Creating Experts

Back in 2003, Revit would change the way architects thought about process. The excitement I felt all those years ago would spread like a virus and all who came in contact with its greatness would be swept up in the coming apocalypse. There was just so many ground breaking, sea changing capabilities in this software; literally doing in 2 minutes what used to take 2 weeks. How could this not catch on?

A decade later and the question I have is this:

How do you make someone an expert?

Pictured: Shared Parameters

Or put a little differently. What makes someone an expert? 

Why doesn't everyone understand how Phases work? Or what Schedule Keys are? Or even that there are such a thing as View Templates?  I think the answer is basically experience, but is there something else? Training is great, mentoring is required, evangelizing is in my job description, but I can't make the horse drink (a Texas proverb, apologies). Maybe it's something else entirely. Gamma radiation exposure, anyone?

HULK SMASH BEST PRACTICES!!

How are you fostering individual growth in your company? Are your experts treated differently by management? Incentives? Accountability? Or are we relegated to the 'CAD Manager/Expert' business model? Sitting in the darkened cave in the back of the office, wishing everyone would just 'get it'.

Revit Architecture Family Categories - For Shame!

In Revit Architecture 2012, I've noticed something recently in collaborating with MEP engineers about the families we use and the function behind why we use them. Specifically, I am speaking about ceiling diffusers. There are other families that are just as guilty of what I am about to share, but I will focus on them for this article.

We put the FUN in Dysfunctional

We, as architects, have been happily grabbing the default families from the content provided by Autodesk without a doubt that they would function as intended. The problem is that the diffusers in the Revit Architecture content belong to the category Mechanical Equipment while the exact same family in Revit MEP belongs to the category Air Terminal. One particular call from one of my engineers got me thinking about the duplication effort it would take to coordinate something as simple as ceiling diffusers. Let me 'splain.

Architects want to put the diffusers precisely where they look the 'best' in his/her ceiling. The engineer wants the diffuser to be part of a complete system for his analysis and specification purposes, location is less of a concern. In a perfect world, the architect would place the diffuser and the engineer would copy/monitor it and swap it out for a more 'complete' version of it that meets his needs in his model.

Try doing that with families from 2 different categories.

Back to Reality

What a great break! 12 days of Christmas, quite literally, and it absolutely flew by. Great time with the fam, but unfortunately, it's back to real life. While I was away, I played, I thought, I slept (a lot), and I contemplated where we go next as an industry. Many changes are coming our way to be sure, and if Ray Kurzweil is to be believed, the Singularity is truly near.

Your next project

Technology is changing so rapidly now that I feel like it's a full time job just playing catch-up. With tools like Revit Server coming into maturity, enterprise cloud solutions for email, documents, and storage, and teams growing ever more complex and dispersed, our life is about to change big time.

I though about the challenges we face this year and created a very short list. Some of these aren't new technologies, but on the spectrum of 'Impossible' to 'Required', these just moved into the 'Practical' realm.

1. Security: Central files based in the cloud (or at least, outside access given to consultants).
2. Preparedness: Owners finally realizing BIM's potential and turning the screws on those who aren't ready.
3. Communication: Central files that aren't central files at all, but a data-hub of sorts.
4. Process: Simulation (energy, logistics, personnel throughput) for high-performance design will become commonplace.
5. Cost: Subscription-based cloud tools and services (think rendering).

If we make it that far.

This list is by no means complete, but just a series of thoughts I had whilst sipping Egg Nog at my 11am breakfast. Here's to a great 2012!

Vasari Love

I love Project Vasari. I love that it's free (for now). I love all what it stands for. I love what it means for designers who love technology. I am excited for the future (scripting anyone?) and the power that comes with it. My hope is that tools like Vasari become so ingrained in our design process, that we cannot image life before it.

Also, I love Monkey Island

I was toying around with Google Earth the other day and remembered something useful. You can actually download all of those wonderful models directly into Sketchup for your very own use; for free, no less! You can head right over to Google's 3D Warehouse from within Sketchup and choose your building(s) to download. Armed now with some simplistic model, the sky is the limit in terms of what I can do next.

Pro Tip: If you want faces analyzed, they have to be native Vasari; the other buildings are imports only

For starters, all of that great context our high performing buildings so desperately need are right there, perfectly scaled and located, ready for anything. The perfect integration of Vasari's Location and Google Maps & Earth make for some fantastic sun / shadow studies. Wind analysis through the spaces are also useful for figuring out where not to put the picnic tables.

Or, to analyze one's capabilities to make a Kessel Run (Thanks, David)

Ultimately, this post is just to bring to your attention some really cool, yet simple things to do with Vasari. Enjoy and remain motivated.

Family Counseling

When I open Revit files, I am usually part humored and part frustrated at the amount of 'rogue' data I find. Room Tag 2 - small 2, EQ-1234 - clay, etc. These families are frustrating usually because the intelligence exists in the the family to create new types on the fly or exist already in type catalogs, but not in the user. That's not to say they are not intelligent at all, it's really a reflection on need and comfort with the tool. In the AutoCAD days, a quick explode, edit, wblock was all you needed to accomplish the task at hand sometimes, and the 'requirement' of Revit is a bit different. Take for instance: doors.

The new Project Architect. 

Doors always seem to start simply enough; "We only have 10 types on any given project, those should be our standard" really means, "I can only think of 10 right now, but I'm sure we'll need 37 by the time we're done". This dilemma exists in most families, so replace 'door' with whatever rfa you can think of, and we're on the same page.

The problem occurs when that 11th door needs to be inserted, and the basic info known at that time is probably limited to its width and maybe some instance info like hardware (hardware is not a type parameter here). So what is a user to do other than revert and grab the 3'-0" door, edit, save as, rename, reload? That's not to say that you have to know everything about the door before you can place it. Our doors are built in such a way that all you need is to know one thing about it, then swap out for new types (from a catalog) as you discover more about it. Not everyone uses them that way; that's why I am writing this.

My door. Seriously, it does everything!

Before, all that extra data is covered in a tag sitting on a block (maybe that block even had attributes) filled out by a PA whose main job it was to manage and coordinate the drawings. Now it's embedded into the family itself and that nice door schedule that's running in the background looks all wrong, and it's Revit's fault.

The big picture is how BIM is changing us as architects into something different. DWOB (Drafting WithOut Brains) was a phrase that I heard a lot going way back into the AutcCAD days, but was more easily managed by our team leads who simply 'fixed' it in CDs. Now that management of the information starts at the beginning (honestly, where it should have been already) and our youngest architects are affecting our workflows in ways most aren't comfortable with.

My take is that, rather than preventing them, we should be enabling them. Communication and education (mentoring) is key.