheduled or long-term meetings with management They can be quick conversations

at the coffee pot, on the way out to the car at lunch, or whenever you have a chance tospend three or four minutes with your manager I find this method of communication

to be more effective than formal meetings By being conversational, you’ll tend to bemore natural, you’ll focus on how you’re doing and what you’ve worked on, and you’ll

be able to convey a sense of calm and accomplishment rather than feeling you’re onguard while being cross-examined in a formal meeting

Remember, the key is communication At these quick meetings that follow yourwritten report, management will have in mind the questions they want to ask you, andyou’ll have ready answers This means your communication will be effective and yourmanagement will appreciate how on-task, focused, and respectful of their time you’rebeing I really believe this method of reporting and communicating with your manage-ment is more effective than any other approach

Why Reporting Matters so Much

To close this topic, I’ll point out that communication with management serves two mary functions The first is to make sure that management understands what you’redoing and how you’re working to meet your job objectives That’s great But the sec-ond thing you’re doing is communicating the value of CAD management

pri-By reporting, you show your senior managers that you’re on top of the details,that you understand how to apply technology to their specific work environment, and that you’re providing a unique value to the company Remember, managementdoesn’t know how to manage CAD That’s why they hired you You’re the only onewho can articulate what value you add to the organization When you report to yourmanagement teams, you convey what you’ve accomplished, but you also sell yourselfand your value If you don’t toot your own horn a little, nobody will

Avoiding the Technology vs Management Trap via Clear Communication

The worst scenario I see CAD managers getting into is fixating on technical details, not communicating with their management staff, and therefore not addressing manage-ment’s expectations This is why I’ve gone out of my way in this chapter to explain toyou how to manage your management staff’s expectations and how to report to them.When you talk to senior managers, remember that you understand far more ofthe technical details than they do, so the burden is on you to de-emphasize the techni-cality of your message Use the following communication techniques to keep the con-versation on track:

Make it all easy to understand Format all your reporting and conversations with

man-agement in such a way that they understand what you’re trying to accomplish rather

than how you’re doing so Remember, it’s not important that management understand

the technical details of everything you do What is important is that they know what

you’re trying to accomplish and why

Keep the communication channels open When you can talk to management, it’s a lot

easier to resolve problems, because you can work through things conversationally If

you communicate clearly and often, management won’t be surprised by unexpected

issues and can therefore work with you casually rather than in crisis mode

Don’t be afraid to ask for advice If you have an open dialogue with management, it’s

easy to ask for advice if you’re ever puzzled by an issue And because you’ve already

communicated so much information to management, you never look stupid asking a

defining question My experience has been that no management staff expects you to

know everything, and most management staffs want you to succeed If you find yourself

needing help to balance technical and managerial aspects of a challenge you face—ask!

It’s All About Balance

When the CAD manager communicates with management in a goal-oriented,

non-techno-babble manner, both sides benefit When management and the CAD manager

are in sync, there are fewer misconceptions on both sides

If you strive to achieve a balance between the technical and managerial aspects

of your CAD management job, you’ll find that technology and management can

co-exist nicely You may enjoy it once you get the hang of it

There’s an analogous situation in CAD that has

to do with CAD standards: You can’t allow all your users to sit down and draw however they’d like to, using whatever CAD system they’d like

to, without any sort of operational standards or guides If you let everyone proceed in the direc- tion they wanted to, you’d have anarchy, and your information would never be in any sort of standard format Of course, companies want to manage consistent information, and they want

to know that they can interchange or share data among different offices or with vendors or clients with some degree of certainty that the informa- tion can be shared efficiently This is where CAD standards come in.

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Every CAD manager should expect to deal with CAD standards at some point intheir career Dealing with CAD standards effectively requires a multipronged approach.Think about how CAD standards will be formulated, how they’ll work within yourenvironment, how to enforce them, and how to make them as easy as possible to usefor all your users If a standard is easy to follow, chances are people will follow it.

In this chapter, we’ll examine various viewpoints on the CAD standards issueand see how you can deal with standards most effectively in a way that makes themost sense for users and for you

Formulating and Writing Standards

Many CAD managers find themselves in the position of being responsible for authoringand creating CAD standards, but they receive little guidance about how to do that Totackle the job of writing CAD standards, focus on what good CAD standards are andhow to communicate information most effectively, as opposed to following an equation

Figure 4.1 To avoid user confusion and wasted effort, standards are required.Therefore, crafting a solid CAD standard document

becomes a key CAD management task