NBBJ - Great Presentation on... Everything.

Thanks Sean for posting this video about your firm NBBJ on your blog Paradigm Shift.  Steve McConnell, Managing Partner of NBBJ, captured many of the points that I have been writing about recently.  Here are a few key points from the video:

Prefabrication of Patient Rooms... How they took the idea to the contractor and owner which ended up with a 300% increase in productivity, reduced waste, 1/3 the time and no injuries in the warehouse fabrication.

Article: Really Interesting Prefab Prototype

Firms NOT only Hiring architects... he talks about an example of a mathematician and industrial designer working together within their office to solve complex issues by "Providing the tools to innovate".

Article: What's in Your Toolbox

Article: Don't Just Represent Architecture

Wouldn't it be great to have a few modeling wizards, a math genius, an industrial designer, maybe a graphic designer and a couple programmers.  Just think about how you could launch BIM further with some gifted individuals who may or may not understand architecture.

Article: Good to Great, Think Differently about Technology

Let go and Lead... who do you serve to enable brilliance and creativity with a Collaborative and Horizontal Structure. 

Article: Good to Great, Creating an Open Dialogue Environment

Article: Good to Great, First Who... Then What

Benchmarking Exemplary Sustainable and Auditing... how do you track the success of your projects? 

Reducing Energy in Hospitals... research and strategies led to DOE grant to scale for entire healthcare industry.

How a Culture of Collaboration & Technology Enables Design Excellence at NBBJ - Steve McConnell, Managing Partner, NBBJ from Design Intelligence on Vimeo.

You Cannot Squeeze Water from a Stone

What does one do when just about all within a firm have been convinced and is excited that BIM is the right solution... except those with the most power within a company?  Part of it is a generational thing, part is a lack of devotion to technological advancement and part is they just don't care to put the effort behind change even though they know they need to change.  One cannot force an adaptation to how someone approaches change.  One can try to get excitement behind it, have numerous events showcasing BIM, train the software or show facts and figures but you just cannot squeeze water from a stone no matter how hard you try.

This Holiday season... if you have a BIM Implementer that you feel is going above and beyond to the near brink of insanity, let them know that you care and appreciate them.

What do you do?

A month or so ago, I was having a discussion with one of the best Revit users in the office and he made a comment during the discussion that has stuck with me for a while now, “I don't know what you actually do...” He meant this to refer to what I do on a day to day basis and since he is very computer literate, he does not require much computer or BIM support. Therefore, he does not understand the demand that others have on firm's support staff. I think about that comment a lot and it has really stuck in my mind. If he doesn't know what I do, how many others do not know also? How many people in a company think that IT, BIM Support and Programmers are twiddling their thumbs just waiting for their call? Is it their assumption that only they have project deadlines, unscheduled meetings, a full email inbox and phone messages that still need to be returned?

Are we only seen as important to those most needy? How do we inform everyone of our contributions? What do you do? (I would really like to get your comments)

I have been working as BIM support for over two and a half years now after having been a Project Manager and Revit user for three years in another firm. When put on the spot, it is difficult to say exactly what I do because there is no simple response. Someone I know once compared our support jobs to that of a Humvee navigating down a road in Iraq just hoping not to encounter an IED. Any task or destination is never an easy journey. I set aside some time to work on documenting some standards or a process and then I get a call about a corrupt Revit file {Boom IED}, get back to the documentation and almost immediately receive an email about a desperate need for a modification to a door family {Boom IED}. Before I know it, after multiple IEDs, I still don't have the documentation done at the end of the day.

So what have I done for the past two and a half years in between all the random distractions? I helped the firm go from 12 Revit users to now have 64 Revit users, not including a handful of Revit users who are no longer with the firm. Helped support the completion of 15 BIM projects and have 10 currently in design. Logged 1,526 user support requests and answered numerous other questions on the phone, in passing or while getting coffee. Matched the previous Autocad standards of the firm by reviewing line by line, layer by layer to determine exactly how objects should be displayed in Revit which included the creation of many custom object styles.  Performed 450 hours of training, created hundreds of Revit family components, helped write marketing materials, recreated from scratch 200+ of the firm’s standard Autocad details in Revit, reviewed and wrote content for project proposals (RFP+RFQ), made multiple presentations to management, strategized the new BIM work-flow, updated the firm through three releases of Revit, review models for efficiency and performance, conversed and had meetings with project consultants and owners, worked on interoperability between Revit and Max, Ecotect, GBS, Navisworks, AutoCAD, Sketchup and other programs, performed many presentations to an in-house Revit users group, written custom Revit API programs, updated the intranet site and found time to plan for the future. How do you possibly put this into a simple response to the question, “What do you do?”

Sound like too much for one person? It sure feels like it...

How about you? Leave a comment or send me an email.

Old Rules - New Rules

"Over time, drip by drip, year by year, the manual was written, the procedures set, and people were hired to follow the rules.  The organization gets extremely efficient at producing a certain output a certain way..... and then competition  or change or technology arrives and old rules aren't particularly useful, the old efficiencies not so profitable." - Linchpin by Seth Godin

It is hard to throw out the old rules, standards and efficiencies for new ones.  What is the purpose?  You know what you are doing and have comfort in knowing how predictable it is.  You know how to put together a set of drawings, know how long it will take and how much staff will be required.  Now BIM comes around and you need to throw out the old tried and true... even though it is not that old.  We act as though the CAD process has been around since the beginning of the Architecture practice when in reality it has only been used for two or three decades in most firms.

Why do you need to adapt yourself to a new technology when the old one works efficiently for your practice?  Is it easier to create drawings the first time one uses it? Probably not...  Is it going to be more efficient the first time you launch the software? Probably not...  Will it allow one to do more with less employees right away?  Probably not...  Then why would one change the formula of their business?  It comes down to your clients.  The people who are paying one's company to provide a service.  Almost all the RFPs that we receive now are requiring BIM and if one did not implement it early enough, have enough experienced users or have new processes in place... one CANNOT effectively compete.  The competition has changed, has utilized BIM enough before it was required, created efficiencies and are now marketing themselves as being able to provide a service above and beyond the typical CAD firm.  These firms that understand BIM fully can now prepare themselves for the next wave change, IPD.

An interesting approach to technology was presented at the 2009 Autodesk University Keynote Address.  Carl Bass talked about the "sweet spot" of technology and how to achieve a competitive advantage by timing your implementation of technology.

See the entire presentation here.

No matter what type of company you are, if you do not have the intuition to sense how the world is changing and how your output or service will be affected, you will be left behind.  To surf the wave of technology without falling off the board, a Linchpin is needed in one's organization who is passionate about the future technologies and how a firm can best utilize them.

"Some people, though, have an itch for a different future, one with radically different views.  Those people are emotionally connected to the sort of drive and visionary leadership that organizations look for in a linchpin.  It's a choice.

The linchpin is able to invent a future, fall in love with it, live with it - and then abandon it on a moment's notice." - Linchpin by Seth Godin

Technology Accelerators were also covered in the book Good to Great by Jim Collins.  In the book Jim writes, "Truely great companies of the last hundred years - trace their roots back through multiple generations of technology change...  They've adapted before and emerged great.  The best ones will adapt again."

BIM Support Survey

Ever wonder how other firms are supporting BIM in their offices?  It is the unknown abyss.  I have put together a survey that should take the mystery out of this question.  Please take the survey by clicking on the image, selecting the BIM Support Survey on the link bar to the left or using the following link http://jasongrant.squarespace.com/bim-support-survey/ 

Please repost, retweet and just share by word of mouth so that we can get as many responses as possible.  Once there are a significant number of responses, I will compile and share the information with everyone.