Cadalyst - August 2008 - (Page 36)

cadmanager By Robert Green Managing Multioffice Mayhem Listen to and actively support your remote CAD users. I t seems that companies are covering more area through branch ofﬁces and remote project teams than ever before. These remotely located workers allow companies to be in many places at once, but they also mean that the CAD management burden is spread over a larger and harder-to-manage area — potentially leading to multiofﬁce mayhem. I’ve found that CAD management in a multioffice environment is substantially tougher than managing a single office. In this month’s “CAD Manager” column, I’ll give you some helpful tips about recognizing where problems lie and strategies you can use to deal with them. Here goes. cussed, action items, and responsible parties. This list assures you that all have had their say, that you heard them, and that you’re actively tracking progress. And, you can share the spreadsheet with the remote-office management team via a corporate network or e-mail to update them as well. Plan More, React Less CAD managers frequently operate in crisis-management mode. Some crises can’t be avoided, but many could be with better planning, right? This is even more true — and in some Listening Remotely I’ve come to believe that the simple act of listening to users, project managers, and everyone else affected by CAD is the best thing I can do as a CAD manager. The problem in multioffice environments is that I can’t walk around the office and casually speak with CAD users as I would in my own building. And because I can’t converse with users easily, I also can’t listen as much and, therefore, more problems can build up without me knowing about them. When you listen, you can identify a potential problem and work to prevent it, which is always better than solving a problem after it pops up, right? If you can’t always listen in person, what are your options? Here are a couple of techniques that seem to work: Chat weekly by phone. Rather than speaking to users only when problems have popped up, talk to users at regular intervals to head off problems. I find that a weekly phone chat at a fixed time becomes something users can look forward to for venting concerns and voicing suggestions. Pick a time that works for your users, reserve a room, turn on the speakerphone, and talk through the issues every week. I bet you’ll spend less than 30 minutes a week doing this, and you will gain a great deal of information and goodwill. Document the issues. To document the results of your weekly chats, create a spreadsheet that lists all issues dis- When you listen, you can identify a potential problem and work to prevent it, which is always better than solving a problem after it pops up. cases, critical — when you’re managing multiple offices. Realizing the following things about remote office planning has helped me tremendously: Remote means time lag. When working in a remoteoffice environment, it always takes longer to make things happen than when working in one building simply because of communication lags. If you expect things to move as quickly when coordinating work with a remote office, you’ll be disappointed, so it’s crucial that you adjust schedules accordingly. My general rule is to allow an extra day of communication time for every round of e-mails or phone calls required to coordinate a project. Things will go wrong more often. Lack of communication also means less chance to review work in progress, and that means errors and surprises. Don’t schedule remote tasks as tightly as you would those in your own office so you leave enough time to deal with the mistakes that are sure to pop up. Calling All CAD Managers! Robert Green is preparing his 2008 CAD Manager’s Survey, and he wants to hear from you. Tell him about your job and your workplace. He’ll be collecting your feedback through September 5, 2008. Then watch for the results in the November issue of Cadalyst. Remote Support Of course, the single most noticeable difference between a remote user and a user sitting next to you is that you can’t see what the remote user is doing at any given time. And when you can’t see what he or she is doing, support becomes much tougher. To make the task of remote www.cadalyst.com cadalyst August 2008 www.cad-manager.com/survey 36 http://www.cad-manager.com/survey http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - August 2008

Cadalyst - August 2008 Contents Editor's Window CAD Central Tech Trends: Rotor Bug Strikes Again Cadalyst Labs Reviews: Digital Dreams — Visualization Software: Make Your Design Visions a Reality Maple 12 — Math Software AutoLINE 2009 — Linetype Management Add-On Deep Access — Digital-Media Asset Management Software View Point: Examining the Autodesk–Bentley Agreement CAD Manager: Managing Multioffice Mayhem MCAD Modeling: Do You Need Modeling Standards? AEC Insight: Modeling Technology for Building Engineers CAD Cartoon Issue Indexes Hot Tip Harry: Better Living with Objects and Smart Entities

Cadalyst - August 2008

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