Annual review time!

[Anonymous]

It's that time of year again - annual review time! With the economy
tightening, we non-billable types often feel that we are in everybody's
crosshairs. In many cases, it's more than just a feeling! Our group
provides CAD and IT related services and support. It is becoming
increasingly frustrating to fight for every dime when many people in the
company do not understand what we do or the value that we bring to the
company. I have been asked to propose some kind of metric whereby our
(collective) performance can be gauged in a very real way. In other words,
some way to measure our degree of success throughout the year. This metric
is easy with billable project teams: how much are your employees paid vs.
how much revenue did those employees generate? Being non-billable
(overhead) employees, there is no such quantifiable metric for our group.
We have tried the "making yourself more visible" approach for the past few
years, but that still does not provide any tangible way to measure whether
or not we were effective & deserve a certain raise or bonus. The "making
yourself more visible" approach is also purely subjective, relying on
somebody's "sense" that we are on-task and working hard. Yes, this is an
important battle (to be discussed in another thread), but I'm looking for
something concrete. Have any of you non-billable types around here come up
with an effective way to measure your success throughout the year? If so,
PLEASE share!

[Anonymous]

most of our custom cad functions report to a log file. from that i can get a
count of how many times they get used. (it's also a good tool to see who
*isn't* using the tools - more training may be needed)

simple testing will tell you how much time is saved over standard commands &
manual procedures. we get employee feedback for the more complicated
functions that vary in use as to how much time is saved. they must show the
result, not just guess.

take the time saved x use count x average billable. it may not be exact, but
you get a pretty good idea.

this can be used for showing your value and justifying training costs, and
that you have a follow-up plan for those not using the tools.

--
Your friend and mine,
Daron

[eviele]

Brilliant!
Now I have to figure out how to write to a log file and put that on the network.

Good idea Daron.

[Anonymous]

i actually use an ini for the tracking log

[Function 1]
user1=25
user2=58
[Function 2]
user1=91
user3=72

make a count-function that requires the calling function's name & the user's
name as arguments

(count-func "GenerateUnitUcs" (getvar "loginnname"))

in your count function:
- read the current user's total from the ini (in this case
"GenerateUnitUcs")
- add 1 & write back

add your count function to whatever else you load with each drawing, then
add the (count-func... line to whatever function you want to track. you can
even track what options are being used by specifically calling it at certain
times.

we have over 90 users with 12 .log files & 18 .ini files - no performance
issues. it can be great for "training" issues. for example, all
dimensions must be drawn in the xref drawings (with a few exceptions). we
track who is drawing dimensions in sheet drawings - user name, project, and
drawing name. we don't have issues with anyone drawing dimensions in the
sheet drawings - period. :o) almost everyone loves it.

--
Your friend and mine,
Daron

[Anonymous]

I too have to produce a way to track my staffs performance, I had my appraisal yesterday and was grilled for 1 1/2 hours by 2 of my senior managers, fortunately I got out of it with just 2 actions, one to tighten up on paperwork for engineers submitting drawings by producing a new drawing registration system, and the second by tracking time taken, turnaround and individual draughtspersons performances, i figure on creating a database or excel spreadsheet to do this for me (which they have told me is all they reasonably expect) Just how does one quantify a 'drawing' though when no two are the same and one person may skim through 30 A4 drawings in a few days whilst another doing an A0 schematic full redraw may get one drawing completed in the same time.
Still it will all be down to interpreting the results.

[Anonymous]

peer review.

unless your peers think you are an @$$.

wrote in message news:5952762@discussion.autodesk.com...
>> Have any of you non-billable types around here come up
with an effective way to measure your success throughout the year? If so,
PLEASE share!<<

[Anonymous]

I agree with DougK, Nothing is more gratifying, then the when the people you support say your doing a good job. Our yearly reviews include 3 anonymous Peer to Peer Reviews. Coworkers comment on several different areas.

this gives management a direct assessment of your performance by those you support.

Paul Caruthers

[Anonymous]

wrote
> "making yourself more visible"

I'm not necessarily in favor of that.
As a support person, I'm like your lungs, or your lymphatic system, or some
other vital chunk of innards.
If you know I'm there, it's probably because I'm not doing my job right.
The occasional perturbation just serves as a reminder that you can't live
without me...

[Anonymous]

One week a year take all customization you have done down for maintenance, make everyone work with the plain product. Compare the complaints and loss of productivity to the previous week.

Don't you wish you could to that for real?

Ask your manager(s) how they quantify their contributions to the organization. Use a similar method for yourself.

[Anonymous]

i see what you did there 😉

wrote in message news:5953537@discussion.autodesk.com...

Ask your manager(s) how they quantify their contributions to the organization. Use a similar method
for yourself.

[dgorsman]

A good CAD support person is like a ninja. If the job is done right, its like they weren't even there. If the job is done wrong, the users show up with torches and pitchforks threatening to string you up by your more sensitive appendages.

[Anonymous]

I would fire anybody that has not achieved 5th grade English composition
skills such as using paragraphs. 😉

wrote in message news:5952762@discussion.autodesk.com...
It's that time of year again - annual review time! With the economy
tightening, we non-billable types often feel that we are in everybody's
crosshairs. In many cases, it's more than just a feeling! Our group
provides CAD and IT related services and support. It is becoming
increasingly frustrating to fight for every dime when many people in the
company do not understand what we do or the value that we bring to the
company. I have been asked to propose some kind of metric whereby our
(collective) performance can be gauged in a very real way. In other words,
some way to measure our degree of success throughout the year. This metric
is easy with billable project teams: how much are your employees paid vs.
how much revenue did those employees generate? Being non-billable
(overhead) employees, there is no such quantifiable metric for our group.
We have tried the "making yourself more visible" approach for the past few
years, but that still does not provide any tangible way to measure whether
or not we were effective & deserve a certain raise or bonus. The "making
yourself more visible" approach is also purely subjective, relying on
somebody's "sense" that we are on-task and working hard. Yes, this is an
important battle (to be discussed in another thread), but I'm looking for
something concrete. Have any of you non-billable types around here come up
with an effective way to measure your success throughout the year? If so,
PLEASE share!

[Anonymous]

You can't. It is an artificial fantasy created by the licensed
who generally don't know anything except their narrow skillset and
the license they use to control others who do all the work they would have to learn to do themselves if the society returned to one
of merit-based accomplishment(s).

So you have to get really good at faking it and learning to live a lie. You
clearly already know and acknowledge its all subjective and cannot be
accurately and justly measured.

Its called putting lipstick on a pig.



"Grendel" wrote in message news:5953008@discussion.autodesk.com...
I too have to produce a way to track my staffs performance, I had my
appraisal yesterday and was grilled for 1 1/2 hours by 2 of my senior
managers, fortunately I got out of it with just 2 actions, one to tighten up
on paperwork for engineers submitting drawings by producing a new drawing
registration system, and the second by tracking time taken, turnaround and
individual draughtspersons performances, i figure on creating a database or
excel spreadsheet to do this for me (which they have told me is all they
reasonably expect) Just how does one quantify a 'drawing' though when no two
are the same and one person may skim through 30 A4 drawings in a few days
whilst another doing an A0 schematic full redraw may get one drawing
completed in the same time.
Still it will all be down to interpreting the results. Message was edited by: Discussion Admin

[Anonymous]

On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:12:42 +0000, dgorsman <> wrote:

>A good CAD support person is like a ninja. If the job is done right, its like they weren't even there.

But people still die in the process?

>If the job is done wrong, the users show up with torches and pitchforks threatening to string you up by your more sensitive appendages.

A ninja Frankenstein?

Matt
mstachoni@verizon.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com

[Anonymous]

And I would fire anybody who clearly has no ability to work with others.



"clintonG" wrote in message
news:5953999@discussion.autodesk.com...
I would fire anybody that has not achieved 5th grade English composition
skills such as using paragraphs. 😉

wrote in message news:5952762@discussion.autodesk.com...
It's that time of year again - annual review time! With the economy
tightening, we non-billable types often feel that we are in everybody's
crosshairs. In many cases, it's more than just a feeling! Our group
provides CAD and IT related services and support. It is becoming
increasingly frustrating to fight for every dime when many people in the
company do not understand what we do or the value that we bring to the
company. I have been asked to propose some kind of metric whereby our
(collective) performance can be gauged in a very real way. In other words,
some way to measure our degree of success throughout the year. This metric
is easy with billable project teams: how much are your employees paid vs.
how much revenue did those employees generate? Being non-billable
(overhead) employees, there is no such quantifiable metric for our group.
We have tried the "making yourself more visible" approach for the past few
years, but that still does not provide any tangible way to measure whether
or not we were effective & deserve a certain raise or bonus. The "making
yourself more visible" approach is also purely subjective, relying on
somebody's "sense" that we are on-task and working hard. Yes, this is an
important battle (to be discussed in another thread), but I'm looking for
something concrete. Have any of you non-billable types around here come up
with an effective way to measure your success throughout the year? If so,
PLEASE share!

[Anonymous]

So the owners of the firm can know that I am doing a good job based on the
fact that I am alive and have all of my appendages. I'll try that one.


wrote in message news:5953931@discussion.autodesk.com...
A good CAD support person is like a ninja. If the job is done right, its
like they weren't even there. If the job is done wrong, the users show up
with torches and pitchforks threatening to string you up by your more
sensitive appendages.

[Anonymous]

On Mon, 9 Jun 2008 20:08:15 +0000, CAD Guy wrote:

>Have any of you non-billable types around here come up
>with an effective way to measure your success throughout the year? If so,
>PLEASE share!

I haven't killed anyone yet this year.



Matt
mstachoni@verizon.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com

[Anonymous]

Keyword: YET.
--
James Wedding, P.E.
Engineered Efficiency, Inc.
The Site: www.eng-eff.com
The Blog: www.civil3d.com
The Book: www.masteringcivil3d.com
C3D 08SP2/09 Mac Book Pro, XP SP2, 4GB

[Anonymous]

On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:37:41 +0000, james.wedding <> wrote:

>Keyword: YET.

Yep, and this year ain't getting any shorter.

Matt
mstachoni@verizon.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com

[Anonymous]

I have initiated an excel job reporting sheet, I am now happily skewing the results by adding every phonecall asking for a print or email asking for a drawing as a pdf as a new job, with a minimum reporting time in my sheet set at 1 day each little job takes 1 day, and has a turnaround of 1 day, this will nicely offset any odd job that overruns a short turnaround, when I average all the results. I will still know how each of my staff are performing through that age old process of intuition and experience, but my bosses will have their measurement system, and some figures to play around with and report to their bosses. and any discrepancies will be explainable as 'special drawings' out of the ordinary run of the mill.