Unpleasant question

[Djordje]

OK, CAD Managers:

How would you explain the necessity for the post of a CAD Manager to the owner of the company that does not even use a computer?

[TomWaltz]

Djordje wrote:
OK, CAD Managers:

How would you explain the necessity for the post of a CAD Manager to the owner of the company that does not even use a computer?

I don't think I would. It already sounds like a company I would not want to deal with 🙂

However, if I were so inclined, I think the goal is not to sell it as a technical position, but a managerial one. In some ways, CAD Manager is similar to the role of Production Manager in a factory. Your goal is to make the staff as effective as possible at what they do with the tools available to them. You just happen to have an expertise in CAD software.

Yes, this means that I believe that a CAD Manager needs to be more than just the office's top CAD user. This person needs to have people skills, leadership qualities, and a basic understanding of business, accounting, marketing, and (!) architecture.

[Laura Yanoviak]

GOOD QUESTION! and basically the gist of what I was getting at with my post: archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=9935

anxiously awaiting additonal replies... LJY

[Ignacio Azpiazu]

TomWaltz wrote:
I think the goal is not to sell it as a technical position, but a managerial one. In some ways, CAD Manager is similar to the role of Production Manager in a factory. Your goal is to make the staff as effective as possible at what they do with the tools available to them.

At that point you are sure to hear 'oh, no, we don't need more overhead'. 'CAD management overhead' is a new expense they see, while the zillion wasted hours because of lack of standards, procedures, training and best practices is an expense they already have and don't see!

There could be some reasonable guesstimate analysis of cost and returns. 'Look, you will be paying so much for this guy, and after such a period we should be expecting an x increase in productivity in our drafting staff--that's good business'. And also a part-time or test-period scheme, subject to evaluation after six months or whatever, is easier to sell too.

[TomWaltz]

Ignacio wrote:

TomWaltz wrote:
I think the goal is not to sell it as a technical position, but a managerial one. In some ways, CAD Manager is similar to the role of Production Manager in a factory. Your goal is to make the staff as effective as possible at what they do with the tools available to them.

At that point you are sure to hear 'oh, no, we don't need more overhead'. 'CAD management overhead' is a new expense they see, while the zillion wasted hours because of lack of standards, procedures, training and best practices is an expense they already have and don't see!

That depends on how a company sees its management. If a company already has a CFO, a managing partner, or other full-time management on-staff, it's not a big deal. (Assuming it's a company big enough for that kind of thing)

It's absolutely key that owners/share holders see a demonstrable return on expenditure (not ROI, ROE. Employees are not investments), since any such overhead position has to be generating revenue by making others more efficient instead of by being directly billable.

And also a part-time or test-period scheme, subject to evaluation after six months or whatever, is easier to sell too.

Exactly. At that point, it becomes the CAD Manager's responsibility to make a difference large enough to justify the expenditure.

[__archiben]

Djordje wrote:
How would you explain the necessity for the post of a CAD Manager to the owner of the company that does not even use a computer?

very, very carefully.

it's not the fact that they don't use a computer djordje, the problems occur when they don't use a computer but think that they can. and it also comes down to business sense, not IT know-how. in my experience, of two directors who could barely find the power switch, the one with the head for business was far more open to IT investment than the one who thought he knew his TAB key from his backspace . . .

~/archiben