Graphisoft public roadmap - Follow-up conversation

[Gordana Radonic]

Dear Community, 

We're excited to have published our roadmap!

We'd love to hear your thoughts and questions. Please feel free to use this thread for discussion.

Graphisoft Insights announcement: https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Graphisoft-Insights/Graphisoft-public-roadmap/ba-p/375281

Public roadmap on the Graphisoft website.

Thank you.

[thesleepofreason]

How is it even possible that there still isn't a separation between the different GS products in the roadmap? It can't be due to technical limitations so either the roadmap is already so neglected by GS that we won't see any such improvements (like search across all stages, or a decent view mode) or GS simply feel that there is some benefit to the obscure...

[Bricklyne Clarence]

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@thesleepofreason wrote:

How is it even possible that there still isn't a separation between the different GS products in the roadmap? It can't be due to technical limitations so either the roadmap is already so neglected by GS that we won't see any such improvements (like search across all stages, or a decent view mode) or GS simply feel that there is some benefit to the obscure...

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The question answers itself.

If most people filter the roadmap features by discipline, it becomes quickly apparent and obvious why they would feel they need to clump them all together.

[DGSketcher]

I just love the disconnect between the roadmap released list, marketing and the reality...

https://graphisoft.com/product-roadmap/released

https://graphisoft.com/product-roadmap/mep-modeler

https://graphisoft.com/solutions/whatsnew

https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Modeling/MEP-27-The-New-Feature-that-never-happened/td-p/575650

In some countries there is a legal requirement for products to work as advertised.

[mthd]

Using a survey is not really specific enough to get down to the nitty gritty of what really needs to be fixed or improved in the software. After reading the surveys you could quite easily put your own interpretation on what you think might be the priorities for future development ? 

Direct consultation is available for a limited few in the GSIP but that also can limit information on what the actual priorities are. Unless all those types of practices that are active users of the software are consulted, you don’t really get the full picture of what needs development.

It is very obvious to all of us from RM what is getting the main emphasis at present. Those in small businesses and in solo practices just have to take a back seat whether we like it or not.

[strangeday]

Hello Graphisoft team,

I saw that in the last few days there have been some movements in your roadmap, there are some new additions but also some features, scheduled as "coming soon", that have been moved to the "in progress" status, ad example the add-on store, and the control of storeys via Grasshopper, and others such as the "structural floor plan" that are nearby cancelled!(now it is in the "Idea Pool" list).

So don't you think that would be better to make some kind of report or recap on a quarterly or half-yearly basis (or when these changes are decided), to inform your customers about changes in strategy (not only on the long run, but even in the short period, taking into account that the example described invests the development features, which we users would have expected in the next release!!)?

from my point of view it would be a transparency move that could have beneficial effects on customer trust(which, honestly, has been severely tested in recent years) towards the future of Archicad and towards Graphisoft development team in general.

[mthd]

Thank you for that information on the updated RM. looks like some other things made into the cut for AC28 in the coming soon list.

[Romans]

Thank you for this notice! 
No public information was issued about this reshuffling...

Interesting and, at the same time, characteristic of this entire "Roadmap"-thing:

No transparent and honest communication. 

No client/user involvement.

[thesleepofreason]

Well good thing then that the ever so busy marketing/graphics department has left us some breadcrumbs:

Cloud AI Visualiser, Home Screen, Extended Tooltips have entered from the sidelines to Coming Soon and haven't yet gotten their pretty cards. While Add-on store and GH-AC Storeys have theirs while being demoted to In Progress.

Perhaps a bit less focus on form and more on content?

[Rex Maximilian]

Hmmm... so they make an update two days before their next Building Together event. They do this. There will also be an uptick in GS posting as well to make it seem as if they've been active, then they disappear for months again.

[Pato99]

You think Graphisoft will actually release anything of value within the next two years? they need to save it all for the changeover to subscription based ArchiCAD.

ArchiCAD 28 will be the thinnest release by far, it would be bad business to give people what they want so they can sit on the last perpetual license.

If GS wanted to be transparent, Theye'd release the future subscription pricing before v28 and announce feature releases targeted for these last versions so, we can decide if making another perpetual license purchase is even necessary after v27. 

They've probably realized, now they are not restricted by an annual deadline or value adding to entice perpetual users to re-purchase, focus will turn to breaking down the program into smaller extensions for the 3rd party store. With a 3rd party store they will drop a number features they were working on because other developers will swoop in to take advantage of the subscribers needs, things that should have been core functionality will become paid and GS wont bat an eyelid as they'll be getting their 30% of plug-in sales.

I've said it before, I'd love to see GS do a peoples version for those that have used the program for 20+ years, go through the forum and clean up all the minor **beep** people have been complaining about. Why not v29, there are no expectations or announcements for a big v28/29 release. Spin some more AI BS for the press, but really work on the minor improvements wink wink. 

[torben_wadlinger]

@GRAPHISOFT: stop the censorship! No more **beep**! This is not Youtube or american tv. No one feels offended. We are all grown ups. If something is **beep**, then you call it **beep** **beep**.

[Barry Kelly]

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@torben_wadlinger wrote:

No one feels offended. We are all grown ups.

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Some may be offended.

As 'grown ups' we can all use polite but expressive language.

Barry.

[mthd]

Yeah ! No need to use beeps. Being dignified and respectful is exceptional on this forum. There are many other expressive words that can be used instead.

I heard the word “Discombobulated” used on another forum to describe how a particular CAD software performs. I had to look it up after laughing 😆.

[GAG]

I'm pretty sure you meant "lighting calculations" instead of "lightning calculations" in Enhancement: Interface to DIALux Evo.

[Barry Kelly]

Maybe it is just a really fast connection! 🤣

Barry.

[Holger Kreienbrink]

well actually Thor is working with us. Zeus just joined, too....Jupiter is still thinking....

[brzmidobrze]

I fondly recall a time when Graphisoft's roadmap was rich with prudent and fundamental enhancements. I sincerely appreciate these achievements that have significantly influenced the industry's progress. However, I must express my concern regarding the current substantial reduction in planned improvements.
It is with a heavy heart that I note some of the recently implemented features have not quite met our anticipated expectations. While I fully acknowledge the intricacies involved in software development, might I humbly suggest that, as a dedicated community, we could benefit from increased transparency regarding the product's developmental direction?
Our company, valuing the historical accomplishments, has intricately linked its growth with Graphisoft's products. The present circumstances, however, place us in a challenging position, affecting both the efficiency of our design processes and the overall team morale.
I remain hopeful and open to further dialogue on these matters, as we all share a common goal of advancing our industry.

[Paul King]

Yes the current roadmap does seems to clearly indicate our subscription money is being frittered away on developing the least useful things - there are literally only two or three items in the list that might have even vague utility at the detailed design/documentation coal face, and almost nothing on the list addressing the issues we are screaming about.  We need very substantial improvments in the modeling tools - but these have been essentiially static for years.  Even some vaguely up to date rendering technology for 3D and 2D views would sugar the pill.

AC26, 27, and now 28 have all been dissapointments sadly - it does seem we architects are no longer the target audience.  BIM managers and project managers  in very large multidisciplinary firms are now the people who matter, apparently, given the sustained heavy focus on interoperability features for interacting with other disciplines in large project teams that are simply academic for most of us in practice.

The reality is that Engineers still don't use BIM on the kinds of small to medium scale projects and budgets the average architect addresses - or even if they do use BIM for in-house purposes, they don't budget to use BIM to facilitate any kind of meaningful coordination with architects.  All the added interoperability and cloud based collaboration features are just shuffling deck chairs on the titanic - not one of them has been useful to me in several years.  

The same could be said for BIMx developments - people think it looks cool, but almost noone uses it on site in practice, and you can't submit a BIMx file for building consent or pricing purposes.  

I have rolled the dice the last three years running in the hope that the old rate of (relevent) improvement would resume, and each time have been dissapointed to discover that this would be another year of very poor upgrade value for money.    I increasly suspect this pattern is not just a co-incidence, and it is hard to sustain the illusion that Graphisoft is even particularly interested in us any more, let alone still laser focused on improving the working lives of architects above all else.

It would be good if GS  could front up with what the expected funcionality changes will be in the next version, BEFORE we are forced to make the descision whether to subscribe for another year, so that our choice can at least be informed.

[Eric Milberger]

I have  to agree with youPaul.

Production should be first.  Then coordination with others who do not use Revit as it is not a known software here in the U.S.

But I need to do the Architectural First and should not need support and templates for others,  It is made Too hard.  Dont get me wrong as I just Migrated from Bentley.  But am in the same boat as I should probably migrated to Revit.  I would not lose jobs or help if I had done that.

Yes, we can collaborate but that extra effort and hassle and Others that don't want to work with an unknown software (Archicad) make it so difficult.

All my Engineers are Autodesk users.  ALL and there is no other option available.  And only those using autocad sync ok with me.  The revit side is awkward and my Engineers don't want to deal with the translated files.  They turn down the job before we begin.

[Stefan Videnov]

Jeesus, Autodesk really has you guys by the balls and it doesn't seem like the squeeze is gonna stop in the next decades.

Are IFCs not an option?

[brzmidobrze]

the main issue is there is no well-known complex MEP solution on the market other than Revit because manufacturers of classic 2D engineering software develops Revit plugins, so somebody working for years i.e. in ETAP or EPLAN (I talk from electrical perspective) can move to modelling quite easy

people are too lazy to develop own symbols or own workflow also, and IFC isn't well standarized in terms of MEP - we talk about walls and ceilings there, not about MEP schemas - that's crazy, it's so 80's, architects knows nothing about data and data usage

if restaurants works like this, tomato soup will cost 200 EUR and you will wait three weeks to get it

so situation is little bit deeper than just not accepting or accepting some files, it's more about habits and lack of knowledge I think