Welcome to the New World…

It’s been way too long…but nowadays it’s tough to really find time to sit down and put thoughts to paper. Work/life items have their own balance that take precedence, and it’s easy to let time slip you by. But it’s been a journey I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.

Ironic as it is, I just received my first promotion based on performance in the engineering world. Most of the time, it was a case of just taking on more responsibility or changing jobs to get ahead. That’s the nature of the technical world, which unfortunately means the design world never has really figured out how to retain and keep good people. But this time around, I was sticking around for a lot of good reasons – not as much financial as wanting to see things through. It was one of the reasons why I left the reseller channel, which is even worse at recognizing and rewarding talent. Getting to see a project completed and in use is still a real kick to me – good or bad, no matter what happens, it’s one of the best things to be able to say, I had a hand in making that happen.

So, my new role is Engineering Technology Manager – and we’re still really working out what that means, but in this role,  we’re making two important changes. First was the practice of embedding technical representation on our business line practice leadership teams, and second was to regionalize these positions to help us focus on the needs of the area, rather than spending a lot of time crossing the country. We’ll still be doing everything we did before, but the focus really helps, as we can now more specifically target the technical needs of the people that do amazing work for us. The tools, as they are, should not hamstring the teams, or at best help them radically change their workflows so we can get back to the right work/life balance. It gets frustrating to watch team members working substantial overtime, or never be able to leave for vacation without taking the apron strings off.

Left to Right: Richard Binning, Eric Blackburn and Mike Massey at Guardsman Pass, UT

Over the past week, I’ve gotten to spend some amazing time with BIM managers and directors from across the country to help define what it means to be a BIM manager…or whatever the role name is, but a leader for technological change. It was really fascinating to hear all of the different ideas from people who have had this role for some time, and to really try to understand how to quantify this position. As an industry, we’ve really had a backwards view of the impact of technology. It’s akin to giving someone a hammer, who then promptly uses the handle to pound in the nail – and then have them refuse to see why what they’re doing isn’t what that part of the tool is designed for.

Throw in a nail gun – but it’s useless if you don’t understand all of the coincidental parts to make it work. Without a compressor, or a hose long enough so you’re not moving it around all day, and don’t forget the electricity, nails, and Band-Aids for when you miss). I’ve been doing some carpentry work in the house trying to get it ready to sell, so we can move to the coast and get more out of the life we seem to be stuck in today. That nail gun is a hell of a lot better hammer that my old one, and I’m getting more done with than I ever did by muscling it the old way.

This is where BIM technology is today – and the rate of adoption and adaption is accelerating at a higher rate than even just a couple of decades ago. Reviewing a project on my phone seemed like a pipe dream when CAD came out, but now a millennial expects you to provide the phone, the software and the latte’s to help them work faster in fewer hours per day.

So, my first steps are going to be step back and take inventory of what we have and do – and figure out where the gaps are. Who’s still on AutoCAD 14…who’s using their phone to do a three-way Skype call and share a project on the phone so I can help them figure out what’s happening with design options. Who’s told their users that you don’t have time for training…and who’s taking the software and laptop home at night so they can get better at their job. Too often, we spend way too much time bemoaning between the haves and have nots, and not enough time figuring out how to lift all up, instead of tearing some down. I’m a firm believer in the former – that you don’t get anywhere by taking things away from people, but instead putting the time and tools into those that don’t so they can get ahead. The only ones I’m less likely to help are the ones that won’t instead of the ones who can’t for whatever the reason.

One of the big takeaways I had from the meeting last week was in regard to identify roles and responsibilities for a typical BIM Manager. As we mind-mapped the daylights out of the tasks, we (led by my buddy Mike Massey who deserves the credit for this) came up with four key categories that address these tasks, that all add up to PIE2:

• Planning and Research – this category relates to the preparation a BIM manager needs to be doing to help move and keep a company in the right mindset for BIM workflows:
• Implementation – setting up all of the background tools, tasks, documentation, standards and more that sits behind what BIM applications and workflows need;
• Education – stepping back and looking at technical training from a different light, and being able to take the best of what we’ve learned about education delivery methods and integrating them into today’s technology to provide a better learning experience;
• Execution – no, we’re not shooting people, but we are shooting for PAC – better productivity, more accuracy and improved coordination. The BIM manager has to understand how to execute everything in the previous categories and apply to the new project world. How to run more efficiently from go/no-go, project execution plans, design phases and post design tasks in all disciplines, a variety of project types and with a wide variety of user abilities and tools…a witches brew indeed.

So, taking a step back and looking at the big picture – what does it take to make a good BIM Manager? Patience? Virtue? Irreproachable technical expertise? An affinity for the keyboard and mouse that can’t be explained? A certain level of insanity for taking all of this on?

As I’m staring down the R word in my somewhat near future, I’m really appreciating the confidence from my leaders to challenge me more and take on this role to help solve these issues. There’s going to be days when I want to pull all eight hairs left on my head out, and others when I’ll feel like a proud dad when I see the lightbulb go on for someone who’s struggled. Wouldn’t you?

Are You a Bag...or a Box?

Life has an interesting way of throwing you curves…and an occasional epiphany. This past weekend, as families go, we had a dust up about a family event. Too many things were happening at once – a call should have been made, feelings were hurt, voices were raised. That’s usually when things don’t end well. After having a long and sometime contentious talk with my nephew, I had to force myself to sit back and listen, putting my own emotions on the back burner.

As he spun on about how his life was structured, and went into great analytical detail about how I was wrong, I tried to make sense of why this was so difficult for the rest of my family. And as usual, at 5:00am, waking up out of a deep sleep (and great dream, I might add), it hit me. He’s a box.

And that’s when my understanding opened up. For all the people I have to interact with, both professionally and personally, you can really sum up lifestyles into two groups. You’re either a bag, or a box. Each one has its own quirks, rules, behaviors and more. For example, my nephew is definitely a box. He’s defined by his daily life, which is carefully organized, and fits into a nice, neat little box. Every action he takes is planned out in great detail…even down to his “social” time which is carefully allotted to permit interactions with family and friends within the constraints of well documented studies (I swear, he really said that to me). If an interaction is not suitable given the parameters, he simply replaces that event with another box.

And here I am…a wadded up piece of paper. I don’t necessarily fit into this nice orderly system, so he’s immediately ready to begin reworking me into a shape that fits his box. You see, I’m a bag…more specifically, a 55 gallon, plastic, draw string bag…stuffed to gills with all kinds of interactions, tasks, relationships and more. While details are important, I’m not as prone to being upset when something doesn’t fit into a box.

Want to out to dinner? Text me that morning…if I’m open, let’s go. Need help with a cranky BIM model at work? I can sit aside what I’m doing at that moment, jump onto webex, and try to help solve the problem…and go right back to the wadded up piece of paper I was working on before.

Don’t get me wrong – none of this means that you can’t have good, meaningful interactions between the two types. You just have to understand the ground rules, parameters and functions for dealing with each type. For example, my sister was very upset that I waited until the last minute to let her know if dinner was still on. But for the previous week, I was dealing with the loss of a close family friend, and my emotional mind was wrapped up in dealing with both my grief and the family’s pain.

The solutions were vast and simple. I should have called, or emailed, and let them know earlier, but didn’t. They knew what was going on, and should have called, or emailed, and taken the steps to reach out and make contact. And that’s the real gist of this. If you’re dealing with a box type, you have to respect the fact that not following their structure, their rules, does cause them discomfort and pain…no matter how much it seems cold to the bag type, because you’re the source of the discomfort.

And while most box types are analytical, you have to take into account the emotional aspect of the bag types. Our relationships are much more personal and fluid, so priorities can easily get hosed up, so focusing on your own discomfort, and not reaching out on your own, also causes great angst.

One important note – it’s not that box types can’t be spontaneous and loving. With the confines of their lifestyle, they can have many bag characteristics. But it also doesn’t mean that a bag type can’t be organized or committed – in some cases, those passions run deep and are needed to keep the bag from overflowing. It’s all a case of taking the time to understand these characteristics, respecting them and learning how to deal with them. Bags will have a tendency to associate and have strong relationships with other bag types, while boxes will do the same. It’s when the two try to interact, is when the problems occur – but can be easily overcome.

So how does this fit into a technical blog? The more I thought about this, the more it made sense to me why some users pick up software packages like Revit and AutoCAD MEP more easily than others. Both of these programs are boxes for sure – they require an organized approach, with steps taken in a specific order, and with subsequent tasks being impacted by the quality of each step before. But plain AutoCAD is more like a bag. You can throw a bunch of lines in, set them to any layer, color, linetype, and size you want, and then wait until the last minute to clean it all up.

When training your staff, it’s important to learn which traits the user has. I’ve got one user, extremely intelligent, and very Sheldon Cooper like. His work has to be approached in a very analytical manner, so you can’t just explain how – you have to do step by steps, and explain why, and how it fits into his design process. And as a bag, boy, does that take patience for me. I’ll explain it, think I did a great job, and find out I’m explaining the same thing several more times, as he sorts it all out and gets the concepts organized in his box.

Then I have younger users, the Xbox generation, generation Z…you get the drift. They already have the comfort zone and lack of cautiousness when it comes to working with today’s technology. Sometimes the questions come out in random order, and don’t fit into a nice neat little box. So you’ve got to be able to reach in the bag, find the answer quickly, and send them on their way. They can get by with an outline of the process and then pick up the pieces as the go along, so full day training can be wasted on them.

What makes this all work, is that you have to want to be in that relationship. You have to be motivated, on your own, and be willing to understand the differences between them. This can’t be forced – because all it does is cause pain, and makes the walls go up – quickly. So whether you’re dealing with a mad sister, or a user that can’t seem to move forward, take the time to step back, and understand their own lifestyle and habits. It’ll make it much easier to know this, and how you’re supposed to respect and honor your friends, family and co-workers. And it’s important to understand who you are, and where you fit into this. Your reactions could mean the difference between a valuable relationship, or a lost opportunity.

So what are you – a bag or a box?

AU 2014 is in the Can…Miscellaneous Thoughts…

Had a great time catching up with everyone, and meeting new people this year. Autodesk University (@autodesku) continues to grow and add value to the attendees, and it’s the best run event I attend every year. This was actually a light year from me from a teaching standpoint, but the feature class on Managing BIM Projects without Going CrAzY was a blast to teach this time. Even with a couple of minor technical hiccups on my part, the online portion seemed to go off without a hitch (with all 6 users watching…grin). It gives me good vibes about the Virtual events for the future, and I think these can easily be expanded…provided the conference location can handle the bandwidth. That was the only real hiccup this year – with so many online applications, and users pinging the AU app like mad, we did bring the whole network down at least once.

A couple of observations – the crowd varies from year to year, and while last year’s event seemed to have more entry level users, there was definitely a more forward thinking and sophisticated user mindset at this event. And Autodesk leaders, including CEO Carl Bass, and CTO Jeff Kowalski, played to the future visions of the users pretty well in the opening keynote.

One item that made me think a little harder was a comment made by Jeff, about how, at some point, our creations need to learn how to work more naturally (is that right?) towards each other, instead of being “dead” creations that symbolize a static point in time. He made his point by talking about how he wants his clothes washer to communicate with the dryer, and know when the wash is finished, so the dryer can pick up the task from there.

It’s a great idea to have this type of vision moving forward, but here’s where the “but” comes in. We, the users, can’t help Autodesk move this vision forward if they can’t get their current products to communicate, much less coordinate, with each other now. There’s a million examples, but the discussion came up in an Expert Elite luncheon on Thursday. One of the users asked Jeff when he could expect to see the same passion for the civil products that he was demonstrating in his explanation about 3D printing, and how computers can handle the tasks of designing structures and parts best.

At that point, I attempted to rephrase the question, by stating that you can’t get to appliances talking to each other if you can’t accomplish the goal of having a Revit pipe recognize and connect to a Civil 3D pipe on their own now. That’s where the technology is now, but it’s doesn’t work in the Autodesk product line.

Part of the problem is the wide variety of solutions Autodesk offers, and the fact that the different divisions within the company now, such as buildings, infrastructure, manufacturing, etc. are still very “silo” based. Here’s a simple example: Right now, in AutoCAD MEP, if you want to associate information from a light fixture to be associated with a space object, you simply add an anchor object. This creates the relationship between the parts, and allows you to link shared information between the parts.

In Revit, mechanical equipment can only recognize limited data that’s embedded into the programming – for example, the circuit name and number is automatically associated with the equipment, but that’s it. You can’t easily tie other electrical data – such as the section number that associated with an electrical circuit for a motor control center – back to the equipment. Other examples include horsepower, circuit ampacity or wiring in an associated conduit that’s connected to the equipment.

It’s not that Autodesk can’t develop, or even have that kind of programming available. It’s the fact that it’s not there is where the problem exists. And with the new Dynamo programming language available, we’re still a long ways off from having the tools we need to get to this level of optimization – whether it’s Autodesk, third party developers, or our own in-house personnel developing the code.

Almost every company I’ve worked for – including ours – still struggles with overcoming these silos, and being able to address the needs of their partners in design without having to take a lot of extra steps. But the fact that Autodesk recognizes the fact that these interconnecting relationships are key to their future is important. It’s just a matter of the company’s leadership to develop and push these goals back to the development teams.

And it’s not for want – Jeff’s key comment back to the crowd was that he was simply a visionist, who was on our side and pushed the same ideas back. At some point, you have to get the roadblocks out of the way, and get the communication and goals directly tied to each other – and develop the features in the products we need day in and day out, at the based product line level.

A360, BIM 360, Field 360, Simulation 360, and other cloud based products represent the cloud-based tools to help make the more complex communications possible. But Autodesk should not get too involved in the development of these present and future applications at the expense of their core product line.

In other words – don’t look past the sliding glass door so far that you break your nose trying to get out of it.

Back to AU – it was one of the best events I’ve been to with Autodesk in a while, and the opportunity to meet Carl and Jeff was definitely a high point (sorry, guys, if I drooled on your foot). But it was just as important to me to meet the people that came into my classes, and participated in the topics that I’m passionate about. It was great share that passion, and hopefully I could help them overcome some of their fears, discover relevance, and change their methods to get the message out (thank you, Mike Lee for those words and ideas – be the change!).

Next year – super excited about being back at the Venetian and Sands Convention Center, my favorite venue. The crowds will be large, and the people motivated – let’s see how far we can get in the next 50 weeks…

Merry Christmas!

David B.

I'm all a-Twitter...#gfBIM

Trying out a tweet chat today from 11:00am-12:00pm EST on Twitter, (www.twitter.com) where you can ask questions about how we're integrating BIM into our water resource, process and transportation projects. Sign in today, send your message with #gfbim in the message body, and keep it clean - under 140 characters, that is...and my handle is @dabutts7 in case you want to send me a direct message, or follow along. I'll be happy to return the favor for all the BIM folks!

Join us for the fun!

Thanks - David B.

Want to find out more about BIM? Tweet with us!

Now this is a first for me...doing a live Tweetchat! Next Wednesday, 11/13/2013 from 11:00am-12:00noon, I'll be live on Twitter (www.twitter.com), answering any questions you might have about leveraging BIM in our designs. While we'll mainly be talking about how to integrate tools like Revit into your process and water resource jobs as we've done at Gannett Fleming, the floor is open for any BIM related questions.

Just send a message to #gfbim, or to my handle, @dabutts7, and we'll help you out!

So join us next week, and tweet away!

later - David B.

Let’s Get Ready to RUMBLE…Autodesk versus Bentley in the 21st Century…Part One…

Man, if you have told me 5 years ago I’d be in this spot, I would have said why the heck wasn’t I there two years earlier…I’m loving working at Gannett Fleming, mainly due to the great work environment and attitude of the employees. And it’s given me a chance to step back and take a look at the whole big picture of where we are in the design world right now. There are some parts that make me just go “wow” and other parts that make me go “c’mon…”. And that’s what my next series of articles will be about.

You all know I’m an Autodesk guy. We’re family, no matter how dysfunctional it may be. I grew up with them, and they’ve made my career…so you know what camp I’m in. But out in the real world, I’m faced with different priorities – with number one being to make sure I take care of my team, no matter what the circumstances are.

Enter the Bentley…we do a lot of work with government agencies, and as most of you know, they’ve had a long standing relationship with the brothers from PA. We have several projects where BIM has become a topic, but because they’re bound like Siamese twins to Microstation products, we had to make a decision – take the work on that platform or leave it. It ain’t smart to turn down opportunities like this, so you know what we’re doing. And besides – we’re already good at the design part, so I’ve been psyching myself up by saying it’s just a tool, and we can do anything we set our minds to. One saving grace is that most agencies that are not tied to GSA are just now figuring this out, so it looks like we're all going down together...or up, depending on the outcome.

So last month, I did the unthinkable – I went to the Bentley LEARN Conference, which was an experience for me...going to the "dark side". On a comparative scale, you can tell who owns the market by looking at the annual conferences. I had classes where there were only 5-10 people on the buildings and electrical side, with the most in one class being about 30. I’ve had bad classes at AU that had double that number, and that still doesn’t come close to the body counts we pile up in Vegas every year.

One thing I noticed right off the bat – Bentley users are every bit as loyal as Autodesk users…actually more like Ron Paul supporters (if you’re not into politics, you may not get that joke). My other observation about Bentley – please forgive me for this – is that they’re more like the hot Brazilian model that has multiple personality disorder. They’ve got some sexy stuff going on, but can’t decide who they want to be. But I was also really surprised to see familiar faces from the Autodesk world. Apparently, we’re not the only ones having to learn how to live in both worlds and get the most out of them...go figure...

And here’s my equal time for Autodesk. Yes, we’re family. And like the drunk on Saturday night hanging out with his pals, you know I’m going to be the one to say “I really love you guys…” before passing out on the floor. But like family, you got your own issues with identity…and I’m blaming the short attention span, app-based world we live in for doing that. You’ve gotten away from taking care of the core, and are playing around with these hot little numbers like Force Effect, Flame and Photofly. I know I’m the old spouse that will always be there when you get done with your infatuation, but come Monday, you’d better be ready to get back to work.

For this post, I’m going to keep my observations down to a couple of generic points, mainly about the user experience. Autodesk wins this hands down, but it doesn’t mean I totally dislike what Bentley has done. For starters, the ribbon interface that’s common to most Microsoft-based applications make learning these tools easy. And having common mouse button functionality also makes program hopping work smoothly. For example, being able to pick it and right click to change objects has been a mantra of mine for years. The context sensitive ribbons are making me like them more now, especially since they always show up in the right (side) place.

Microstation – c’mon. After all these years, let the ESC key get you out of a command. I know you want to be yourselves, but this ain’t 1990. I like the toolboxes, but give me something to replace the exclusive cryptic letter entry keys. You shouldn’t have to type in Y to get a feature similar to otrack – make the tool visible and clear on the screen. DOS is dead, guys…

Every tool should be available in specific graphical areas, especially ones that control alignments, snaps, etc. And the tools should follow the workflow process. For the most part, they do that in the toolboxes, but finding something anywhere else was pretty maddening.

 

The view controls in AutoCAD and Revit and view cube trump Microstation navigation, although I didn’t have any trouble getting around once I figured out the view number icons. Overall, the bottom line is that the user interface is in bad need of overhaul. Get out there and study ribbon technology – if you want to be competitive in the future market, you’ve got to figure out a way to make the user experience easier, not harder.

Now I will say this – since my focus is going to be the Substation and AECOSim products, the hook feature you have in substation is an improvement on the snap tool, since it can control direction. Sort of like the connector in Revit, it gives you a little more flexibility when it comes to adding a wire to a connection point. But it’s going to take a lot more than that to impress me. I could go on for a while, but it’s time to wrap this up.

And my next topic will cover one of the most important concerns I have in regards to BIM applications – the “I” and the relationship with the data. Bentley has definitely been playing in the database game a lot longer. What Substation brings is linking data the way AutoCAD Electrical, AutoCAD P&ID and Plant 3D should have brought to the Revit world...let's leave it at that. There are definitely two approaches going on, but I’m going to spend a little more time figuring out how Autodesk and Bentley plan on handling this before I comment on it. It’s one of the deciding factors in who’s going to be the real player in the market in the foreseeable future, so let’s see what these guys - both companies - are going to do about it.

Happy BIM’ing – David B.

BIM and Hoops...March Madness is upon us...

Yeah, I haven’t posted in a while, but geez…I’ve been busy. But now that March Madness is upon us, office work is about to get pushed aside for what really matters in life – the NCAA tournament…

I'm not sure how much I ever talked about this, but I volunteer for a local non-profit that offers youth athletics in my hometown. For 13 years, I coached basketball, baseball and soccer, served on their board of directors, and ran their basketball program for 10 of those years. Last year, the town, in an example of a monumental government mistake, decided to stop working with the association that ran these programs on their behalf (and at no cost to the town) and run a smaller, non-competitive athletic program.

Another great example of a bureaucrat thinking they know better how to raise children than a parent (just ask our Wake County school program, who believes fundraisers should only sell healthy snacks such as carrots and celery instead of Krispy Kreme “hot and fresh” doughnuts…if you’re from the South you know what I mean…some folks have no concept of what a fundraiser means).So after 4 years of retirement, I'm back running the basketball program. It’s been interesting, but the season wraps up this weekend. We had 511 kids in our program (compared to about half that much in the town’s), and for the most part, we accomplished the goal of keeping the program afloat long enough to regroup and work on a new program using county facilities instead of the towns…their loss.

And that's where this story starts. So how does this tie into BIM? It’s actually pretty easy – you can take anything you learn in real life, and turn it into an object lesson. I came up with three of them that relate to both hoops and BIM.

1 – You can’t win if you don’t play…

Lottery players know what I mean…well maybe that’s a bad example. Whether is volunteer work or regular work, you're going to run into challenges and frustrations. But you never know how things will turn out if you at don’t at least put in some serious effort to succeed. How you deal with those frustrations is no different, whether you’re trying to move an old school architect into BIM or trying to get a coach to stop yelling at his kids.

So I’ve got assigned tasks for all the coaches, and one of them is that they have to stay and clean up after a game. I also deal with a lot of complaining about officials, parents, and more. I got an email from one of my coaches frustrated with the officiating, and complaining about the parents a couple of days ago. When I could finally rewind, I remembered that I was at his game, the last game on Friday night…and he left without saying anything, leaving me and the other coach to clean up. It ticked me off that here this guy was, complaining and leaving, so I had to call him.

We talked about the officials, about players getting techs for cussing, and the “rough” group of parents he had sitting behind his team where they weren’t supposed to be. After going through this, I brought how having to clean up behind coaches was a pet peeve of mine – so what was his excuse.

He told me, “I’m sorry, I hadn’t told you…I’ve been getting treat for a form of leukemia, and I had chemo all this week…it was just starting to get to me…”.

I had to stop – dead in my tracks.

That caught me completely off guard.

Here was a guy, volunteering to coach his kids and others in a game that everyone loves to play, and loves to complain about.

He’s dedicating his time to working with kids not just how to be better at the game, but work better as a team. He’s a great example of being in the game – he’s there because he was committed, not just to his kids, but to himself.

And he’s doing this while undergoing medical treatments that are tough enough, much less deal with the mental aspect of fighting cancer.

I didn’t really know what to say.

I stumbled through a discussion about a couple of friends of mine, and a parent of kid I coached who later passed away from leukemia. And I remembered how hard it was on his son and wife, and how young they were when he passed.

At the end, we talked about his upcoming chemo treatments, which he has at the end of the month – right when our tournament starts. He was positive about the potential outlook, and was ready to be on the court and lead his team. All I could think of to tell him was I’d be happy to help him with his team if had any problems that weekend, or just needed the support.

All too often we get caught up in what we’re doing, and don’t realize how fortunate we are to live in this life, in this country, in this time, where in just a decade, the survival rates from cancer have increased dramatically, but still paint our immortality in bold letters. We think we’re doing the right thing by clinging on to what we’ve done for years, but get to the moment where we wished we’d done something different when your clock shows up.

And I thought about how hard I’ve hammered some of my co-workers about not moving forward, when compassion and a little patience would have gotten me further. I still believe that improving your skills, working to better your process, not to make more money but to gain more time, with family, friends and loved ones, is what this is really about. I remembered the long days and nights I used to work (and that some of my co-workers still do), and it drives me more to make their lives better.

But ultimately, it boils down to a simple thing – if you choose not to participate in the game, then you’re just an observer. Basketball and BIM have a lot in common this way – if you want to be successful, you have to put in the time and effort.

2 – My new motto – Learn to Earn!

While all of this is going on, I’m starting to get frustrated with my nephew. Family is family – you love ‘em all, no matter how nuts they (or you) are. We got into a big discussion about entitlements, where he made a statement that every person should be “entitled” to a good job, food, healthcare, etc. And I wasn’t raised that way – neither were my parents, who I still consider to be a part of the greatest generation.

It’s funny how the new town program is built that way. Everyone gets the same playing time…nobody keeps score…so it can all be “fair”. After all, isn’t that what sports is about? And man, I couldn’t disagree with that more. Sports is like work – you only become successful when you can do something better and smarter than anyone else. That’s what kills me about the entitlement mentality – you shouldn’t have to earn something to get something. So does that mean that even though we’ve made a substantial investment in technology, worked hard to train our staff, spent countless personal hours honing our craft so we can be better prepared to support those who need us…that another company, that’s still stuck back using thirty year old technology, be given the same consideration as those who have made the investment? All in the name of being “fair”…

It kills me to see owners and facility managers that go strictly on price when quoting a job. To me, design is a relationship – and BIM is a tool that’s used to improve that relationship. I can probably go give somebody a cheap price just to upfit a single room, but if I’m not talking to my clients about the big picture – about how BIM, when used in the entire lifecycle, dramatically reduces and simplifies to overall cost of designing and maintaining a structure. When you don’t work to train your client, then you’re no better than the parent or coach who doesn’t teach the kids the value of effort. Reputations are earned – good or bad – by the actions you take.

What Learn to Earn means to me is not being guaranteed a successful outcome, but rather the value of effort, hard work and desire…all things needed to be successful in life. In order to win, whether it’s contracts or basketball, you have to learn what it takes to earn the business or the game. Failure is a critical part of learning, so when you take failure out of the equation, then desire gets lost. Ask any 9 year old how they feel after they lose that close game – and instead of coddling them, teach them what it takes to get past it.

In BIM, it’s earned by time. You have to use the tools and be invested in them to be successful. We are always telling our managers that you can’t get there by doing tiny little bits and pieces. The entire job needs to be modeled, as much as the software can handle it. And the data has to be integrated, down to a single source. Giving up their old defense, and learning new ways to win is always tough – but you never stop learning.

3 – The officials never affect the outcome of the game…

Try telling this to the coach who just lost a game because the kid didn’t hit the rim on his free throw, but one of his teammates grabbed the rebound and made the basket that won the game. The rule is that you’ve got to hit the rim, but the official missed it. I heard about officiating all year – how “unfair” it was, how many missed calls, how they did or didn’t manage the game.

The funny thing about it, the bulk of the coaches that were complaining were the ones that weren’t winning. Somehow they misconstrued their success with another person having the ability to affect their outcome. Basketball – as much as any other sport – is a team effort that boils down to execution. Are you able to execute a game plan, within given parameters, to gain a successful outcome – the win? It doesn’t matter how many fouls are called, if you don’t make more shots than the other team – you lose. One play only has a minimal impact. The outcome is a result of the whole body of work, so if you were lazy on defense, turned the ball over too many times, didn’t square up before taking a shot…these were more likely the reason why you lost.

We had a game against a team from another town, which turned out to be a travel team made up of 16 and 17 year olds. Playing against them was one of our 13-15 year old teams. They were getting pounded, as our team obviously wasn’t in the same class. After the game, one of the parents I’ve known for a long time came up raising Cain, asking me if this was what FVAA was boiling down to.

I told him he missed the whole point. What he hadn’t noticed in the game was the smallest player, a 13 year old named Demarcus. He was constantly hustling, harassing the bigger players, getting called for fouls, taking and making long shots…he never quit. I had coached his older brother, but even he didn’t have the fire in his belly the way Demarcus did. That’s a kid that I will go to bat for a million times…because he never accepted defeat, but instead fought all the way through it.

The parent missed the whole lesson – no matter how adverse your situation is, you never just quit. You don’t give up on yourself, your team, your players…when you do, then you become part of the problem. It’s easy to quit – that’s why so many people do it. Look at all the “CAD” guys that are having a hard time finding work. It’s because they quit working on themselves – they stopped trying to learn, stopped putting in the effort, to make themselves better.

It’s the same way with BIM. It’s not easy – in fact, it requires much more initial effort than just throwing lines on paper and calling it design. But the rewards are immense, because eventually, you do get that time back. And we won’t ever quit – working to improve our process, our work conditions, our impact on the environment, and more – not because it’s not easy, but because it’s the right thing to do.

Wrapping up this way-too-long article…

Technology and life moves forward inexorably, improving in many ways, but you have to recognize, and accept it, in such a way that you can better yourself and your life. This coach, this player and this opportunity to serve others helped remind me that recognizing the work and effort of others that take the thankless job, deserve the recognition and thanks…and our gratitude. And that quitting on yourselves and others is never the right thing to do. And that getting and staying in the game is the only way to be successful and happy in life. Observation is for the jealous…

Find that technician that’s been working overtime to get your project out the door, and learning how to use new software every day, and tell them thanks. Talk to the older engineer, the close to retirement project manager, and learn from them – they’ve got an entire lifetime to share.

And don’t forget to contribute to the office pool and make your picks early. Go with your gut and you’ll win every time.

Enjoy the tournament!

David B.

Wrapping up on 2012, and getting ready for 2013

Man, what a year...we're seeing more and more projects based in BIM, and our staff continues to improve on their skill sets. Overall, despite the lingering tough economic conditions, we keep pushing forward and working to improve on the gains we've already made. Looking forward, next year should be an improvement, now that the election is past. But that doesn't mean we can go back to our older methods of producing projects.

We had a great conversation with one of water guys about BIM, and we talked about the issues we expose are not necessarily tool-based, but more design workflow based. CAD gave us a great ability to "hide" flaws in the design process, but BIM kicks the rock over and exposes all of the weakness you may have in a design. It's up to the project engineers and designers to get back to making sure their designs work first, and a 3D model really demonstrates this well. So next year will include more training for that level of employee, that will hopefully help alleviate fears about change, and keep them moving forward.

So here's my look back and look forward:

Autodesk University 2012 - this year, the crowd was really energized and wanting more. One of the general feelings I get now is that we can't rest on laurels from previous classes. Yikes - the students are on to us, and we (the instructors) really need to raise our game for next year. For the first time, it felt like the crowd had a better understanding of the basics of BIM, and fewer of the fears. The AU crowd's adoption of technology was very obvious. When I stepped out from behind a screen as Dr. Shots, about 50 iPads, tablets and cell phones popped up and started recording...I got a little "discombobulated" and almost cracked up...and yes, I promise to go slower in that class and cover a few less items (thanks for the feedback!). Nobody seemed to mind that they weren't any handouts - which is a great step for creating a more sustainable environment, as we used to kill quite a few trees every year...

One part that I left with mixed feelings about was the integration of shared data between BIM and other applications. There are a lot of new ventures out there, but it seems that we're only getting pieces, instead of the whole, big picture. At this stage in the development of BIM and other data-centric models, it seems that Autodesk would have a better idea of where they want this to go. We really need some focus to bring all the different pieces together, so that we're not all developing the same applications with different degrees of results. There are a lot of great new products, but some leadership from Autodesk on this other than talking about how we're all going to be in the cloud (without providing more specifics) would really be helpful at this point. Even in my own class, where the topic was about how we developed our own application to deal with linking data between applications, left me with more questions that answers. It will be interesting to see if they come up with a more uniform method for controlling the export and import of data - for example, the dbLink extension needs a lot of work (dynamic versus static, user control of what data is exported, etc.).

While there's lots of space at Mandalay, I'm personally glad we're going back to the Venetian - better quality of service, a more central location, which all lead to better attendance. Next year should really be a great event, and I can't wait. And yes - I'm already working on all NEW classes, with new material - keep doing the same thing and it gets stale quickly...

Changes in the Autodesk Sales Model - if you've ever been in a sales channel, you had to know this was coming. Web-based purchases, cloud-based software, annual versus perpetual licensing...all of these lead to the coming demise of the Autodesk reseller channel. Financially it doesn't make sense for Autodesk to keep supporting the channel, when in reality, we're no longer getting much out of them that bring additional value to the product sale. Support is direct with Autodesk through subscription, and most of the issues we have, the reseller can't fix since there either flaws in the program, or very simple " how do I..." questions. It's a bit sad, but savvy resellers should be looking to the add-in market, as well as the more refined services. Not every company can afford to have a BIM manager or developer on staff, so that market should be sustained...but it will have to be self-sustaining.

From the user perspective, the suites have been golden. They're still a bit pricey, but I'm using more of Inventor now than I ever have, and having a single version of Revit has been really nice. It makes the management of the tools much easier, but 50gb installations can be tough...hey, I'll wait. Next year, I'll be looking forward to upgrading to a more powerful system, so it will be interesting to see how the laptop versus tablet market is rolling along next fall.

Odds and ends:
-If you are in college, working on your engineering or architecture degree, take Revit classes - students with Revit experience or any 3D modeling experience are like gold to us.
- If you are a 30 CAD draftsperson, learn how to get up to speed in BIM AND Design - one without the other doesn't make for a very long term career outlook. Get at least a two year associates degree - that's better than nothing. If anything, really start looking at the post design market and tools. Applications like Navisworks still need solid users, and offering digital coordination/estimating/fabrication services is still not a bad idea.
- If you are a project manager or business owner, learn and understand BIM. Many people in the profession that haven't bought in to this are getting behind in the game. You've got to understand how this works and how it affects a project's bottom line. Stop hiding behind "how productive we are with plain AutoCAD"...with current trends showing BIM being more prevalent in the market that 2D now, all you're doing is kidding yourself.
- And if you are a facility owner, that hasn't starting requiring BIM as part of your deliverables, please step to the back of the bus...the rear door now opens automatically. Anyone had any validation or compliance issues lately, and had to deal with hundreds and thousands of paper documents, drawings, etc. with no real organization? Layer it - start with renovations, additions, and build your models over time, if you can't afford to get a good as-built modeled. It doesn't matter if it's AutoCAD Architecture/MEP, Revit, Bentley, ArchiCAD, or anything else. IFC is improving, and the next generation of users is going to wipe us all out if all we leave them is a stack of papers...go ahead...ask your kids...

For everyone, please enjoy the holidays. Spend some time with your family and friends - recent events have shown us that you can't take time for granted. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - we'll see you next year!

Take care - David B.

A few shameless plugs...for AU 2012!

I gotta love our marketing people...they've really been grabbing on to social media and getting ourselves known for being thought leaders in the BIM arena.

So they put together a little highlight reel for the classes I'm teaching at AU this year, showing a few of the projects we've worked on in Revit, along with a few pics from previous classes...check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNBJzEG0ThM

Here's the list of classes I'm doing this year - in case you missed it:

 

Class ID: MP1414
Class Title: Revit MEP 2013 - On Steroids!
Wednesday - 10:00am

Class ID: MP1461
Class Title: You did WHAT? Revit MEP and AutoCAD P&ID? Amazing!
Thursday 1:00pm

PS - for the class above, I'm really excited about this one - we're doing stuff that everybody says we shouldn't be doing - but it's not just about the programming. It's about how we went through the decision and planning process, to come up with a solution that was cost effective for the company while giving us a competitive advantage in our market.

 

Class ID: MP1465-L
Class Title: Fast Content for AutoCAD MEP 2013
Tuesday - 5:30pm 

Class ID: MP1470
Class Title: Supercharge your AutoCAD MEP 2013!
Thursday - 10:00am

Class ID: MP1477-L
Class Title: FASTER Families for Revit MEP!
Thursday - 5:00pm 

Class ID: MP1478-L
Class Title: Perfecting the System for the Revit MEP Project
Wednesday - 8:00am


And you thought I was a geek...see you in Vegas!

later - David B.

Are you getting SPIKES in BIM?

I'm noticing an interesting phenomenon. As we make our move to the BIM environment, we've learned that everything moves forward in stages. Obviously, different people learn at different rates. We have users that have easily adapted, and are constantly pushing the envelope. For users that are new to BIM, we keep coming across the "hesitant" user.

You can easily identify these folks. At the pool, they start by only getting in up to their ankles...and quickly get out because the water temp isn't exactly warm enough (others simply pee in the pool in vain attempt to warm it up). I always wind up behind this person in line at Starbucks in any airport...standing there, staring at the screen, wondering if the expresso will keep them awake on the flight, or if the protein in the smoothie will make them constipated for days.

Anyway, back to the projects. We've had some weird issues show up. And by the way - this isn't happening just for us, but across the spectrum of design firms, so my examples are global. For example, we have several structures to renovate and build from scratch, but the project manager only chooses to use BIM on the new facilities. Not that there's anything wrong with that, except that we're connecting equipment between the facilities - so it would have been really nice, and incredibly more efficient in the design process if everything new was created as BIM objects.

I've also heard about other projects, where the client wants AutoCAD, wants 2D, isn't interested in 3D...but the question is asked about using laser scanning and point clouds to generate an as-built, for presentation purposes, then runnin' back home to Mama and delivering plain AutoCAD.

It seems that every once in a while, an old school team leader hears about BIM - and SPIKE! Just like that, we get a flash of awareness that lasts as long as a lighting bug in a bird house. The idea is pushed, let's try BIM...but let's just do it here...and not too much. It's kind of like watching the beer commercial where the drinker only wants 1/5 of a glass...and if they don't like it, do they have to pay for it?

Have you ever experienced getting SPIKED? Man, this drives me nuts...and hence the soapbox. If we haven't said this once, we'll say it again. Building Information Modeling is a design process. It's something that you make a decision to follow at the start of a project. It's a business model, not a toy you buy once and throw in the box. And it's really annoying, because only a limited amount of effort is being applied to understanding this.

Here's how I think the fear manifests itself. The PM, Department Head, lead engineer, project architect...we've all had projects at some point that have blown up on us. Especially in older users, it instills a fear of anything that moves you out of your comfort zone. And it's scary, because none of us want to fail. The current business climate has made it worse, as everyone knows it's lot harder to get on with new firms nowadays. But it boils down to a simple thing - you don't just pick a small part of a project (a SPIKE) and "kick the tires".

If you're first instinct is that BIM only works on new projects, we're blowing that away every day. One advantage to having a new BIM user model an existing facility is that the design is already worked out - so this is great practice. There's also a preconceived notion that you have to model everything. I don't recommend doing any more than you need to, to get the design intent across - and in most cases, you can get away with LOD 100 - unless the client is paying you to do more.

I like to hear people say "We're doing BIM on this job" and then they whisper "only up to 60% - then it's back to AutoCAD". Why in the world would you develop a model, that in CD's would save you 50% or more of your contract document production time, and then decide to go back to a drafting board mentality? So we SPIKE to create the model - then panic when the deadline approaches, and go back to our comfort zone.

I've got an electrical designer I love in our office - he's so old school, he still has a pocket protector. But he gave me the quote of the day..."it's become very apparent to me that Revit isn't AutoCAD..." I was stunned...but he's trying, I have to give him credit. Then we gave him a tech that is really fast on Revit, and life is now better.

It boils down to this - if you are a team leader, understand that BIM is like poker - you only win (and win BIG) when you go "all in". If you only decide to do parts of a project, then you open yourself to whole new range of issues - compatibility between applications, loss of data, lack of coordination, document consistency (lineweights, fonts, etc.). Inconsistent application - SPIKES - is not a viable method to use on a project. The spike invariably impacts one major component - the COST of the design.

By the way, my interpretation of SPIKES - Some Projects I Know Explode Spectacularly...that's what happens when you take a half serious approach to BIM...

Have a great day - keep 'em between the lines - David B.

Back to the blog...and Autodesk turns 30!

Been taking a break from posting for a while, it's been a busy winter...had a few thoughts on the last several years...

Autodesk turned 30 a few days ago, and it's amazing the impact they've had on the design industry. It's definitely been an evolution. Who wouldn't miss the Carol Bartz days of ready, fire, aim...but that was part of the creative spirit that they needed to make the product as popular as it is.

And today, it's been run more like a solid business than most software companies and start ups. While some software companies (like facebook, google, etc. ) are all about the personal information, Autodesk has become the holder of the real world data for the places we live, work and play in. From the part design in Inventor, to the BIM models in Revit and ACAD Arch/MEP, right down to Navisworks and beyond...the early concept of the AutoCAD centric model has evolved into an optimum design platform.

And there's both good and bad in it - the early days of Autodesk fed the creation of many businesses, especially in the reseller channel. In my earlier days, there were over 400 resellers - from loss leaders just pushing boxes to true consultative businesses, like CADre - which I'm still proud to have been a part of and gave me my platform to grow. Unfortunately, businesses evolve...and things change. You don't hear a lot about companies selling drafting tables, triangles and t-squares anymore. And in the near future, I would expect Autodesk to change the reseller relationship even more. With today's internet and the evolving business model, it doesn't make sense for Autodesk to continue to push a part of their revenue into the channel.

Because of this, I expect to see more of the "new business" model - companies that are analyzing the data external to the design firm and owner, and working to make the designs more efficient. Companies like IES, and products like Vasari - these will help push new forms of business that become the support structure of the design world. It's no longer about the tool itself, but instead about the results generated from the tool.

And the channel has changed - we realized a long time ago that 30-40% margins weren't going to be the case forever, and worked hard to develop consulting services. In the future, even implementation services are going to become more scarce as the design industry learns that a) it's better to have an expert on staff and b) the methods used by applications like BIM become more common and expected.

So where does that leave that industry? I expect you'll continue to see them evolve into service providers for modeling, such as conversion from 2D to 3D models. The point cloud technology is pushing this as well, but sometimes, you just gotta model it. I'm still on the fence about the accuracy and overhead of that technology, but I could be wrong. Personally, I expect most to go the way of the Bentley reseller channel - a few service providers, but most going away - if the owners don't have the future goggles on, and evolve into the new business model, they've got no one to blame but themselves.

Training has evolved as well - the internet based training materials are becoming even more popular. I've been working with my buddies at CADLearning, and reviewing what they have coming - the level of detail, quality of materials, and relevance to the design industry is better than ever. In my day, we all learned best with 3-4 day classes - but today's generation doesn't need that. They are leveraging the internet, videos and over the shoulder mentoring - that's what's really working now. Even in the college environment, it's amazing how many online programs are out there - that's the future.

The users have to bone up on their education as well. Anyone who is planning on taking drafting courses or certifications - stop it. You're wasting your time and money. At minimum, a 2 year associates will be required to work in this industry. In fact, if I could wave a magic wand, I'd change most of those programs to focus on specialities - like energy modeling, sustainable material design, lighting analyst, etc. Just knowing how to put lines on paper just doesn't cut it anymore. We've seen it start in the rendering and animation field, but there's got to be more emphasis on today's technical tasks. I'm a firm believer that people are responsible for educating themselves - and it kills me to see good people resting and relying on what they did 20-30 years ago, instead of staying current with their skills and knowledge. Blame yourselves if you become one of the "no longer looking for work"...the opportunities are out there for employees that want to stay relevant in the industry, you've just got to put in the work. It sure ain't going to be just handed to you anymore...and anyone who wants to guarantee wages and work using old methodology is just milking the system.

The one thing I'm pretty certain about is that the return to 2D CAD days are gone. We still have some old-schooler's hanging on, but when I see guys like my intern in Harrisburg finish the tasks in BIM in a fraction of the time the CAD-based designer is taking, I'm convinced we're on the right path. If anything, Autodesk needs to take away one important piece of advice - get it all working together and working right.

We're going to still continue to have construction documentation going out in a similar fashion over the next generation or so, so paper will still be there (although it was really cool to see all the tablets at AU this year taking the place of paper handouts - the first real progress towards a paperless society). The model and data has to be ale to easily make the progression from part design, into the building and site, to the contractor for the build, and to the owner for operations and maintenance. It's better, but it's not there yet. The cloud is coming into its own, taking the place of FTP, email, etc. as the main portal where project data is stored, so companies like ours have to learn how to live and play in this world.

I remember some of my first experiences on CAD - watch VersaCAD on a mainframe draw a line - it took forever, and was on a 6" screen. I remember being amazed at the Bentley mainframe, working on big dual monitors (black and white, of course) with a drafting table sized digitizer, converting paper drawings to CAD files stored on tape. I remember paying $5000 for a 486 computer, taking out a loan from a benevolent business owner that helped me get my start.

And I look at where we are today. The design industry is on the brink of the chasm, and is preparing to leap across. The paradigm has shifted, and now we're all along for the ride. And guess what - it's going to be a blast. We won't need government regulations forcing us to be more efficient - our dads taught us well, but now we have the technology to really design better, smarter and more efficient structures and systems than ever before. It's expected now and accepted as common practice. And I get back to Autodesk - and I say thanks...and Happy Birthday. You've made a lot of this possible, and have been the catalyst to real change (sorry, federal government, but it's private industry that makes this really happen - in spite of all the posturing and regs that only serve to drive business costs up...my only politcal soapbox comment for today)...so don't stop - keep pushing the envelope, and keep helping us make this a better built world for all.

Have a great day - David B.