CAD Management Survey(s)

[Laura Yanoviak]

CAD Management seems to be a popular subject lately…

CAD Managers' Survey 2006: Results

CAD Management: Open Letter to Management

CAD Management: CAD Manager Survey 2005

… and, of course, the addition of this forum.

I am curious to know how many of you out there (if any) are full-time CAD Managers?

For everyone else who has part-time CAD Management duties, how many stations do you manage, and how much time are you allotted a week to fulfill these duties?

My firm made the decision to transition from AutoCAD to ArchiCAD at the beginning of last year (45 person firm, 30 CAD stations). Up to this point, there was no CAD Manager; however, during BIMplementation, I’ve been allowed 20 hours a week to research, train, support, implement, etc. The transition has been slow (we have trained 6 staff, and have ArchiCAD on 10 stations), and have (almost) completed a small project and have started a second, rather large, project. In the meantime the remainder of the staff continue to use AutoCAD, and I need to be available somewhat to manage that software as well.

I’m sure once we have another 2 or 3 projects underway, my duties will require a full-time position (at least during the course of BIMplementation, while everyone else gets up to speed). I’m just preparing myself for the day I may have to approach the principles to consider a full-time/permanent CAD Manager, and I value your input.

Thanks, LJY.

[TomWaltz]

A little of my history as a CAD Manager, that I think might answer your questions:

1998 - 2000 Part time CAD Manager - was given time only when absolutely needed and office was on fire
2000 - 2002 Part time CAD Manager at different company - 8 to 12 hours a week
2003 - 2004 Part time CAD Manager - 16 to 20 hours a week, as company (50-person , 25 CAD licenses) implemented Archicad office-wide, started building simple office object library & templates
2004 - 2005 Full time CAD Manager with added company/staff management responsibilities, responsible for staff performance and evaluation, who in turn were answerable to me on any graphic and production issues. Now we had SERIOUS objects and templates. Productivity went through the roof, since the entire object library had company-standard defaults and all questions got immediate answers.

[Anonymous]

My history:

1987-1993 - Full-time CAD System Specialist at company 'A'
1993-1995 - Half-time CAD Manager; half-time Senior Drafter at company 'B'
1995-1998 - Half-time CAD Manager; half-time designer at company 'C'
1998-1999 - Non-CAD programmer (I needed a break)
1999-2001 - Full-time CAD System Specialist at company 'A'; (they let the CAD department atrophy after I left the first time)
2001-2006 - Full-time CAD Manager / Standards Manager / Trainer at company 'D'

[Laura Yanoviak]

FYI
CAD Mangement: CAD Management Survey 2006

[David Larrew]

1991-1993 Part-time (AutoCAD 10-11) - Company A, 4 seats
1993-1995 Part-time (AutoCAD 12) - Company B, 4 seats
1995-1996 Part-time (Cadvance) - Company C, 20 seats
1996-1997 Full-time (Cadvance) - Company C, 30-40 seats
1998-present Full-time (ArchiCAD 6-10) - Company C, 91 seats