tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461658247603905885.post5999286136179217781..comments2023-08-23T05:31:31.218-06:00Comments on Why Architects Drink: Software is not softMile High Pixiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03276750909800945131noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461658247603905885.post-91337389462830687712007-02-01T19:11:00.000-07:002007-02-01T19:11:00.000-07:00Faded: Star Trek? No you di'int!
The latest thin...Faded: Star Trek? No you di'int!<br /><br />The latest thing for software is to truly build your building virtually in 3D. Essentially, it solves a lot of your conflicts in the fields and also makes it really easy to cut real, buildable, and eventually detailed sections, interior elevations, exterior elevations, and details. It expands your SD and DD phases but shrinks your CD phase and supposedly/hopefully makes your CA pretty painless. The CA on Wheatlands has been fairly easy, I must say, due to a combination of good software and CDs and a good, skilled, conscientious contractor.Mile High Pixiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03276750909800945131noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461658247603905885.post-1442055124531028632007-01-31T20:46:00.000-07:002007-01-31T20:46:00.000-07:00In your post you never sited a reason for the soft...In your post you never sited a reason for the software upgrades. You indicated that the upgrades were going to happen but never stated why. <br /><br />Has the feature creature taken over your office? The feature creature causes the owners and managers to lust after the latest bells and whistles with out any consideration of the usefulness of said features. <br /><br />The feature creature can consume huge amounts of time and money and give you nothing but frustration and decreased productivity in return. Everyone wastes time learning useless stuff and suffering the constant confusion of never ending upgrades.<br /><br />The only upgrades that should be made are ones that reduce your cost of doing business. In this case the upgrade should help make your design and project management processes more efficient.<br /><br />If the feature creature lives in your office stop Sarge from slamming his head in the car door . The two of you need to smash your heads together like Klingons do in Star Trek.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461658247603905885.post-16716640336167109782007-01-31T19:51:00.000-07:002007-01-31T19:51:00.000-07:00Actually, if you're a CAD manager, your already *a...Actually, if you're a CAD manager, your already *are* being paid to take care of babies....Mile High Pixiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03276750909800945131noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461658247603905885.post-62804013482784666022007-01-31T10:39:00.000-07:002007-01-31T10:39:00.000-07:00Lordamercy!!! I love seeing your take on things. ...Lordamercy!!! I love seeing your take on things. If I weren't so busy trying to crush my skull with the car door, I'd see more humor in it. Alas, back to the parking lot...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461658247603905885.post-10552763359843841482007-01-31T07:31:00.000-07:002007-01-31T07:31:00.000-07:00I thought ADT was a security system for your house...I thought ADT was a security system for your house...<br /><br />ha ha<br /><br />I hate CAD. Everything should be easy like using the draw tools in Office. ~snerk~<br /><br />Seriously, CAD makes my head hurt. Having to learn more than ONE system like that would seriously consider my vocation. Like, "gee, I'd rather clean up vomit and bed pans than do this. I'm off to nursing school! At least I'll get paid for taking care of babies."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461658247603905885.post-70319187730999967032007-01-31T07:20:00.000-07:002007-01-31T07:20:00.000-07:00\I send my condolences and sympathy to Sarge. I h...\I send my condolences and sympathy to Sarge. I had his job at the last firm I ever worked for, Pickles, Pickles and Pickles. I had to bring the office forward from using pin registration drafting to using Autocad. This was a small 12 person firm.<br /><br />I found the only way to enforce standards was to hide them behind buttons. I wrote a custom menu extension in auto lisp that provided a series of buttons for the user. The buttons would say things like 24x36 or 30x42 or Insert Layers. The users were happy to click and not worry about it. It was a pain in the ass to set up but the users liked it alot and they enjoyed their ignorance. I finally extended the menus to include some parametric drafting routines and standard constructs that were inserted into the drawings. You could give the thing a set of inputs and it would rough out the wall section or door detail you wanted. A lot of this is now part of Autocad AEC and Revit. The idea was to hide the complexity of the system so the architect could select and interact with things they knew about. It worked very well. <br /><br />Our concentration at the time was to reduce the labor required to build construction documents. We cut the time required by 30%. However the overall time to do a project was not reduced at all. I wanted to find out where the time was going. I proposed a way to find out by modifying how time and activities were tracked in the firm. Knowing this information could have made PP&P into a very profitable firm. I laid out my proposal to Mr. Pickle and he fired me. How he did it is story for another day.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com