Survey drafting is not really my forte'. I know the basics and can fumble through a simple topo plan but I've spent most of my life working the design side of the house. Even so, I've spent the last two weeks neck deep in Surveyland. I'm finally bringing my survey groups into the Civil 3D fold and having to develop all their processes and standards for the new software from scratch. Yikes!

Luckily, our most useful survey tools, like PConnect from Smartdraft, are fully C3D compatible so I've been able to do a lot of my work just by tweaking things I've set up over the last ten years. Still, it's been quite the experience to go back to the basics of field data collection through final plat presentation and build automated processes to handle things. Have I mentioned that I love being a CAD geek?

Image Courtesy of Benkrut | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

When I'm doing training for my staff, I like to do a complete step-by-step write up of my materials, particularly as it relates to CAD work, that they get to keep as reference. Here's a sample of a write up for "Creating Pipe Networks By Object in Civil 3D", to give you an idea of what I mean. Having given them that though, I tend to ignore it while I'm actually teaching. I like to just jump into the material and do a "show-as-you-go" sort of presentation. Of course, that only works when I'm really familiar with the topic. If I have something I'm not 100% on, I put together a one page list of speaking point. These are just key points and functions I want to hit on and I like to have a road map to go by.

One tip I can give you for teaching is: never read your slides (or handouts) to the class as you go. Unless you're working in an elementary school, your students are quite capable of reading on their own and they want your experience, not reading skills, demonstrated. Believe me, there is no faster way to lose a student's interest. We call that "Death by PowerPoint" and you're just wasting your time if you try to teach that way. What do you do to keep your students engaged?

If there's one place where I think most design firms struggle, it's in how to train their staff, particularly their CAD and design personnel. Nobody likes the idea of "losing" billable time because their people are sitting in a seminar for two hours. That's an antiquated and very short sighted view for management to hold. I've had executives tell me: "If I put ten people in a conference room for two hours, we're losing a few thousand dollars in profit!" that is one of the silliest things I've ever heard, particularly from someone who's supposed to be a "business" person.

Look, if you train your people, they're faster and more productive at what they do, which generates far more profit than you could ever "lose" in a seminar. Not to mention that if you don't keep your people up to date on software and design changes then you're falling behind your competitors and that will cost you entire projects, not just a few training hours. You also need to remember that no one wants to work a dead end job. If you don't give your employees new skills, they'll go to a firm that will. Read More...

Too many people think of CAD as just another tool, kind of like a computerized hammer. They don't realize that --properly applied-- CAD is the simplest way to save your firm hundreds of thousands, even millions, of dollars each year. Think I'm exaggerating? Think of a CAD manager who puts together a process that shaves a half hour off your drafter's work day. Not too hard to imagine; I do things like that on a regular basis. Now do some basic math:

So, if you have ten CAD drafters at an average billing rate of $70/hour, you just saved $91,000.00. Not too bad for a computerized hammer, huh? When you start to consider that tool like Sheet Set Manager, layering standards, and reference sharing can save you days worth of billable time, perhaps those of us in senior management positions might want to reconsider the types of salary we're willing to give to CAD managers and the like. They're not just keeping you from downtime, they're actively making you big bucks!

Do you think your firm is paying their CAD management enough? Let's discuss in the comments . . ."