Novedge Pulse™ of Mark W. Kiker

“I come to praise drafting and not to bury it.”  Not exactly the reversal of a quote you may expect in a Shakespeare play, but appropriate for our context. I was recently cleaning out my parent’s garage after my father passed away.  There was a lot of “junk” that just  [more...]

In the last post I mentioned Fayol’s concept of allowing employees to talk to each other across organizational structures. In today’s firms many can speak across lines of authority without troubles, but does that really unveil the entire picture? Even if  [more...]

Making the Call (Selecting the best option) You have gathered information and sifted through the piles of reports, documents, input from people and management perspectives.  Now you are ready to make the decision. Don’t hesitate Making decisive choices is critical  [more...]

Develop potential solutions Now comes the step where you start brainstorming decisions and possible options that may generate positive outcomes.  In a pinch you will move through these steps quickly.  When you have time, you can think a little more on these items.    [more...]

When decision time comes there are always limiting items that come in to play.  Knowing the limits and constraints will improve your decision making by placing boundaries around the extents of what could be done. These boundaries may include time constraints that limit  [more...]

Our topic is decisions.  As we all know, decisions are based on the available information you have to process prior to making the call.  If you have very little information to go on, you run the risk of making the wrong choice.  If you gather too much, then sometimes  [more...]

You cannot decide what to do next until you know what or where there is a problem or opportunity for progress.  Identifying these is the first step. Problems and issues that come up are easy to identify.  They present themselves every day and just need to be addressed.   [more...]

Managers and line workers are called on to make decisions every day. Some are small and can be processed quickly and others are major efforts. Learning to make good decisions takes time and usually takes a lot of bad decisions into account. How do you work through  [more...]

I have written extensively on delivering the messages that Managers have to deliver.  Here are a few links to read from my past writings Can we talk? – Principles of CAD Management Henri Fayol (1841-1925) was a French mining engineer who went on to become Director  [more...]

Communication has so many obstacles.  Think about it.  Even simple communication takes so many steps.  You have to develop the message in your mind then define how you are going to communicate it (written, verbal, etc.) then deliver the message.  The person receiving  [more...]

Redundancy Works I have commented before that managers should repeat themselves often.  Not so much making the exact same statements, but sharing the same information in differing ways.  Multiple times. In a recent article in Harvard Business Review (Effective Managers  [more...]

Communication, like your golf score or penmanship, can always be improved.  Letting people know what you have decided as a Manager is part of the job.  Doing it effectively can be tough.  When you have come to a conclusion either on your own or with your team, you  [more...]

Started the day off early with a presentation on CAD Momentum.  I discussed getting the right stuff moving in the right direction at the right speed. The AUGI Top DAUG winner was announced. The competition went down to the wire with several last day participants winning  [more...]

Today I presented twice. The first presentation was on working with multiple generations in the workplace. The second was CAD Leadership and Leading Change. Each class was well attended and somewhat interactive. I am writing this from the show floor and the crowd is  [more...]

Yesterday was a long day of presentations and classes. The General Session Keynote was done on a single massive display that must have been well over 100 feet wide and Autodesk CEO Carl Bass always entertains and informs.  I am hearing stats like 8000 attendees from  [more...]

After arriving yesterday, I jumped into full swing today with the Leadership Forum.  Last night there was a reception where everyone had the opportunity to meet and greet.  I interacted with Joseph Joseph (www.bim-managers.com) who helped organized the whole thing.   [more...]

CADD Manager Journal had the opportunity recently to interact with Greg Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems about the involvement of Bentley and himself with educational environment and STEM.  I am always encouraged when firms embrace educational efforts for tomorrows  [more...]

My CAD Leadership class this year is on Change.  How to manage it well.  Change is going to happen and you need to be leading it. Leading change will draw upon your skills in ways that you may not have fully developed and will continue to develop your entire career.  [more...]

I am presenting on how multiple generations of workers is impacting the workforce.   When working through the data I came up with some conclusion. Five Keys of Understanding the Generations  Traditionalists (WW2 generation) and Baby Boomers are as likely as Millennials  [more...]

One of my classes is on CAD Momentum.  It is about making things happen by capitalizing on the energy and momentum of change. Here are some of my thoughts… The Enemies of Momentum.  The people and comments below can be killers of your progress.  You can hear  [more...]

One of the things that I think we may have lost is knowing what you are actually depicting.  In the days when the draftsperson had to interact with the Architects, Engineers and Designers they learned what they were actually trying to depict in the finished product.   [more...]

Think before you draw. Hand drafting took a long time.  It caused you to think before you actually set information to paper.  Thinking is good.  In today’s fast paced CAD and BIM markets, the software moves quicker than some people think. Moving from one sheet to another  [more...]

We need to retain the ability to put together a set of Plans I mentioned this before so this is an expansion on that comment.  You should be thinking about how a set of plans are used and then group them for maximum efficiency and clarity.  The entire set should tell  [more...]

As some have commented, there may not be a need to learn hand lettering, mechanical pencil manipulation or how to use a protractor, but there are some things that I think were matured during the hand drafting and document preparation days that should not be forgotten.  [more...]

All of this hands-on method of drafting may soon (or already) be a thing of the past.  All of the methods that assisted in the proper training and development of the designers mind may be slipping away due to no longer needing them in today’s high tech world of advanced  [more...]

My biggest fear in bringing this topic us is to be thought of as a curmudgeon, a Luddite or an old school voice crying over the bygone days.  I am not – but first a little history lesson. The Luddites were a social movement that advocated the destruction of the mechanized  [more...]

Way back when, when all the drafting functions were done with a mechanical pencil in hand there were many talents that a drafter had to develop in order to make plans readable.  The artistic flavor of their lettering was developed over time.  The twist of a pencil  [more...]

I first posted the AutoCAD Keyboard Shortcuts back in 2008 and many have downloaded and add to my list. Here is the updated list for 2012 versions of AutoCAD and the various products that use it as a platform. Here is the new list:  AutoCAD Keyboard Shortcuts-2012  [more...]

If you are anywhere close to the locations below, you may want to try and drop in on these events… The AutoCAD User Experience Team is hosting its annual AutoCAD Sneak Peek events in late September. These are free half-day events held in a few different locations,  [more...]

Have you ever worked somewhere or with some team that just clicked?  Most of us have had this experience at some point. A group of people just hit it off. They are firing on all cylinders. They know what needs to be done, who is doing what,what can be expected from  [more...]

Nearing the end of Fayol’s list of 14 principles brings us to Initiative. Many of his principles stand the test of time and especially this one.  Allowing personal initiative in employees will garner creativity, energy, personal efforts and more.  When people  [more...]

Check out this online event http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=172720029467777

Stability – specifically of employment.  Fayol (read more on him here) lived in different times than we do.  He encouraged the retention of employees, planning of transitions and he discouraged employee turnover. These days we see firms that are forced to lay  [more...]

Fayol calls it Equity.  I call it treating people right. His concept is not to just give people what they deserve, which is justice, but to give them what would be considered kindness.  This is being gracious in place of demanding.  Understanding in place of legalistic  [more...]