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the Most important duties of a CAD Manager

39 REPLIES 39
Reply
Message 1 of 40
Anonymous
743 Views, 39 Replies

the Most important duties of a CAD Manager

With all the recent great insightful discussions of Cad testing, Management
worth, Document management, etc... What do you think are the most important
traits / objectives of a good Cad manager? And how would you rank those
items in terms of order?
Like:
1. Knowledge of the particular Cad Program itself, (ADT, etc.)
2. Networking / Server knowledge
3. People skills for training, etc...
TIA,
--
Kevin Anderson
www.KAddAssociates.com
39 REPLIES 39
Message 2 of 40
David-cardew
in reply to: Anonymous

No 3 as you can learn, delegate or employ people to do the other 2

David Cardew
Message 3 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

1. Managerial skills (kind of obvious as you are the CAD MANAGER)
2. Leadership skills (be able to be here on time, leave late, initiate - not
react, etc.)
3. Knowledge of the program (s) (the only way you can troubleshoot is if you
know what the problem is and how to fix it)
4. People Skills (neccessary to get approvals, convince employees about
changes, etc.)
5. Research Skills (how else could you find the solution to that nagging
problem?)
6. Development and Coding Skills (the least neccessary in my opinion, as
everything can be either found, bought, or modified from existing solutions)
Message 4 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

#1 Most important thing is programming for Aucotad.
No point in hiring a person for CAD Manager if they cannot manage the
program to do what the users want.

"Kevin Anderson" wrote in message
news:5088147@discussion.autodesk.com...
With all the recent great insightful discussions of Cad testing, Management
worth, Document management, etc... What do you think are the most important
traits / objectives of a good Cad manager? And how would you rank those
items in terms of order?
Like:
1. Knowledge of the particular Cad Program itself, (ADT, etc.)
2. Networking / Server knowledge
3. People skills for training, etc...
TIA,
--
Kevin Anderson
www.KAddAssociates.com
Message 5 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

I agree with david and hector that managerial and people skills are tops
here... then it will depend upon the actual office environment what comes
next. some might need to BE the IT guy, others might have a separate IT
department and not need to know precisely how everything works. Knowledge of
the programs? Honestly, I believe rudimentary knowledge about how common
tasks are accomplished is good enough for someone who is not drafting. Their
job is to manage... budget... schedule... etc, not to know every intricacy
of the program(s) being used.

"Kevin Anderson" wrote in message
news:5088147@discussion.autodesk.com...
With all the recent great insightful discussions of Cad testing, Management
worth, Document management, etc... What do you think are the most important
traits / objectives of a good Cad manager? And how would you rank those
items in terms of order?
Like:
1. Knowledge of the particular Cad Program itself, (ADT, etc.)
2. Networking / Server knowledge
3. People skills for training, etc...
TIA,
--
Kevin Anderson
www.KAddAssociates.com
Message 6 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

I totally disagree. Why would a CAD Manager need to schedule or budjet
anything? They are not Project Managers. They need to be able to
streamline the CAD system. They are the people that need to know most about
how the program works in order to make it do what the users want. Autocad
is suppose to be customized. Anybody can create standards, and standards
should be a team effort. The best way to enforce those standards is through
customization/automation so it makes it as easy as possible for users to put
objects on the correct layers, get blocks, details etc. as efficiently as
possible.

But I guess I'm wrong.
"melanie stone" wrote in message
news:5088315@discussion.autodesk.com...
I agree with david and hector that managerial and people skills are tops
here... then it will depend upon the actual office environment what comes
next. some might need to BE the IT guy, others might have a separate IT
department and not need to know precisely how everything works. Knowledge of
the programs? Honestly, I believe rudimentary knowledge about how common
tasks are accomplished is good enough for someone who is not drafting. Their
job is to manage... budget... schedule... etc, not to know every intricacy
of the program(s) being used.

"Kevin Anderson" wrote in message
news:5088147@discussion.autodesk.com...
With all the recent great insightful discussions of Cad testing, Management
worth, Document management, etc... What do you think are the most important
traits / objectives of a good Cad manager? And how would you rank those
items in terms of order?
Like:
1. Knowledge of the particular Cad Program itself, (ADT, etc.)
2. Networking / Server knowledge
3. People skills for training, etc...
TIA,
--
Kevin Anderson
www.KAddAssociates.com
Message 7 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

and I totally disagree with you...
why would they need to budget? how much do you pay your users? how much are
subscription contracts? how much for pc upgrades, telecommunications needs?
how much do you need to allocate for paper, ink, and specialty equipment...
I didn't say *anything* about budgeting for construction.

I must from your knee-jerk misinterpretation of my mention of budgeting that
you've never actually worked in management?

"cad user" wrote in message
news:5088338@discussion.autodesk.com...
I totally disagree. Why would a CAD Manager need to schedule or budjet
anything? They are not Project Managers. They need to be able to
streamline the CAD system. They are the people that need to know most about
how the program works in order to make it do what the users want. Autocad
is suppose to be customized. Anybody can create standards, and standards
should be a team effort. The best way to enforce those standards is through
customization/automation so it makes it as easy as possible for users to put
objects on the correct layers, get blocks, details etc. as efficiently as
possible.

But I guess I'm wrong.
"melanie stone" wrote in message
news:5088315@discussion.autodesk.com...
I agree with david and hector that managerial and people skills are tops
here... then it will depend upon the actual office environment what comes
next. some might need to BE the IT guy, others might have a separate IT
department and not need to know precisely how everything works. Knowledge of
the programs? Honestly, I believe rudimentary knowledge about how common
tasks are accomplished is good enough for someone who is not drafting. Their
job is to manage... budget... schedule... etc, not to know every intricacy
of the program(s) being used.

"Kevin Anderson" wrote in message
news:5088147@discussion.autodesk.com...
With all the recent great insightful discussions of Cad testing, Management
worth, Document management, etc... What do you think are the most important
traits / objectives of a good Cad manager? And how would you rank those
items in terms of order?
Like:
1. Knowledge of the particular Cad Program itself, (ADT, etc.)
2. Networking / Server knowledge
3. People skills for training, etc...
TIA,
--
Kevin Anderson
www.KAddAssociates.com
Message 8 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Ignore

"melanie stone" wrote in message
and I totally disagree with you...
why would they need to budget? how much do you pay your users? how much are
subscription contracts? how much for pc upgrades, telecommunications needs?
how much do you need to allocate for paper, ink, and specialty equipment...
I didn't say *anything* about budgeting for construction.

I must from your knee-jerk misinterpretation of my mention of budgeting that
you've never actually worked in management? Message was edited by: Discussion Admin
Message 9 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

The IT department should handle the hardware and software budget. The
office manager/branch manager should work with the IT staff about possible
growth. Why would you give a person the title CAD manager if that person
was managing the entire office? Makes no sense.

"melanie stone" wrote in message
news:5088358@discussion.autodesk.com...
and I totally disagree with you...
why would they need to budget? how much do you pay your users? how much are
subscription contracts? how much for pc upgrades, telecommunications needs?
how much do you need to allocate for paper, ink, and specialty equipment...
I didn't say *anything* about budgeting for construction.

I must from your knee-jerk misinterpretation of my mention of budgeting that
you've never actually worked in management?

"cad user" wrote in message
news:5088338@discussion.autodesk.com...
I totally disagree. Why would a CAD Manager need to schedule or budjet
anything? They are not Project Managers. They need to be able to
streamline the CAD system. They are the people that need to know most about
how the program works in order to make it do what the users want. Autocad
is suppose to be customized. Anybody can create standards, and standards
should be a team effort. The best way to enforce those standards is through
customization/automation so it makes it as easy as possible for users to put
objects on the correct layers, get blocks, details etc. as efficiently as
possible.

But I guess I'm wrong.
"melanie stone" wrote in message
news:5088315@discussion.autodesk.com...
I agree with david and hector that managerial and people skills are tops
here... then it will depend upon the actual office environment what comes
next. some might need to BE the IT guy, others might have a separate IT
department and not need to know precisely how everything works. Knowledge of
the programs? Honestly, I believe rudimentary knowledge about how common
tasks are accomplished is good enough for someone who is not drafting. Their
job is to manage... budget... schedule... etc, not to know every intricacy
of the program(s) being used.

"Kevin Anderson" wrote in message
news:5088147@discussion.autodesk.com...
With all the recent great insightful discussions of Cad testing, Management
worth, Document management, etc... What do you think are the most important
traits / objectives of a good Cad manager? And how would you rank those
items in terms of order?
Like:
1. Knowledge of the particular Cad Program itself, (ADT, etc.)
2. Networking / Server knowledge
3. People skills for training, etc...
TIA,
--
Kevin Anderson
www.KAddAssociates.com
Message 10 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Is it hard to comprehend that company's do things differently?

Don't answer that.





"cad user" wrote in message
The IT department should handle the hardware and software budget. The
office manager/branch manager should work with the IT staff about possible
growth. Why would you give a person the title CAD manager if that person
was managing the entire office? Makes no sense.
Message 11 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

cad user wrote:

> The IT department should handle the hardware and software budget. The
> office manager/branch manager should work with the IT staff about
> possible growth. Why would you give a person the title CAD manager
> if that person was managing the entire office? Makes no sense.

The CAD Manager should be much more well versed in the needs and
requirements of users, the costs of software, the hardware required to run
it, and the overall management of cad staff and expenses. If not, then he
is merely a CAD Manager by title alone. As a CAD Manager, I tell my upper
management what staff I need, what we need to spend to acquire that staff,
and what it will cost to keep them. If not, then I am being paid to look pretty. Message was edited by: Discussion Admin
Message 12 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

I totally agree with you Bob. People don't seem to understand that not only
do companies work differently we are also in different disciplines.



"Bob Mee" wrote in message
news:5088399@discussion.autodesk.com...
Is it hard to comprehend that company's do things differently?

Don't answer that.





"cad user" wrote in message
The IT department should handle the hardware and software budget. The
office manager/branch manager should work with the IT staff about possible
growth. Why would you give a person the title CAD manager if that person
was managing the entire office? Makes no sense. Message was edited by: Discussion Admin
Message 13 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

"Why would you give a person the title CAD manager if that person
was managing the entire office? Makes no sense."

You just hit the nail right on the head with that! In today's world a TITLE
means very little in most companies. Heck most of them when they give you a
raise give you a new TITLE but your job duties never change. A cad managers
job all depends on the size of the company they work for. A 1-30 person
office they might be the IT/Cad man./proj. man., in a bigger office they
might just program and IT does everything else. In some companies the powers
above think of the Manager part of the cad manager as managing the systems
and software more then the people, but they are also in charge of making
sure the people learn the system.
Sometime you need to open the lid of the box a little to think out side of
it, you know? The whole world/companies are not setup the same as yours.
Message 14 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

HA!

Me's love irony. Message was edited by: Discussion Admin
Message 15 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

so who does it if there is no IT department? or no office manager? no HR
dept.?

who am I....
an explorer in the further regions of experience. Demons to some. Angels to
others.
The box. You opened it. We came.
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
We have such sights to show you!
Message 16 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

The size of a company also matters. A better question is what are the most
important duties of a CAD manager in a xxx person firm?

10 Person
25 Person
50 Person
100+ Person

All of the duties in the previous posts are valid. I think the proportion
of skills and duties need will vary with company size and culture.


"Bob Mee" wrote in message
news:5088399@discussion.autodesk.com...
Is it hard to comprehend that company's do things differently?

Don't answer that.





"cad user" wrote in message
The IT department should handle the hardware and software budget. The
office manager/branch manager should work with the IT staff about possible
growth. Why would you give a person the title CAD manager if that person
was managing the entire office? Makes no sense.
Message 17 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Nice, Hellraiser.

"StealthMan" wrote in message news:5088439@discussion.autodesk.com...
so who does it if there is no IT department? or no office manager? no HR
dept.?

who am I....
an explorer in the further regions of experience. Demons to some. Angels to
others.
The box. You opened it. We came.
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
We have such sights to show you!
Message 18 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Hey, You resemble that remark!

"cad user" wrote in message
news:5088448@discussion.autodesk.com...
boot the people who are so hateful.
Message 19 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

hehe

I have the pleasure (pain?) of dealing with thee most bizzare and
un-orthodox practices and implementations as far as computers and
architecture for many years.
Message 20 of 40
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous


Your point is valid too, but I think the single
universal everyone needs is the people skills first
and foremost in order to get anything accomplished either from those below
or those above.

 

Simply put, technical skills are not
sufficient for any position in our firm. 
We
are willing to pay for training to get you the skills you need to get to the
level we need, but if you have the personality of a doorknob, go look somewhere
else.

 

IMO people skills is the one category all
training schools neglect.


--
*<] 🙂 }

 

CAD Systems Manager
Autodesk Architectural
Desktop Certified Expert

 

The size of a company also
matters.  A better question is what are the most
important duties of a
CAD manager in a xxx person firm?

10 Person
25 Person
50
Person
100+ Person

All of the duties in the previous posts are
valid.  I think the proportion
of skills and duties need will vary with
company size and culture.


"Bob Mee" <bobmeeAtyahoo.com> wrote
in message

face=Arial size=4>news:5088399@discussion.autodesk.com

face=Arial size=4>...
Is it hard to comprehend that company's do things
differently?

Don't answer that.

<sigh>



"cad
user"  wrote in message
The IT department should handle the hardware and
software budget.  The
office manager/branch manager should work with the
IT staff about possible
growth.  Why would you give a person the title
CAD manager if that person
was managing the entire office?  Makes no
sense.

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