Lessons FROM A BIM Coordinator

Lessons from a BIM Coordinator Robert Beckerbauer, Jr. BIM Coordinator RDG Planning and Design March 23 & 24, 2016

ABOUT ME Robert Beckerbauer, Jr. is BIM Coordinator at RDG Planning & Design in Omaha, Nebraska. He has over 15 years of architectural experience ranges from small tenant renovations to large senior living projects, with the last 10 years being primarily in Revit. Robert became the RDG BIM Coordinator two years ago and provides software and training support for 30+ Revit users. He is the office leader for all things Revit, and continues to develop his BIM knowledge, while at the same time becoming the office Navisworks lead. He continues to chair RDG’s Omaha office BIM Committee, serves on a Learning Community for the national RDG organization, and is a member of the local Revit user group, Omaha BIM Collaborative.

RDG Omaha BIM Committee With the transition to Revit, RDG created a BIM group to serve as the support for the shift and to continue Revit growth. 10 committee members Three members from management (one principal – in charge of HR) One member from each market sector Five coaches (all members of the committee) One is a BIM Coordinator One is tasked with watching for the ‘next big thing’ Three provide miscellaneous Revit support as needed Coaches meet once a month off-site to discuss business, issues, tasks, and responsibilities. Committee meets once a month to continue to push the office standards and BIM goals.

GENERATIONAL OBSERVATIONS

RDG Generational Makeup This chart shows RDG’s breakdown by percentage from each generation, as grouped by birth year.

Daily Help 70 year olds 60 year olds 50 year olds 40 year olds 30 year olds 20 year olds On any given day, during any given hour, I can be teaching, helping, and resolving issues for someone from this wide range of generations. It is not uncommon to go from helping a 23--year old resolve an issue, to aiding a 40-something employee wanting Revit to work as CAD, and then assisting a 70-year-old with an entirely different set of issues.

20 to 30 year olds I SAID “NOW”

20 to 30 year olds “WHY CAN’T IT?”

20 to 30 year olds “WHY CAN’T I?”

20 to 30 year olds “WHY IS IT TAKING SO LONG?”

20 to 30 year olds KEYS TO DEALING WITH THEM LOTS OF PATIENCE! SHOW THEM THE PROPER WAY TO DO THINGS BE REPETETIVE IN YOUR EXPLANATIONS OF, “WHY?”

30 to 40 year olds “WHY ARE WE DOING IT THIS WAY!”

30 to 40 year olds “I THINK THIS IS A BETTER WAY!”

30 to 40 year olds “I FOUND THIS ON THE WEB, CAN YOU FIX IT?”

30 to 40 year olds KEYS TO DEALING WITH THEM PATIENCE CREATE REVIT STANDARDS MANUALS CAN’T FIX EVERYTHING”

40 to 50 year olds “I HAVE ALWAYS DONE IT THIS WAY!”

40 to 50 year olds “MY WAY IS BETTER, YOU NEED TO CHANGE TO MATCH!”

40 to 50 year olds “IF I HAVE TO… I WILL BUT I WON’T LIKE IT!”

40 to 50 year olds KEYS TO DEALING WITH THEM LOTS OF PATIENCE BE WILLING TO LISTEN.THEY BRING VALUE SOME SUGGESTIONS ARE WORTH CHANGING

50 to 60 year olds “BACK WHEN WE HAD CAD…”

50 to 60 year olds “I COULD DO THIS IS AUTOCAD - WHY NOT IN REVIT?”

50 to 60 year olds “I PREFER TO DO IT THIS WAY”

50 to 60 year olds KEYS TO DEALING WITH THEM PATIENCE IS IMPORTANT MY HEAD ISN’T A TRASH CAN TO DUMP IN SHOW THEM THE PROPER WAY, EVENTUALLY THEY UNDERSTAND

60 + year olds “REMIND ME AGAIN?”

60 + year olds “IS THIS REALLY AN OFFICE STANDARD?”

60 + year olds “WHEN AND WHY DID WE CHANGE TO DOING IT THIS WAY?”

60 + year olds KEYS TO DEALING WITH THEM PATIENCE

Recap PATIENCE PATIENCE IS IMPORTANT MY HEAD ISN’T A TRASH CAN TO DUMP SHOW THEM THE PROPER WAY, EVENTUALLY THEY UNDERSTAND LOTS OF PATIENCE BE WILLING TO LISTEN THEY BRING VALUE SOME SUGGESTIONS ARE WORTH CHANGING LOTS OF PATIENCE! SHOW THEM THE PROPER WAY TO DO THINGS BE REPETETIVE IN YOUR EXPLANATIONS OF, “WHY?” PATIENCE CREATE REVIT STANDARDS MANUALS CAN’T FIX EVERYTHING”

How do you manage these Generations? The 20 to 30 year olds want Revit to act one way while the 50 to 60 year olds wants Revit to act like AutoCAD. SOMEDAYS IT’S ENOUGH TO PULL ONE’S HAIR OUT!!!

STANDARDS

Office Standards

Office Startup Files Another way to make sure everyone stays together and puts out a consistent product. Use a START UP file instead of a temp file.

NON GENERALATIONAL THINGS YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH

Just things you deal with no matter what!! Every now and then Revit will give a user odd error messages. Revit doesn’t care what age group you are in.

What?!

Huh?!

You are saying what about me?

What does that have to do with the project?

You are Joking…?

Really?!

Contact who?!

Seriously?!

Revit Good Bye?!

Some Weird Revit Jedi Power? Lack of Disk Space.

Revit Know Thyself!!

SOMETIMES PEOPLE CREATE THEIR OWN ISSUE

…and get in their own way!

Why did you delete my stuff?! Remote user works on model Saves to central. Next day home office Saves to Central. All of remote user information is gone.

Where did my windows go? Quote from user: “What do you mean I can’t have Revit, Sketchup, and Max all open at once?”

Other issues ID10T error We all have had people that this error fits them so well PICNIC error P roblem I n C hair N ot I n C omputer... and some of those people fit this error code as well.

This should be the motto: Every good BIM Coordinator/Director and committee should have a motto: Hopefully you can mitigate the spread of it. WE CAN’T FIX STUPID!!!

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Contact Information How to get a hold of me: Robert Beckerbauer, Jr. RDG Planning and Design 900 Farnam on the Mall Suite 100 Omaha, NE Phone: (402)