Why It’s Good to Listen

A lot of these posts are pretty interchangeable with any industry. You do a find/replace on “Design Technology Support” and replace it with a host of other job titles, and it will work. Honing the skill of listening is no different.

This is an essential ability to constantly be working on. You never get perfect at it, but you can get better.

Building empathy

First and foremost, properly listening to users lets them know that you are on their side, and listening is one of the easiest ways to do that. There’s another post on the importance of being on the same team. As a quick refresher, when the users know and understand that you are working with them, they are far more willing to take a chance on what might feel like an outlandish idea, or even better, they are ready to let it slide when you mess up (and you will mess up).

Understanding the issue

It’s quite frequent when a user comes up with a problem, that’s not really the problem. It takes good listening skills to start to peel back the layers of an issue, reply with probing questions, and get to the root core.

I haven’t tracked how many times someone says they have a problem with “x” when in fact the real issue is “y”, but it’s to the point where I am frankly surprised when the correct issue is the first thing brought up. It’s not that users don’t understand what could be wrong, but all they see is the immediate symptom, and a good listener can both recognize and sympathize with their issue, and also put together the clues to let you know what the real problem is.

Next post, I’m going to highlight some tactics that I find useful in listening and peeling.

 

This Isn’t Open Heart Surgery

A common theme that I try to impress when working with BIM/CAD support folks is that it’s more than OK to take a step back and take a breath. What we do is critical to building efficiencies and, for now, providing a good set of documents.

But nobody is going to die.

That’s a bit hyperbolic, but it’s important to be honest with ourselves. If we wait a minute or two or five before speaking, before replying, before fixing a problem, nobody is going to die. In fact, nobody is even going to get hurt.

There are many tasks that we tackle that are very important to tackle right away. Some, in fact, are important enough to stop the other thing we are doing and tackle them.

Nothing that we do is critical enough to warrant us being rude, not thinking through the whole solution, or pausing to listen.

It Might Be Time to Buy Those Sneakers

When I was a kid, I really wanted a pair of Vans. I fancied myself a skater (I was most definitely not – ask me about how I broke my arm twice if we ever meet somewhere) and Vans were the shoes for those who thrashed. Sadly, my parents would never get me a pair.

Quick sidenote: my parents are both very loving and hardworking individuals. This is not even remotely intended as a dig against them for not buying a teenager some very expensive sneakers. As a parent myself, I get it.

So I went through my whole life with no Vans. I would see other people with Vans, and 14 year old me got a little jealous.

Then, sadly quite recently, I realized that I am a 45-year old grown man. I can buy my own Vans if I want.

And so I did.

This, of course, is not a call to arms to buy comfortable shoes. It is a reminder to not hang onto decisions you made years ago. At that time, you made the best decision you could and for one reason or another the time might not have been right.

But maybe the time is right now.

Don’t throw away your old ideas. Just tuck them away and pull them out every so often. Maybe technology has finally caught up to you. Maybe your design team is more advanced and can handle a new workflow.

Maybe you realize you can now buy your own shoes.

Find the Right Amount of Time – to NOT Respond

For those of us who do more day to day support with a set group, it’s important to know your users as well as you can. For some of them, you might find this strategy useful:

Don’t respond to them right away.

The 5 minute rule

It doesn’t work for everyone, but there are a handful of users who will ping me with a question or problem, and if I wait 5 minutes, at least half of the time they will figure it out for themselves.

It’s natural for some people to reach out quickly for help: they might have been burned before for being late, they might feel panicked, they might not have a lot of faith in their skillset.

Letting users figure it out for themselves will build their confidence and more importantly they will remember the solution more. You need to do some trial and error to figure out who your users are that will benefit from this, but once you do, it’s a great tool to use.

(I’ve actually named this tactic after someone I used to work with. It worked the vast majority of the time she had a question. To avoid embarrassment, I will keep my internal rule name to myself. Feel free to name yours after your best 5 minute rule follower.)

Let’s Try Something New

It’s a new year (happy 2020!) and it has been quite some time since I’ve spent time blogging here (happy 2018!)

As a design technology consultant, I have a great opportunity to blog about Revit and related topics over at my work blog. So aside from some more “experimental” and unsupported hacks, I don’t actually need to write that kind of stuff down here anymore.

I thought I would try something new this year.

Shifting gears

As a manager of other design technology consultants, I’ve found the need to collect and share my thoughts about consulting with my team. I’m far from perfect, but I’ve had a couple decades to test out how to do things, and how not to do things. I like to think that I’ve found some tactics that work for me, and I’ve worked with me teammates to try to find tactics that work for them, too.

A lot of this is related to the presentation the Donnie Gladfelter and I did at AU 2019 concerning how NOT to be a BIM or CAD manager. I found myself wanting to spend more time on some of the topics.

I was never trained for this

The biggest factor is that most of us who find ourselves in a design technology support role never intended to end up here. For a lot of us, it wasn’t even a thing and now that it is, we are scrambling to fill in the skill gaps.

So for the next several months, at least, this blog is going to shift its focus to try and help those out there who, like me, found themselves in this new role, doing their best to tread water.

But I came here for the Revit

Yeah, I know. I started this for the Revit. If you still want that, feel free to keep an eye on the CADD Microsystems blog. I still write about Revit and related technology there.

I hope you stick around with me for this writing experiment, and more importantly, I hope you find it helpful.

Happy 2020!

Windows Registry Hack and Model Checker Configurator

Gonna start this post with the ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK warning.

THIS POST INVOLVES MANUALLY EDITING YOUR REGISTRY AND IF YOU BREAK IT YOU BOUGHT IT. YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY.

Seriously, if editing the Windows Registry is not your cup of tea, then feel free to skip. I know I said “hack” in the title, but it’s not really a hack. It’s more like a manual tweak.

But “hack” sounds cooler.

I have the privilege of working on the development team for the BIM Interoperability Tools and I love working on software that thousands of users integrated into their workflows. Out of the suite, the Model Checker Configurator is probably my favorite because I get to do some fun “under the hood” things in my Revit models, and can treat the Revit model like a database. Because I am a giant nerd.

What I didn’t like is having to open the Configurator to open my XML checkset file. Who needs all the clicking?! Since it’s an XML file we didn’t want to just take over that file format and claim it for the Configurator in Windows. But I did find a workaround middle ground that I like.

This is where the registry “hacking” comes in.

Add Configurate to XML Right Click Menu

I went into my Windows Registry and made some tweaks that adds “Configurate” to the right-click context menu in any XML file. Obviously, some XML files are not for the Configurator, but for those I just don’t use that option. But for the Model Checker XML checksets, I have a direct access to open that file up in the Configurator.

It’s a pretty easy add, but will depend on what version of the BIM Tools you installed. My examples show it assuming you have 2019 installed, but you can change 2019 to whatever year you have.

Some Background on How the BIM Tools Now Install

Up to the latest major release of the original BIM Interoperability Tools for Revit suite, each tool was installed separately. Now you get them all at once, so you don’t need to install the Configurator separately. It just comes in the box.

Another thing to note is that because you can access the Configurator from the BIM Interoperability Tools ribbon in Revit, and because it is a Windows application and not really a Revit add-in, the Configurator actually gets installed as many times as you have the BIM Tools, so you might have it installed four times. Not an issue, just something to note that you might find the EXE file multiple times. Be sure you point to one you have installed. And be sure you update your registry when you remove the one you are pointing to.

OK, but About That Hack

Right, so it’s pretty straightforward.

1. Open the Registry (I use good old REGEDIT)
2. Navigate to Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\xmlfile\shell\
3. Add a new Key and name it “Configurate” (or whatever you want the right-click menu item to say)
4. In that Key, add another new key and name it “command” – this name has to match
5. In command, edit the “Default” item to
   “C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\BIT\2019\Model Checker\RMCConfigurator.exe” “%1”
   Note that I am pointing to the 2019 installed Configurator. If you don’t have that, or if you installed to a different location, point to a RMCConfigurator.exe that you have.
   The %1 is essential, and the quotes are essential as well.

When you are done, it should look something like this:

Then try out right-clicking on an XML and you should now have the option to directly open it up with the Configurator. Yay, saving clicks!

Can You Make This Any Easier for Me?

Yeah, OK. If you trust me (insert evil laugh here) I have exported and zipped up the REG for what you see above. If you aren’t being blocked from potentially malicious files (again, evil laugh) you can grab a copy right here and see if it works for you.

ONE MORE TIME: YOU ARE USING THIS FILE AND DIRECTIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK. I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY IN HOW THIS WILL IMPACT YOUR PC.

But it’s pretty easy to remove. Just delete the Configurate key from your registry and you should be back to normal.

Hope this helps save you some time!

What I Learned at AU 2018

This is gonna be an atypical post. I think I am still processing this, and not 100% sure what to do with it. And it’s not gonna be a shocker to a lot of you, but it came into sharp focus for me… in Las Vegas of all places.

I really enjoy going to conferences and teaching sessions and having nerdy conversations with folks there. I always pick up new tips and clever workflows that I am really excited to take back and kick around.

I’ve been going to Autodesk University consistently for the last few years now, and have taught at most of them. The first few years was all about learning how to speak in public, craft a message, and wear a jacket because I would get all nervous sweaty. I still have a lot to learn on all those items, but I am at the point where I feel way more comfortable just looking out in the audience and having fun.

I don’t think the audience make-up was any different this year, but when I looked out  at the crowd something clicked and I can’t seem to shake it: wow do we in design technology have a diversity issue… or lack of diversity to be more specific.

It was always a big joke that when you go to AU the men’s room line is way longer than the women’s room line. That was funny for a while, but it doesn’t seem funny any more. Clearly the vast majority of attendees are male, and the vast majority of those male attendees are white; full disclosure – just like me.

Why is this a concern? I have seen it personally, but time and time again, leaders across industries that I respect always say that different people from different backgrounds have different solutions to problems, and as someone in an industry that thrives on fixing problems, the more solutions we have the better off we are.

I’m not sure if this post will end up being more controversial than the Demo Is Not a Phase one I did a while ago, and like I said, I think this won’t be shocking to a lot of you and it probably shouldn’t have taken this long to be shocking to me. But it is.

Sorry this isn’t a technical post like the usual ones. I have another outlet for those these days on my work blog (and this is DEFINITELY a “me” post and not a “work” post). I did want to get it out there just to say I am going to do what I can to try to help fix the diversity issue that the design technology practice has and I am 100% open to any help, tips, pointers, or guidance along the way.

Thanks for listening.

Some Stupid Revit Wallpapers

I like making tee shirts and wallpapers. They are all dumb. I recently tweeted a couple Revit related wallpapers that I have show up on my work laptop’s desktop and I thought I would collect them here. Feel free to grab and use on your PC, too! Just click on the image to open the big version and right-click to save it. Enjoy!

Default 3D View – Snoopy’s Doghouse

I always call the Default 3D View button the “Snoopy doghouse button” so, you know…

Demo is not a Phase

Seriously, I say this SO often you’re probably sick of it…

Atari 2600 Revit Cartridge

Mix my love of classic video games and my favorite design software, and here you go!

 

What Revit Needs Now

I’ve been reading Peter Diamandis’s great book, Abundance, and it’s forcing me to stretch my brain more than I am used to. I am nowhere near smart enough to try to think about big world impacting issues like he outlines, so I thought I’d really noodle on Revit as a tool and try to figure out what I think it needs based on what I see as happening in the design and construction industry.

This has led me to two short posts, this being the first one of what Revit needs NOW.

Modular design

I won’t bury the lead: Revit needs a much better way to facilitate modular design. And I am thinking at a high level and I might be using that term in a way that deviates from the usual usage, so I’ll try to break it down a little bit.

Multi-unit design

Multi-unit design has always been a glaring omission in Revit. Have you tried to lay out a hotel or multi unit residence? There is no one way that Revit users have pointed to as “yup, that’s the way to do it”. I’ve seen groups, I’ve seen links, I’ve seen copy/paste from other models. Each process has its pros and cons. I don’t see any of them being the final solution, so Autodesk really needs to come up with a new function to handle this in a clear and sensible manner. These workarounds have gone on long enough, and it’s time to fix it.

Modular elements

This is one I wasn’t really aware of until I started doing some research for this article, but this (sadly) archived Idea points to the limitations of pre-cast/pre-made structural elements that include system families. Obviously, loadable families cannot include system families, so what to do? I can’t think of any great solution, just some workarounds like our friends trying to tackle multi-unit design.

Image from theconstructor.org

Pre-fabricated construction

This is also happening right now – elements and entire sections of a building are being made off site in a warehouse and then shipped to the construction site. Revit cannot support this workflow without, again, some weird workarounds. When I used to work in design I did a lot of jails and prisons, and we had several projects where the entire cell was being made offsite and shipped in by trailer. We went round and round trying to figure out how to get Revit to let us make these Lego pieces of our model and snap them in, with no good solution. And this was YEARS ago. This isn’t something new.

How to fix it

I feel like (and I could be totally wrong here) the above issues are really the same issue, and it feels related to the inability to identify system families outside of a project file. Yes I can link them in, but that’s a lot of overhead. Sure I can use groups, but there is always something buggy about groups and they have burned me more than once. When assemblies showed up I was excited that they were going to fix all of this, but they have their own issues.

We need something like a module category that you can open and tweak the module in the family editor or even a module editor. Walls, floors, rooms, spaces, loadable components; all are fair game in a module. And I can then save them out to my library for use across projects.

I am certainly not the first one to come to this conclusion (here, here, here, and probably others I just didn’t find), but I think it’s a huge oversight from Autodesk. This is a design and construction technique being used RIGHT NOW and with the growth in 3d printing technology, the use of pre-fabrication and modular design is just going to grow.

This isn’t a design and construction feature that can be or SHOULD be shoehorned into a current Revit function or workflow. It needs its own space and needs to be smartly figured out and implemented.

The 100 Things Every Revit User Should Know

Back at the old CADD Blog, I just wrapped a series of tips blog posts covering a hodge-podge of tips and tricks for Revit users that I (and many other) have collected over the years. I thought I’d like to collect them all here for easy clicking. Enjoy!

100 THINGS EVERY REVIT USER SHOULD KNOW – PART 1

100 THINGS EVERY REVIT USER SHOULD KNOW – PART 2

100 THINGS EVERY REVIT USER SHOULD KNOW – PART 3

100 THINGS EVERY REVIT USER SHOULD KNOW – PART 4

100 THINGS EVERY REVIT USER SHOULD KNOW – PART 5

100 THINGS EVERY REVIT USER SHOULD KNOW – PART 6

100 THINGS EVERY REVIT USER SHOULD KNOW – PART 7

100 THINGS EVERY REVIT USER SHOULD KNOW – PART 8

100 THINGS EVERY REVIT USER SHOULD KNOW – PART 9

100 THINGS EVERY REVIT USER SHOULD KNOW – PART 10