Leadership change at Graphisoft

[Nuge]

Cant say i am disappointed, that man has done more damage to Archicad in his tenure than any other, hope the new guy will listen to the customer base

https://www.pbctoday.co.uk/news/digital-construction-news/bim-news/daniel-csillag-becomes-ceo-graphi...

[poco2013]

Wondering if this is a admission that the Graphisoft "CARES" campaign was a failure? AND/OR will Graphisoft now address the real issues?

[mthd]

I pressed the like button not because Huw Roberts left by mutual agreement but for the information provided by the link. We will see if the focus will turn more to Architectural features and improvements that we all really need ? It would be nice if everything in the ideas pool was on the coming soon list but that is yet for the near future.

[DGSketcher]

Five years too late in my book. He's done damage to AC that will take years to unravel. Interesting Robert's departure hasn't appeared in the Insight's headline on this forum (yet)?

I wish Daniel Csillag well in the challenges he faces. Hopefully his past associations with Nemetschek will assist him in getting AC back on track as a flagship ARCHITECTURAL solution. I might actually consider keeping my payments going if genuine and relevant noises start coming from GSHQ quickly. He might just manage to retain a few customers already looking at alternatives.

[mthd]

Hi @DGSketcher, I have been away from the forum for most of those 5 years but the dice has definitely been loaded towards 3D/BIM Collaboration in recent versions. That certainly will not hurt GS/AC in the high rise commercial building sector in collaboration with various types of engineers and other specialists. 

Huw Roberts gave his expertise from his previous portfolio with Microstation/Bentley. It appears that new CEO has construction industry experience. That may actually bring greater benefits for construction companies and if so quantification inside AC may improve and not be so difficult to set up as it is now ? Who really knows only the future will tell ?

We will wait and see.

[DGSketcher]

I don't agree that the push has been loaded towards "3D/BIM Collaboration". On the contrary, there was a definite sense that HR was pushing to deliver a multidisciplinary self contained solution to the detriment of the user interface. Had he split AC into three independent development disciplines (architecture/structural/services) capable of reading each others 3D models the usability of each solution and adaptability to each function would have been far more focussed to achieve a positive outcome and perhaps we could have avoided the MEP27 debacle.

From the limited information I have seen, DC seems to be well grounded in documenting processes, fingers crossed that will be reflected in a refreshed Roadmap. There are certainly plenty of easy fix documentation wishes waiting to be addressed that would demonstrate a willingness to help GS customers, if that is his intent.

[mthd]

There are many things that could do with tidying up directly inside AC. Everyone has a differing view on those necessary things. In fact GS could have done many of those things way before the MD push. I am not going to enumerate them because you only have to look at all the realistic to do wishes that have been made in the past but have not been implemented yet.

Maybe if the new CEO was an Architect then they would completely understand and relate to all the other Architects here who are posting wishes. Let’s see what the new CEO will bring to the table and implement in the near future. Everyone deserves a good chance to show how they can help make AC better and easier to use for all of us.

[thesleepofreason]

The background in a modern BIM focused company will hopefully help in quickly detect and root out the pseudo-BIM approach currently pushed by GS replacing it with proper system thinking. Hoping for a refocus on the fundamentals (generic groups/systems, instances/types, hierarchical data management, criteria based visibility control, etc.) doesn't seem far fetched given the background. Any indication of such a refocus (and a dial-back of the marketing bonanza) would instil some optimism in my relationship to GS.

[torben_wadlinger]

I found out on Wednesday evening at the digital bau in Cologne. It was a very pleasant surprise. I hope that the new CEO will do better. From my point of view, he has the best qualifications: he comes from Germany and has Hungarian roots. He also has the right pedigree. So - here's to a new one!

[jl_lt]

It would be very difficult TO NOT do better.

[runxel]

«The King is dead. Long live the King!»

In that sense: good news for us strangled architects, who are dependent on this once very good product.

I hope it is not too late for a course correction. I wish Daniel Csillag all the best for his new role – might it be for the better of all of us!

[Romans]

From my point of view, a single CEO is not entirely able to steer alone the course of a big international company as Graphisoft is.

GS is also NOT acting independently as it belongs to the Nemetschek Group. There is an overarching policy and direction for an intended path to go for software development. 

And as we all know: Nemetschek is primarily (and comes from) an engineering background. So there is definitely a certain focus and priority approach in that direction of the development....

There is also a leadership group inside GS. I guess there is not just a simple top-down hierarchy.

[mthd]

Hi @Romans, The captain at the helm steers a very big ship as you have indicated above. I think you have nailed it on the head.

To be effective for all the Architects and the other many users of AC, you would think that a dedicated team of Architectural users should be represented right at GS headquarters. These personnel would be directly consulted when it comes to improvements and new features. I know this is all obvious to us all but what is also obvious to all of us, is the amount of things that have been left undone.

None of us would even think of presenting a professional set of documentation that was not completed to a professional standard. As good as Archicad is, there a many minor things that have needed specific attention before taking these other big steps that they have taken recently.

[Romans]

Absolutely.

Unfortunately, the focus has shifted away from Architecture. I don't know if this started when GS was sacked by Nemetschek...

Nevertheless, it is so typical for AC development that almost all features and functionalities are half-backed, buggy, and not fully reliable. 

Except the new Options feature. This is massive. (For me the only missing thing with Options is, that if you accept one as a solution the remaining ones will be cleared and there is no way to archive these, at the moment.) 

There are so many great features and ideas, but often do not work the way one thinks and they should. This needs urgently constant improving besides the so badly needed features from the roadmap.

Cheers
Roman

[mthd]

I am glad you raised that about DO’s not being able to archive the design variations that we have come up with in a project. It is supposed to save us file space because now we have to save the file with all the options in it and have a separate one for the design chosen to develop.

We can only hope that they will start to listen more carefully to what we really need to speed up our workflow. How do they get rid of all those endless work arounds needed with GDL, template creation and line type changing etc etc etc. It doesn’t have to be that complicated if they just think things through more carefully. Anyway I hope they start to directly consult the Architects among us for advice and not send us silly surveys that don’t accomplish very much.

Please GS, there is a better way to service Architects more professionally.

[Rex Maximilian]

While this is good news, I feel that Graphisoft is at one of the worst places they've been in since my involvement with them from 1991 till now, with 25 years of resellership. They need let go of a few more than just Huw... and we all know of whom I speak. Broken promises made during online events after online events. Post and runs on this forum, etc.

Also, there have been no changes to the ROADMAP since its inception nearly a year ago!
https://graphisoft.com/product-roadmap/structural-floor-plan-in-archicad
Look, it's exactly the same. No feedback methods at all. Whoever is in charge of this needs to move on and bring in someone who knows how to create an interactive roadmap.

Plus, how many of you got the notice of ANOTHER price increase for this perpetually buggy version? My post on that is coming...

[thesleepofreason]

Regarding the roadmap - it was discussed in the latest episode of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eZ9lwonrY8 and to sum it up:

GS are very proud of how quickly they managed to deliver the roadmap (!?) and they think it is transparent and give a clear view of the strategy. They of course care a lot about bottom-up feedback - someone at GS had "really unique" idea about improved onboarding and it made it to the roadmap post haste! Although actual paying costumers will have to wait for the ability to influence the roadmap until GS figure out how to not only quantify it but also how to avoid manual transcription from the interactive roadmap to the product management process....

All in all another episode from the corporate experience dreamland that GSHQ seem to be.

[torben_wadlinger]

[mthd]

Hi @Rex Maximilian, great idea to have an interactive roadmap that is of course up to date. I guess once they stamp a feature as delivered then that is the update for now ???

The roadmap could say we are proposing to develop this feature, we could rate it out of 10 as to how much we would like that feature to be developed. A discussion about the proposed feature could made here on the GSC. Many things I suppose could be done to engage the user group more fully.

Many things that I personally would like implemented or developed in AC are unfortunately only in the “Ideas Pool” at present.

[Rex Maximilian]

It's clear that the roadmap was purely for show and for a quick fix to shut us up last year. Their excuses for not being interactive are flimsy and hollow.

mthd wrote:
"The roadmap could say we are proposing to develop this feature, we could rate it out of 10 as to how much we would like that feature to be developed. A discussion about the proposed feature could made here on the GSC. Many things I suppose could be done to engage the user group more fully."

Yes! That's all we want!

They:
a) Could easily implement a feedback feature if they wanted... they "are" a software company afterall
b) Do not want our feedback, because then the would be held accountable for not listening to us when they further develop MEP and large firm solutions at our expense.

Completely deflated at all of our situation of having all of our eggs in this company's basket. I wish they could bring back the ArchiCAD version 10 team (for all departments). They did it right back then!

[Martin Jules]

The best CEO would be an architectural practitioner who uses BIM software programs regularly or actively, including ArchiCAD. Someone who has experience working with different professionals in the AEC industry, understands the dynamics of the European, Asian, African, American, and Oceanic markets, the requirements of different jurisdictions, as well as the traditional or the standard architectural design process.