Getting people to follow standards!

[Anonymous]

Just wondering how other CAD Managers out there are getting people to follow standards?

With a template developed over 7 years i think we have a fairly good template and a extensive manual. If only people followed everything, everyone would be SO MUCH better off. But I am beginning to learn that no matter how much you put in a manual it all depends on how many people look at it? Should we expect everyone in the office to look at the manual everytime they need to do something.

I have tried a very textual manual to a very graphical manual, thinking drafting and architectural staff may look more favorably on a "picture" manual, but not much success.

Of course the obvious solution is training. But I have also learnt there is only so much you can explain before it is just to much to take in. The problem lies in

1) Some people just don't care, greatly a small percentage in the office i think.
2) The people who do, may not use a particular standard for a while, at which time they forget what it was.

So what does everyone else do. Slap people on the wrist if they do something wrong? There is only so much we can look over their shoulder.

Other ideas we are looking at doing audits. Has anyone else used this idea.

Another idea, involves a internet site, some type of interactive manual that is more graphical than anything, but still have to try and get people to look at it in the first place!

The ultimate goal is to get everyone to follow standards, make everyone more efficient and therefore spend more time on design, the fun part, and everyone gets paid more!. If only people could understand there is the potential to acheive this.

[Laura Yanoviak]

Mark wrote:
The ultimate goal is to get everyone to follow standards, make everyone more efficient and therefore spend more time on design, the fun part, and everyone gets paid more!.

This, after all, is the true intent of standards. I just wish users understood this, and didn't see standards as some sort of "constraint on their creativity".

Very good points, and I wish I had the answers -- It'll be interesting to see where this post goes...

I have worked with agencies (the US Army Corps of Engineers, for one) that have very strict standards, and if these standards are not followed, the work is rejected. I've known firm policies where, if the drawings do not meet the office standard, they must be corrected on the draftsman's own time. This approach seems to work, although it's hard to implement with strict schedules and insufficient staff.

[TomWaltz]

It's all in the follow-up. The training, the standards manual, the template... it's all just the rules in the top of the game box. How you maintain order among the players is entirely on you.

I think I might be a little spoiled here. I have input into the staff's annual reviews, which also affects raises an bonuses. No good CAD evaluation, no big raise or bonus.

How do I rate them? I have a series of criteria that I do once each quarter (for 25 people, oh joy). "Technical skill" and "Editability of projects" are just two, along with things like "Puts in best effort", "Graphic Quality of Drawings", "Seeks help when needed", and the much dreaded "Comments".

Nowhere in there is there "follows standards." What people are really being evaluated on is (1) how much skill they have, (2) how hard they are trying, and (3) what results they are achieving. Almost always, a weakness in #3 is due to a correctable problem in #1 or #2.

How do I evaluate them? I attend the project review meetings, I poke through the project PLN/PLP files, and I talk to the people in question. A lot. I make it a habit to "make the rounds" at least once a day. I hit people's desks in random order (so I'm not just wandering down the aisle and people would know I'm coming) and see what people are doing, if they are struggling with anything... it's amazing how much you can learn from just a couple minutes (about 5) with a person when you do it regularly.

Your company controls each employee's addiction to shelter, food, and clothing. Sometimes you take advantage of that if you want them to play by the rules. It only matters if senior management is backing you up. If they're not, just go back to being an architect and let someone else worry about it.

I find the key is knowing what's important to the person. Some people are motivated just by following rules. Others care about money. Others are more interested in social status. Some really care what other think of their work. Very few actually care whether the company makes money because they do not see the correlation with them making more money themselves. It's all about perceptions, what the person perceives as important. Once you know that, you can tailor your discussions with the non-followers.

"You know, when you don't follow standards...
... people wonder if you really know what you're doing."
... you won't get as good of a raise."
... people get angry and don't want to work with you anymore"
... other people cannot do their work as easily"

It's hard, really, dealing with individual people as individuals and not as a herd of CAD users. It took me a long time to get over that hump.

At the end of the day, though, it's all about management skills. I recommend the podcasts and articles at www.manager-tools.com. They made a huge difference for me!

[Link]

Mark wrote:
Just wondering how other CAD Managers out there are getting people to follow standards?

The ultimate goal is to get everyone to follow standards, make everyone more efficient and therefore spend more time on design, the fun part, and everyone gets paid more!. If only people could understand there is the potential to acheive this.

Don't underestimate the power of weekly, fortnightly or even monthly CAD meetings. Combined with some one-on-one time, they are excellent at putting everyone on an even playing field. In the past I've made it necessary for each user to raise at least three questions, in addition to focussing on major issues. You can even have pop-quizzes, or other fun competitions. They can be quite enjoyabe at the end of the day/week (especially if beer is involved). Maintaining a high moral is directly related to maintaining a high CAD standard.

Cheers,
Link.

[Laura Yanoviak]

Link wrote:
Don't underestimate the power of weekly, fortnightly or even monthly CAD meetings.

HA! After poor attendence at our last couple of in-house bi-weekly BUG (BIM User Group) Meetings (out of 25 active users, only about 5 were attending), I had to distribute a "very harshly worded e-mail" and took a poll of preferable/alternate meeting times. Well, this week we had 3 participants. Sometimes I feel like "I give up, I'm going back to Architecting, you're on your own." I definitely agree with getting everyone together and "making it fun", but sometimes people just don't care (until, of course, they have a problem and are on a deadline). How do you make it clear that this is a responsibility of your job?

[TomWaltz]

Laura wrote:
\How do you make it clear that this is a responsibility of your job?

By actually making it so. Has anyone at your company ever been fired, received a written reprimand, or been demoted for not doing it?

If not, then there is no evidence of it being a responsibility of their job.

[Laura Yanoviak]

TomWaltz wrote:
By actually making it so. Has anyone at your company ever been fired, received a written reprimand, or been demoted for not doing it?

I totally agree; however, in the current market (we're understaffed without many promising prospects), the threat is pretty empty. Of course, in this particular firm (compared to others where I've worked), although standards have been established (they even published a book on the subject) they have not been enforced (the state of AutoCAD when I got here 4 years ago was a mess). But (as I type as I think), this could be a part of the solution: it (the motivation) needs to come from the top.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm, i think this will end up being a nice discussion. I think your comments Tom of getting management behind you is probably a issue in our office. For instance i see cad meetings as essential for all cad users and should be enforced by management, management see it as a "only if they have time, don't interrupt their work!". It is hard to convince them of the great benefit of such meetings.

However to be fair management have come around if i compare it to 3 years ago, they are starting to realise its importance, it is just such a slow process of realisation!!

I think we are now heading down the track of evaluating everyones skills and then giving individual attention to those that firstly want it and those that obviously have the skills but need a push. However having pay effected by their cad performance is probably a dream at the moment.

Narrowing down one of the issue here, do people in your office actually read the manual? and if so, how did you do that??

[TomWaltz]

Mark wrote:
Narrowing down one of the issue here, do people in your office actually read the manual? and if so, how did you do that??

When it was first published (maybe mid 2005?), we gave everyone 2 hours of billable to time "familiarize themselves" with it. That did not mean "study", "read in depth" or "analyze". It meant that they should know what is in the manual and where to look it up when the time came.

It was distributed both in paper copy and in a searchable, indexed, bookmarked, and crossreferenced PDF. If ya cain't faund somethin', it's 'cuz you ain't lookin'!

[Anonymous]

Laura wrote:

TomWaltz wrote:
By actually making it so. Has anyone at your company ever been fired, received a written reprimand, or been demoted for not doing it?

I totally agree; however, in the current market (we're understaffed without many promising prospects), the threat is pretty empty. Of course, in this particular firm (compared to others where I've worked), although standards have been established (they even published a book on the subject) they have not been enforced (the state of AutoCAD when I got here 4 years ago was a mess). But (as I type as I think), this could be a part of the solution: it (the motivation) needs to come from the top.

It doesn't always have to be negative motivation. Positive reinforcement of good behavior often works better. Since adherence to standards and improvements in abilities lead to greater productivity a supportive management can also make sure this leads to increased rewards.

Support from the top is critical. Of all my clients the most successful are like Tom's firm where the partners/directors are fully behind the efforts of the CAD manager. I have seen plenty of other situations where there is lots of talk about implementing standards but the resources and backup are never there. Everyone is too rushed trying to get the projects out to put the time into making the changes that would ease the pressure on getting the projects out.

I agree with Link that regular meetings can be very useful. They are a tangible display of the importance the management puts in setting and maintaining standards, but they must be done properly or they are worse than useless. Each meeting must have a clearly defined topic with a presentation by the CAD manager (or consultant like me) with documentation written up and handed out.

We are doing this every second Tuesday at one of my client's to very good effect. The conference room is often packed (people drag chairs in and some end up standing) and there is serious interest in and conversation about the topics. BUT, we are very much aware of how much this hour or so costs the firm. Adding up the billable rates of every one present can push it over $2000. So, if we don't have a good topic all prepared and set up, we cancel it. One thing top management does not like is to see the entire productive capacity of the firm sitting around chatting for no good reason.

For the more informal general discussion we have user groups. These are generally more lightly attended, have wine and snacks, and are conducted after hours. This is "professional development" time for all of us at no cost to any one except the lights and AC of the host firm and whoever brings the refreshments.

The Standards & Practices Manual is also important if properly implemented, and a waste of time if it is not. The most important thing is to think in terms of the removal of obstacles (see here for more on removing obstacles 😉 ).

The manual must be easily accessible and organized in a clear and concise way so that people can find what they need easily. Of course the whole purpose of the manual (and the standards and the templates) is to remove obstacles in the way of people getting their work done. Properly implemented and expressed the standards and manual will be understood as supporting and promoting peoples' efforts, rather than some arbitrary set of rules that they must follow or be punished.

Ideally the manual should be a dynamic and organic document. It needs to be maintained to reflect changes in the software and the practice, and, ideally, to accumulate the knowledge and expertise of the people in the firm (and even outside it). This can be tricky to accomplish but I have found that with the right organization (removal of obstacles) it can be done.

For those who haven't discovered this yet (or heard me talk about it before); I have found (after years of trying just about everything) that the best program for writing and maintaining the manual is ArchiCAD (especially now that PlotMaker is rolled in). Everyone has it and (presumably) knows how to use it. It publishes the PDFs like a charm - with bookmarks and everything. And you have direct access to all the tools and features you are documenting.

Well, I've gone on long enough. I hope this is helpful. Cheers all!