Archive for Change

With the release of AutoCAD 2017 out, which I am sure will have some pretty sweet new options and enhancements, I thought I’d reflect on my AutoCAD 2016 favorite features.
Like all users, it is not likely that every new feature or enhancement that comes out will be used.  One of the best strengths of AutoCAD is that it offers a variety of ways to be productive and is flexible enough to be used in any industry.  Like the rest of you, although there are so many new features, I have a few favorites.  Below are the top three features I have enjoyed the most – note that these all work in the LT version.

XREFOVERRIDE: 

The XREF properties override variable will help many that deal with external references from providers that practice “Bad CAD” and change entity colors rather than use the color Bylayer option.  With this feature, less work is required on the end user to clean up the external files for their own use.  It can also quickly point out when objects have their color set to by “Entity” instead of the proper “Bylayer”.   How?  Look at the following two examples with the XREFOVERRIDE variable set ON (1) and OFF (0).
 
Image of a screen capture example when the XREFOVERRIDE is set to zero (0)

XREFOVERRIDE = 0

When the variable is set to OFF (0), the entities manually set to a color show up that color, and no matter what you do in your Layer  dialogue, you are stuck with that color.  You will have to go in to the actual XREF drawing and change the items to color by layer.

Image of a screen capture example when the XREFOVERRIDE is set to one (1)

XREFOVERRIDE = 1

When the variable is set to ON (1), the entities manually set to a color will show up as if they were properly set to color “Bylayer” and you will not have to go in to the actual XREF drawing and change the items to color by layer.  This is nice, because with this setting turned on, you can control the colors in your drawing through the layer dialogue and do not have to touch the XREF.  This goes for line types and layer visibility as well.

 

NOTE: Be sure to have your VISRETAIN variable set to “1” also.

Although the cleanup of external references can be done pretty quickly with a script, the ability to quickly attach a drawing and override the color to “Bylayer” without having to modify the base xreference is very nice.

REVCLOUD Enhancements:

There are a few items in the revision cloud area that have been enhanced and although I have created some scripts to enhance our revision handling process, the new enhancements are a nice addition.
REVCLOUD “Modify”:

Type or choose REVCLOUD command and then select “Modify” (M) option to add sections and remove (cleanup) sections of an existing revision cloud.  Note: Where you pick on the existing revision cloud is where the modification starts.  When you are all done, it is one cloud!

New System Variables:

REVCLOUDCREATEMODE:

 Defaults to a specific cloud creation methodology:
     0     = Freehand
     1     = Rectangular
     2     = Closed Polyline

REVCLOUDGRIPS:

 Controls the number of grips displayed on a revision cloud:
ON     = Endpoint and center grips for each segment (very clean, even on a freehand cloud)
Image of a screen capture example when REVCLOUDGRIPS is set to ON

REVCLOUDGRIPS = ON

OFF    = Grips for every arc endpoint and diameter (very messy)
Image of a screen capture example when REVCLOUDGRIPS is set to OFF

REVCLOUDGRIPS = OFF

SYSVARMONITOR:

How many times have you opened a drawing and while your working, find out that variables have been changed or are set differently than you require or prefer?  The SYSVARMONITOR now gives you the opportunity to know it right away. This is by far my favorite addition to 2016, it’s just a simple GUI tool that anyone can setup with their favorite variables and the must haves for company standards.  As I deal a lot with other people’s drawings, I use this daily.  Once I turned my coworkers on to this, it made everyone’s daily work much better.
System Variable Monitor - AutoCAD 2016 Favorite Features

System Variable Monitor

 Note:
You could create a Script or even a LISP to monitor and set these settings (which I have done in the past), but for those that want a simple solution – BAM! this is it.

What about you?!

 What are your favorites? In the comments below, let us know what you have benefited from the most in 2016.  If you have made the move to 2017 already, are there some new things you are happy to see?

WES

This is an update to my initial post about new AutoCAD features by version. This one adds AutoCAD 2014 to the list.

As was previously stated:  With each new version of AutoCAD there is typically a mass public release of blog posts, web updates and press releases with what the newest version does compared to the last or previous versions.   This is helpful for those that are considering making the move, but many skip multiple releases before taking the plunge.

The purpose of this Matrix is to let those know that may wait a long time between updates that there is often way more than just the current “New Features”.   AutoCAD 2014 for example has “4” NEW features, but a lot of enhancements to features that exist but are probably still new to many users.  If the new features alone convince you to purchase, then that’s great, but if you are on the fence, take a look at all new features introduced since your version and be sure to look in to one some of them can do for you.

Below are a couple links with more information about the changes made in AutoCAD 2014.  The first is a series of videos from Autodesk and  the second is a write-up on the “CAD-a-Blog” blog site by Brian Benton.

Autodesk – AutoCAD 2014 Features Videos

CAD-a-Blog – What’s new in AutoCAD 2014

 Note that I am a bit behind on this versions update, so you should know that Autodesk has recently released ‘Service Pack 1‘ for AutoCAD 2014.

More Info on AutoCAD’s Feature by version Matrix:

Many companies, all over the world that take the plunge are very often modifying the new versions of AutoCAD through the menu systems, toolbar changes and shortcut commands to get back as close to the old way of doing things as they can get, because “they cannot afford to be inefficient while learning the new software”.  It would be unfortunate for these companies to be using the latest version of AutoCAD in their old way, not realizing that some of the most efficient new features are buried just below the surface.  If these users learned more than just the tools that they typically use, they could be even more productive.

To educate some of these users as to a lot of the features that they may not even know exists, I have put together an AutoCAD Features by Version list and saved it here as a downloadable and printable PDF.

What is it:
A list of AutoCAD features by version since 2004.

Why:
To address users that may not be aware of some of the powerful features now in AutoCAD because they are still using older versions or using the new version just like their previous one.

How was it assembled:
Compiled from AutoCAD’s Release Matrices and various blog and website posts.

This list is not 100% accurate, but is hopefully pretty close to the actual new features introduced for each release of AutoCAD.  This list was composed from various Autodesk’s release comparison matrices, blog posts and websites that discussed each release as they came out. The Autodesk matrices were not consistent as to how the products were indicated as new and improved and each Matrix release had an inconsistent set of categories, so the mergers of features may be off.

Although I started out showing which features were improved with each version, that become very cumbersome so I removed it.  AutoCAD gets improvements on a regular basis, so the most exciting thing is when a completely new feature gets implemented.

This is meant to be a living document that will be updated as new versions come out and corrections brought to light. If you are aware of any discrepancies or are aware of an Autodesk version or other source that has created a more comprehensive version of this list, I would love to hear about it.

Download AutoCAD Features by Version PDF

Send any comments or questions to: walt@functionsense.com

WES

Image courtesy of khunaspix at www.freedigitalphotos.net

Dear Mr/Mrs. Architect,

We greatly appreciate and admire your work, and we understand that you, like us and everyone else on the team is under pressure to perform.  As our team leader, we look to you for guidance and direction, but there are a few things that would make our work on the team a bit easier and more efficient.  Over the years, we have found the following items to be most problematic. If you could please consider these items as it pertains to your work, it would be much appreciated:

Updates

When sending background or drawing updates, please cloud the revised area(s) or provide a description of what or where you made changes.  We have spent untold hours trying to figure out where (if any) changes have been made.  And as powerful as our software is and as efficient our methods of file comparison have gotten, it still takes up too much of our time that could be dedicated to the actual design of the project in lieu of what basically equates to an Easter Egg hunt.

We do not always require a new background or section or elevation each time you make a change, getting four or five background updates a day is very frustrating and inefficient. On the other hand do not wait until the afternoon before a job goes out and send us all the changes you made this week to include in our final drawings.  The balance of this obviously requires good judgment, which tends to come with experience.

Coordination Drawings

Note that much of our work, whether it be mechanical, electrical, plumbing or fire protection is much like yours, is installed in a  3D world,  i.e. it is affected by sections, and elevations, both interior and exterior, roof plans and details – not just in floor plans and reflected ceiling plans.  Please send us at least PDFs of your latest drawings when sending us drawing updates. If you are not sure what to send, just ask.  Sometimes we just need your latest to start our coordination efforts – not the final product. If your MEP consultant says a floor plan is all they need to do their work – you may want to look for another consultant. It may surprise you , but when I have asked for sections and elevations for coordination, I have actually had some architects ask why we needed them? Really?

During the course of a project It is very common to have an architect/owner require multiple review sets for owner review and or approval – but it is rare that we get a copy ourselves unless we specifically ask.  PDFs are cheap – send us a copy and make it a standard. And if a consultant says that they do not need a copy, see above.

Project Completion

Speaking of plans, why do we not get a copy of the final plans when the job is completed? In the old days of paper it was common for every team member discipline to get a big fat hard copy of the plans for our use and for many it was the first time we saw many aspects of the building.  In today’s electronic world, sending a complete set of PDFs should be a no-brainer and standard procedure.

Schedules

We like you balance schedules daily and greatly appreciate it when you ask us about our schedule and when we can fit a project in or sometimes explain that it a particular project has a tight schedule and what it is.  Telling us that every schedule (as ridiculously short as it is) is critical and that we will lose the project if we cannot meet it, shows that you either have no negotiating skills with the clients or you really do not understand what we do.

When you do set a schedule, please be thorough and clear about it and try to stick to it – if you cannot , be understanding that we based our schedule on your original dates. i.e. When you say we have two weeks to do a project and our only submission is the final product, it is not very fair to come to us one week in and say please send us a progress set for tomorrow for pricing. Really?

We often time do preliminary design work that never hits the computer systems until we have the latest plans that we can possibly get from you – because we know you are working directly with the owner and other consultants, and these discussions will often require changes . Much of our work depends on yours and the changes you make to the floor plans, ceiling plans and in some cases interior furniture layouts all of which will affect each of our trades a little differently, but they do affect us.  Once we feel that your plans are pretty solid, then we jump on it and get it done – we really like to do it once whenever possible.  So accurate schedules are important.

Oh, and those last minute background changes, especially those that come after we just hung up with the courier or FEDEX/UPS that you say are very minor – to you maybe, because you have not plotted yet, but to us they are not.  We have to update our background (see DWGs below), make the change, (which is not always moving something two feet to the right) print it, check it, plot however many sets of the new version and re-collate it in to the other sets, reschedule the courier or FEDEX/UPS pickups if possible or worst case now drive it to the drop off location. We understand this happens occasionally, but lets try to keep it to a minimum.

DWGs

As well put together as your drawings are, (sometimes) we do not just drop your new or updated drawing in our project directory, reload the xref and keep working.  We typically have different priorities as to what is to stand out in our drawings, what is to fade and what is to not show at all, so we need to do some cleanup.  This cleanup varies greatly by the quality of your drawings and can take anywhere from 5 minutes to over an hour.  Every time you send an update it is rinse and repeat. Poorly put together drawings can eat our lunch on time and fees – and is another reason why we often do not update backgrounds right away, but wait for a few before we go through the process.

Planning

I am not sure if it is the economy (as I keep hearing) or the general change in behaviors that everything has to be done “right now”, like design work is no different than “Fast Food”.  We know it takes time to do your work, then it takes additional time to do ours, and it seems the pushing is coming from the owners, but it seems like we are doing schematics, DDs and CDs all at the same time.  This week the job is split systems, tank type toilets and fluorescent lighting and next week it is package units, flush valves, and LED – but the job is due next Friday!  Where is the planning and what do you mean no additional fees? We were almost done!

Communication

Obviously not all architects can be categorized by the above issues, we have all worked with the good and bad architects and architectural project managers of the world, but when we get the bad ones it really sucks.  A lot of time I bet you would be willing to make changes to how you do things if only someone told you. Well, that’s kind of what this letter is about.  I know in some cases it is a couple years late and for some of us it is very timely, but we are just letting you know these are a few things you could do to make our work a bit easier.  You could always ask us too, those that are not shy would love to let you know what things might make the relationship a bit easier on us all.

If you feel you may do some of the above and are willing to make some changes, thank you.  We, as your consultants will respect and appreciate your efforts very much.

Yours Truly,
MEFP Consultant

P.S.

Although this is a bit of a Rant, it is not meant to pick on Architects, as you have an equally hard job to do.  I personally have been fortunate to spend time on both sides of the fence of Architect/Consultant over many years in this industry and have seen issues and quirks from both perspectives.  Many of the issues I have seen and heard about can be handled with better communication and team work, and some well, we can just keep praying.
As a follow up, I plan to do a series of letters which come from different perspectives of the various team members.  Future letters will be directed to: Dear contractor, Dear Engineer and Dear Owner.  If you have some input for these, please drop my an email or comment.
Disclaimer:

All of the pages and posts written by me on this blog are of my own personal opinion and in no way represent the opinions of any association, organization, affiliation or past/present employer. The voices in my head are mine and mine alone.

Image courtesy of khunaspix / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Efficiency in Systems

kaizenThe title of this posts has two of my top three favorite words – “Efficiency” and “Systems”, my third being ice cream, which doesn’t really fit this discussion.

Since I am calling this year “the year of efficiency”, it would make sense to talk about various methods used within our “Systems” to create efficiency.  Systems are a part of our every day life, both at home and work.  I did a post on the topic of systems on another blog which discussed a DVD by Andy Stanley titled ” “Systems – Liberating your Organization“.  Although Andy is a “church” guy and the DVD was about helping church leaders do a better job at running their organization, the concepts discussed work in all aspects of our life. Basically, our world and our life are based on established systems.

Key system statements:

  • Systems are your approach to getting things done
  • Systems create behaviors
  • The system you inherit, adopt or create will eventually impact what employees do
  • Systems have a greater impact on an organizational culture than a mission statement. (Mission Statements hang on the wall, your systems are happening down the hall).

If we want to change our world or our life we need to change our systems. When it comes to efficiency, there are two methods that come to mind right away that can be used to optimize our systems – “Kaizen” and “5S”.

Both of these methods are commonly used in business, predominantly in manufacturing environments, but can be applied to many areas of work and personal life.

Kaizen:

A Japanese term meaning: “change for the better” or “to become good through change”. The concept of kaizen is one of restructuring and organizing every aspect of a system to ensure it remains at peak efficiency.

 5S:

5S is the name of a workplace organization method that uses a list of five Japanese words: seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke (Sorting, Set, Sweep or Shine, Standardize, and Sustain).  The list describes how to organize a work space for efficiency and effectiveness by identifying and storing the items used, maintaining the area and items, and sustaining the new order.

We will get more in to the 5s system in the next post, today we will look at Kaizen.

Kaizen, is a Japanese term and is commonly associated with the manufacturing world in Japan.  Although it has probably been made most famous in Japanese culture (think Toyota), the concept was actually taught by Americans to the Japanese after World War II, who embraced it and fine tuned it further.

From Investopedia:

Some of the key objectives of the Kaizen philosophy include the elimination of waste, quality control, just-in-time delivery, standardized work and the use of efficient equipment. 

All good things to apply in our work and with the exception of maybe ‘just in time delivery’, also in our personal life.  A commonly used term around Kaizen is “continuous improvement” – not a “quick fix” or a “sudden change”, but continuous improvement.

Kaizen is applied with a few simple steps:

  • Standardize a task or process based on specific requirements
  • Measure the process
  • Compare the results to the requirements
  • Innovate to meet or improve on requirements
  • Standardize the new, improved process or task
  • Continue the cycle infinitely

Kaizen allows you to make smaller changes and continually improve on your system because it is not a one time fix or drastic change.  You can continue to tweak things to make sure they are as optimized as possible for ongoing changes in your industry or life.  So how do you apply the concept of continuous improvement?  We will walk through two examples, one from work in this post and one personal in a follow-up post to see how Kaizen can be used to improve a current system or even create a new one.

Work Example:

Let’s say you manufacture and ship products – “Widgets” – an apparent commonly manufactured item from what I have read.  So you make these widgets and ship them to customers all over the world.  You’re a small company, so the tasks of taking orders on the phone, or over the web, packaging, and shipping is handled by whomever is not already doing something else.  This has proven to not be very efficient or consistently handled as you have found out over time.  Missed Widget parts, broken Widgets due to bad packaging, late shipped orders and forgetting to bill the customer or update the inventory have been costing you a lot of money.  You have decided to fine tune things and figure out how to optimize the whole order to ship process.

To keep things standardized you want to have:

  • Orders entered the same every time
  • Widget packaging the same every time
  • Shipping and tracking handled the same every time
  • Billing done the same and as an integral part of the process

You have written out a set of steps that each stage of the process requires, some of which you already do and some of what you would like to implement.   You post the steps at appropriate workstations and have a company meeting to announce it.  Then it is back to work!?

But… You probably should start off a little different and discuss your procedural ideas with your employees first and see if they have any suggestions or see any potential issues.  If that goes well, you take what you learn and update your procedures – then hand them out at a company meeting with a discussion and a re-iteration of the point and goals for the new standardized procedures.

Was it a success?  Hopefully, but to be sure you need to continually monitor the new procedures and see if they are meeting your desired goals. This will include verifying if all the employees from full-time to part-time are following them.  If they are, that’s great, but if not – what do you do? Tell them to get with it!?  Maybe, but you definitely need to discuss why they are not following the new procedures and see if there is something that needs improvement.  If it seems to be more of a refusal to change, you may want to let them know that you can replace them with one of those newer Automated Widgets you read about!  If it is an actual valid reason – like some tasks are taking too long and are slowing part of the process down, then you need to re-evaluate the troublesome procedure and fine tune it.

At some point you will get things running smoothly, hopefully pretty quickly, but keep in mind that there will be a need for changes down the road, so monitoring and leaving it open to employees and even customers to make suggestions will keep you moving forward as efficiently as possible for many years to come.  Sometimes you just need to re-evaluate how you have always done it!

This may seem like very logical steps, and they are, but they also follow the Kaizen process.

  • Standardize
  • Measure
  • Compare
  • Innovate
  • Standardize the new
  • Continue the cycle infinitely


Other Kaizen terms you may here in a business environment:

Kaizen Blitz:

A Kaizen Blitz is a rapid improvement workshop designed to produce results/approaches to discrete
process issues within a few days. It is a way for teams to carry out structured, but creative problem
solving and process improvement, in a workshop environment, over a short timescale.

Lean Kaizen:

Lean is a methodology that eliminates waste and boosts efficiency. Kaizen means continuous improvement. Lean Kaizen helps you get rid of waste as part of the continuous improvement process.

Kaizen is a very powerful concept that can be applied to all areas of our life.   Although I will likely bring it up again beyond the next post, if you would like to learn more, there have been many books written on the topic as you can see in this link:

http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/kaizen

Are you currently practicing Kaizen in your workplace?

WES

Are you a current member of AUGI (Autodesk User Group International)? If not, you may want to consider joining as there is a bunch of good info waiting for you at your finger clicks.  If you are not familiar with the group, you may ask what it’s all about.

“AUGI is the Autodesk User Group International, officially recognized by Autodesk as representing the Autodesk user community. AUGI has two prime directives. The first is to assist its members by presenting programs and information that will enhance their use of Autodesk products. The second is to deliver the voice of the user community to Autodesk, thus assisting Autodesk in product development and giving users a say in the process.”

The above comes from the ‘About‘ page of the AUGI website.

Offerings:

  • Online/Email HotNews: a monthly newsletter sent to all AUGI members via email that includes technical columns, information on industry events  and product offerings from Autodesk and third party vendors.
  • Online and printed AUGI World (printed will depend on membership level) covering topics about CAD Management, add-on’s, Tips & Tricks, and more. interviews, user stories, Technical Tips & Tricks, Training advice, AUGI events and announcements and more.
  • User Forums: a great resource for solving your Autodesk product issues, getting product information, and sharing your own knowledge and experiences. There are a wide variety of products and topics in the forums which are monitored and manged by AUGI volunteers.  Access level depends on membership level – your welcome to lurk (browse) as a guest, but to post you will need at least a basic membership.
  • Wishlist:  Ever had a cool idea you wish Autodesk would add in to the product you use every day – here is your chance to make it happen.

Membership costs:

AUGI currently has a four membership levels that run from Free (non-member open access), basic at $0, Premier at $25/year and Professional at $100/year.  The Professional membership has the most benefits (hence the cost),  but the Premier is also a good investment.  When you think about getting answers from other professionals about issues you are currently experiencing OR learning more for personal career development, the $2 to $10 a month is a very good investment.  You may even be able to get your company to fund it for you – after all you are helping them out with the info and troubleshooting help you will be through AUGI.

I have been a AUGI member for years and currently contribute articles to AUGI world.  I got my start after being involved with a local user group (TBAUG) back in the 80’s and then joined NAUG (North American Autodesk User group), which eventually became the AUGI we have today.

Are you a member already?  Thinking about it? Time to get your new year started right and get your AUGI membership now!

Got any questions about AUGI? – drop me an email.

WES

 

 

 

In my previous article I talked more about my personal experience at AU 2012 and included some whining.  I am sure being sick the later half of the week did not help my attitude.  I wanted to follow up with a bit more on some specifics of why AU is such a great event to attend and what you can get out of it.

This is only my third time attending AU, but have wanted to go every year for as long as I can remember – it’s just hard to get some companies to foot the bill for the experience, especially when they hear it is in Las Vegas.   If you are an Autodesk product user (and that covers a lot of software users), AU is a the mecca of events to learn more about your software and what is coming down the road for your industry.  If like me, you have trouble getting your bosses/manager to approve and finance the trip, start working on them early – like now!  Let them know what a great event you missed and how other industry folks are raving about the experience and what they learned.   Check out Lynn Allen’s video on the benefits of attending AU and get the  Convince Your Manager Tool Kit from the AU site and start planning now.  Keep in mind, your a professional, and avoid the traps in Las Vegas – there is plenty to do at the event that has nothing to do with the Casinos and the strip.   If you do get to go focus on what the event is about so that maybe next year you will get to go again!

So what does AU off that makes it so worthwhile?  Below are just a few of the items that I see/saw:

  • Industry forecasting of what is coming down from Autodesk and where my industry is headed
  • Tons of classes with experienced instructors on a variety of Autodesk software – way more than you could possibly take
  • Huge peer networking opportunity to make connections with others that do what you do
  • Learn about new products from various vendors that are not even on the market yet
  • Talk directly to the manufacturers about your experiences and questions – not a help desk person from India
    • During one lunch I sat with and discussed AutoCAD with a lead Autodesk tester
  • Tips and tricks from some of the best.  I sat in two Tips/Tricks sessions that had over 500 people in each one!
  • Time away from your job to actually focus on the technology that you use everyday, instead of trying to figure it out during production
The hot items this year that I saw were cloud based work, Revit optimization and coordination and a lot about creativity.  I do not know of many folks using the cloud, but it is gaining ground every year.  Revit it seems is getting in to more and more offices and is gaining more acceptance.  I am even thinking of submitting on a basic AutoCAD to Revit transition course for next years AU.
AU Virtual:
If you couldn’t go or went but did not get to sit in all the classes you wanted (like me),  there is AU Virtual.  For non AU attenders, sign up for a  free account at AU Virtual and check out the keynote videos and and classes from AU 2012 and start learning for free.
Hope to see you next year at AU 2013!
WES

 

 

While reviewing an E-News Letter  recently from our Autodesk vendor I came across an interesting link in their featured Blog posts that took me to an Autodesk help site. Here I found a help series labeled “The Hitchhikers Guide to AutoCAD“.  Now if you are new to AutoCAD or have been a long time circle and line jock, but not much on more advanced features, this might be a good spot to start your climb.  This does not by any means have the info to make you an advanced Rock Star AutoCAD user, but if there is one or more areas that you have not ventured in to, like  creating your own Blocks, using Paper Space, using multileaders or Mtext, in lieu of the old Dtext that so many still use, these are straightforward, easy to understand  mini-tutorials on how to so these things.

Below is a basic capture of the home screen and the cool graphic that they use.

Welcome to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to AutoCAD—your guide to the basic 42 commands you need to create 2D drawings using modern AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT.

This guide is a great place to get started if you just completed your initial training, or to refresh your memory if you only use AutoCAD occasionally. As you can see from the illustration, the 42 commands are grouped together according to types of activity. In addition, these groups are arranged sequentially to follow a typical workflow.

  1. Basics: Review the basic ways to control AutoCAD.
  2. Viewing: Pan and zoom in a drawing, and control the order of overlapping objects.
  3. Geometry: Create basic geometric objects such as lines, circles, and solid-filled areas.
  4. Precision: AutoCAD provides several features to ensure the precision required for your models.
  5. Layers and Properties: Organize your drawing by assigning objects to layers, and by assigning properties such as color and linetype to objects.
  6. Modifying: Perform editing operations such as erase, move, and trim on the objects in a drawing.
  7. Blocks: Insert symbols and details into your drawings from commercial online sources or from your own designs.
  8. Layouts: Display one or more scaled views of your design on a standard-size drawing sheet called a layout.
  9. Notes and Labels: Create notes, labels, bubbles, and callouts. Save and restore style settings by name.
  10. Dimensions: Create several types of dimensions and save dimension settings by name.
  11. Printing: Save and restore the printer settings for each layout. Output a drawing layout to a printer, a plotter, or a file.

Link:  The Hitchhikers Guide to AutoCAD

If you are new to AutoCAD or a casual user, I highly recommend you check this out!

Once you have checked it out and let me know what you think!

WES

AutoCAD Upgrades

Are you planning on upgrading to AutoCAD 2013?  For users that have older versions of AutoCAD and have not upgraded in a while (versions older than 2010), now would seem like a great time to do so.  Between the discounted pricing and 0% financing you have a great opportunity to get up to current technology levels.

Current upgrade pricing for AutoCAD, which is valid for versions 2010 through 2012 is $1995.  Prior to that would typically require a new purchase at $3995.  But every so often, Autodesk will come up with a special promo to try to bring some of the no-up graders and non-subscription folks back in to the fold.  Now is such a time.  Autodesk’s “It’s time to make the move” promo allows you to upgrade for slightly more than the standard upgrade price of current users. Older versions of AutoCAD (not LT) can be upgraded to AutoCAD 2013 for $2240.  $2240 vs $3995 seems like a pretty good deal – about a 44% discount!

A couple tidbits.

The current Autodesk “It’s time to make the move” promo” expires July 13th.

In looking at the requirements for the promo on the Imaginit site, I saw that Subscription is required, but was assured by our reseller that it was not currently required for this promo.  It was.

The 0% financing is available on all Autodesk software, but only until July 13th or their budget of $7 million in funding runs out – whichever comes first. (FY13-Q2-0-Financing-T&Cs-Finall)

This is an excellent time to look at getting into Revit by upgrading to a Building Design Suite.

Now your mileage may vary depending on the deals your specific vendor offers you.  Currently my data is based on Imaginit, (http://imaginit.com/) and specifically the Tampa office.  If you are interested in benefiting from this offer, maybe give Iris a call at 800-706-1000 x:102.

It’s your move…

Now separately I am curious to know what folks are running out there and would appreciate it if you would please fill out the very quick/short survey below about your current software. Should take you less than a minute.  Adding personal info is optional and will not be shared.

Survey Link:  Take short 5 Question survey

WES

What is Change?

 

Image courtesy of WIKIMEDIA Commons

Starting with this post I am going to discuss the various aspects of change and will be spreading them out over additional posts to keep them from getting too long.  These posts will include the What, the Why, and the How of Change.   I will use some examples in each area to make it a bit more real and not just theoretical.

Starting out – “What is change?” – Depending on who you talk to and their specific experience with change, you may get various answers.  Most will give simple definitions or interpretations of what change ‘means’ (feels) to them.

  • Change sucks
  • Change is hard/difficult
  • Change is disruptive
  • Change is important
  • Change is good
  • Change is necessary
  • Change is progress

Let’s look at some of Dictionary.com’s definition examples:

1.   to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone:  to change one’s name; to change one’s opinion; to change the course of history.

2.   to transform or convert

Whereas people usually define what they feel about change, the dictionary examples above show the verb (action) tense of change.  The feelings about change will typically match up with the actions of change, with each feeling being dependent on how the change was implemented or performed.  In each of our personal and business worlds, change is never as simple as a single action or task, it is a series of steps that we take to achieve a purpose.  Changing how we feel about ourselves or others, changing how we maintain our health and fitness, changing how we treat our clients, employees or co-workers, etc… does not happen in a single action.  Change requires multiple actions and mental exercises with the manner in which you do them typically determining success or failure.  And what this all means, is that ‘Change is a process’.

When you are thinking about making a change with anything you do, whether it be at work or home, the most important thing to understand is that change is not an event or an action – it is a process.  Ok – you may be thinking that this is a simple concept, ‘so what’s the big deal?’  Many individuals and companies still treat change as a task – one that needs little planning – just action.  When change is treated in this manner, no matter what it is – health, finances, bad habits, etc.. without a plan, without really understanding what you are trying to fix, without weighing the  pros and cons of your actions, and without considering the people who will be affected by your actions – it will fail.   After all, most changes are not instigated by a single event or person – they typically happen after experiencing issues, frustrations or complaints over an extended period of time.

Changes typically happen for us when we are fed up with how things are or have been and we just know ‘something has to change!’   Many will see people issues and process inefficiencies as just inconveniences that can be ignored and hope that they will just fix themselves, while others just assume that the work required to change something is not worth the potential results – so why bother?    For some, the concept of a change, even when it is obviously required scares them and they just give up before they even start.  More often than not though these procrastinators and resistors to change will come back to the same conclusion – something has to change!

This final desperate realization that things have to change is many times strong enough to be a catalyst for implementing new ideas or practices.  Sometimes though it comes so late in the game that in desperation, changes get implemented with little thought or planning.  In the business world these situations occur when leaders, managers or business owners realize that something just isn’t right or there are issues that they do not fully understand but know cannot continue.  Exasperated, they decide that “some changes need to be made” and “they need to be made now”.   With little thought and planning they charge in and make blanket changes that they think are going to turn things around!  Typically though, due to their lack of planning and thoughtful consideration they attempt to fix things from ‘their’ viewpoint and this often makes the situation or issue worse than when they started – this is a change failure.

Change fails for two primary reasons, the first is that change is not treated as a process and implemented in a proper manner and the second is people’s natural resistance to change.  This resistance to change usually comes from fear of the unknown or past bad experiences with other change failures.  In my next post I will address change implementation with some examples and in follow-up post I will discuss overcoming resistance to change.

WES

Email Etiquette

 

 

 

 

What is Email Etiquette?

The online Business dictionary defines Business Etiquette as:

Expected behaviors and expectations for individual actions within society, group, or class. Within a place of business, it involves treating coworkers and employer with respect and courtesy in a way that creates a pleasant work environment for everyone.

So for Email, I think it would be the expected behavior that involves treating coworkers, clients, your employer and friends with respect and courtesy when sending email.

Email:

Pretty much everyone in business is affected by email. In office environments people are often sending or receiving emails to communicate needs, requirements, and schedules or it is used to pass other non-email documents back and forth. The key to email is that it is a form of communication and although not verbal, it requires some of the same basic principles of being clear and concise. In many cases, email communication needs even more thought because you do not have the advantage of the non-verbal body language cues you get with face to face communication.

Basics:

Addressing:

When addressing email recipients, be clear on who it is going to and who needs to be copied. There are three typical lines that can be used in an email correspondence, if you do not have these options, either your email program is very limited or they are turned off – typically the later. These three addressing options are “TO”, “CC”, and “BCC”. For those who may not be clear on their use it goes as follows:

TO:

This is for who the email is primarily addressed to. This can be more than one person, but it is typically only a few people. If you are addressing dozens or hundreds of people directly, you may wish to use an email mailing application that personalizes it a bit more than everyone’s name on the “TO” line. There are security and privacy issues that go along with this as well (See “BCC” section). Typically you would be addressing an individual or as said before a few people and then copying others to make sure they are “In the loop”.

Commonly accepted practice:
Anyone on the “TO” line is being directly addressed and comments or questions are being directed to them and they should respond.

This is important if you start asking questions or making comments that appear to need answers. If the email was addresses to everyone directly it would seem everyone needs to respond. The problem comes in when all these people do respond

CC: (Carbon Copy – as in old school carbon paper – get it?)

This line is used to copy other individuals that are not necessarily being directly addressed. Please do NOT use this for Email distribution lists or passing along funnies! (this means you Tom)…

Commonly accepted practice:
Anyone on the “CC” line is being copied for courtesy or information use, so that they know what is happening, what issues are being addressed, etc… but their response is not necessarily required. If you are “CC’d but you are specifically addressed in the body of the email itself, then that changes things and you should respond or act accordingly.

BCC:

This is used to privately copy recipients and if you are distributing to dozens or hundreds of people and are not using a distribution list application or site – PLEASE use this line in lieu of the “CC” line. Why? Security and Privacy are the biggest reasons. If you have not heard of Malware, Spyware, Phishing, or SPAM you are living in a very sheltered world. All of these can originate from Viruses that infect a person’s machine and then harvest email addresses from that user’s email, address book or various other files on the local system. Once it gets these addresses it will send out emails to some or all of these addresses (each program works a little different) with the goal of infecting more systems. If an unprotected user gets one of these emails and downloads the attachment, clicks on a link in the email or sometimes just views it, the infection starts over and keeps spreading.

This is commonly spread when someone decides to CC all their friends on a joke or a small business or organization CCs all the members or potential customers, etc and one of those people is infected with one of the above. The BCC options strips the email address so that each recipient only sees that they received and email from someone and all the other recipients addresses are not available. As far as Privacy, maybe I do not want others knowing I am on your Email distribution list or maybe I do not want others that are CC’d to now add me to their mass marketing campaign. Yes some people will take all those addresses and use them for their own purpose – Which I will be doing one time to a large organization who does this repeatedly, even after I expressed the above concerns. It appears the only way to get off their “CC” broadcast is to quit the organization – so I did. So all their group members will get a free copy of this article. : )

If you are one of these offenders and you want to change your ways, there are options besides just putting everyone in the BCC line that will make your emails look a bit more professional. Try these links:

Creating a distribution list: (then BCC that list)

http://email.about.com/od/outlooktips/qt/Distribution_List_Outlook.htm

Send to Undisclosed Recipients:

http://email.about.com/od/outlooktips/qt/et_undisclosed.htm

Still lost? Drop me a line – I’ll try to help.

Subject Line:

What is this email about? Blank subject lines are really annoying – did the sender not know what the email was about? Emails are not texts – they have a subject! Efficient users use the Subject line for sorting, searching and filing. Users that do not have a preview pane showing up (A Virus precaution) will get nothing under the subject line – should I open it / is it a real Email? Although this is annoying on a personal email basis – for business professionals – well it is unprofessional!

Importance:

If you select the “important” option for all your emails, which it seems a lot of people tend to do, (because everything they do is important!) it is a lot like crying wolf. Someone looking over your shoulder might go – “Hey that email has that ‘Important’ symbol next to it – You better see what it is”. Nah – I’ll get to it later – they always use that – no matter what they send – if it is ‘that’ important they will call. Don’t get me wrong – I look at these on an individual basis, and if it is a new person or someone who rarely uses it – I will look at it right away – otherwise – it will wait in line just like the rest of the non-important emails.

Presentation/Punctuation:

How many times do I need to read the email to get what it means? This does not really take a lot, just start by using periods and commas. It’s not important that you put two spaces after a period in a sentence or whether you use a comma after the last item and before the ‘and’ in list of items, but using a period when a sentence ends and a comma where you would normally pause in a conversation would be a great start. Oh – and maybe some capitalization or – lack of. WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING AT ME?! (Caps lock is a toggle…)

If you are sending email as part of your work/business, please use spell check. An occasional misspell is understandable, but consistent spelling mistakes and horrible grammar in an email from a supposed professional is just sad in today’s world. In Outlook and Gmail it is an automatic feature – just turn it on and leave it.

Signature:

Who are you, and how do I contact you if I have questions – other than a reply? How about a name, company and phone number as a minimum? So when bdguy34@aol.com sends me a blank subject line email with no signature, marked as “important” stating:

WE ARE HAVING A ISUE WITH FILE CAN U PLEASE CALL AND FIX.

Well, I just wanna….

;

Reply All:

If you are on the “TO” line and sometimes on the “CC” line, you may wish to do or even be asked to Reply. when this happens – do a “Reply All” so that everyone has the benefit of your response – the others may need to hear what you have to say. And, if you don’t want everyone to “Reply All” as your emails states – do NOT “CC” everyone – because what other benefit is there to everyone seeing everyone else’s email?

Key Take-aways:

  • When addressing email recipients in business, be clear on who it is going to (TO:) and who needs to be copied (CC:).
  • When sending to a bunch of Friends – use the “BCC” line.
  • When sending to a Mail-list group – use the “BCC” line or other bulk-mail option – NOT “CC”.
  • Enter a Subject
  • Do NOT indicate ALL your Emails as “Important” – the more you do it, the less important your emails become.
  • Spell and Grammar check if your email program supports it – if not, do it in Word and copy/paste.
  • Don’t type in ALL CAPS
  • Indicated more in your signature than your first name

WES