eLearning - Upcoming Civil 3D, Revit, and Ideate BIMLink Classes

Join the Ideate Tech Experts for eLearning – live online classes that provide your entire organization with easy access to premium education. 

5.22::Revit 201:
View Properties - Controlling Visibility 

5.23::Civil 3D Infrastructure 201:

Intersection Design Tool

5.27::Ideate Software: Ideate BIMLink

Revit Project Management with Ideate BIMLink

5.30::Revit 201:

Phasing A-Z

6.3::Revit 201:

Getting Started with Roof Framing in Revit Structure

Each class is designed to give you specific, improved results in a particular topic. You can interact with the instructor right from your own office, while eliminating travel time. Because the class schedule rotates, you can easily select your topics of interest and choose the day which best meets your schedule.

Click here for class descriptions, times and registration link. Questions? Contact education@ideateinc.com

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Ideate, Inc. Publishes Spotlight Success Study Featuring NBBJ Seattle and Ideate Software

SAN FRANCISCO, California – 03/25/2014 – Ideate, Inc., a leading Autodesk Authorized Developer and Autodesk solutions provider offering quality software, training, support and custom consulting services to the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry with a special focus on Building Information Modeling (BIM), today announced the publication of its latest “Spotlight on” customer success profile featuring NBBJ Seattle and its use of Ideate Software.

NBBJ is a design practice of worldwide scope with locations in Beijing, Boston, Columbus, London, Los Angeles, New York, Pune, San Francisco, Seattle and Shanghai. The firm’s comprehensive, end-to-end services include architecture, environmental graphics, interior design, landscape architecture, lighting design, planning and urban design. Important projects in the US Pacific Northwest have included the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, Washington, the Seattle Children's Bellevue Clinic and Surgery Center, Bellevue, Washington, and Amazon.com at Denny Triangle, Seattle, Washington.

The firm has been using Ideate Software, a comprehensive set of Autodesk Revit tools, to maximize its BIM advantage by improving information flow, facilitating collaboration and making the management of BIM data faster and easier. Richard Sachs, Project BIM Coordinator, NBBJ, Seattle, Washington says of Ideate Software, “I have been using both Ideate BIMLink and Ideate Explorer for Revit heavily.” He adds that without these advantages, “I would not be able to do my job as project BIM lead.”

The firm has used one Ideate Software solution, Ideate BIMLink, for the sequential labeling and scheduling of 9,000 curtain panels. The fact that the solution is automated and accurate via Microsoft Excel has saved the firm valuable time.

NBBJ has used a different Ideate Software solution, Ideate Explorer for Revit, to create selection sets for the panels. As Sachs explains, “Revit allows you to select all Instances by Type, but it’s more difficult to select all the Types of one Family; Ideate Explorer makes short work of it.” 

BIM project auditing is another Ideate Explorer for Revit use. With it, Sachs says, “I can easily find CAD imports that Revit gives you no easy way to find. I can select all the room separation lines and move them to the correct workset.”

Bob Palioca, President, Ideate Inc., says, “Our customers are relying on our robust, resilient Revit tools to power them through their most complex, sophisticated BIM projects. We are delighted with the success of our Ideate Software customer, and gratified to learn of our role in making data management on a vast scale much easier for NBBJ.”

Ideate has published “Ideate Software Presents: Spotlight on NBBJ Seattle” online. Download the Customer Spotlight Success Study at http://ideatesoftware.com/ideatebimlink/success/

About Ideate, Inc.
Ideate, Inc. is a leading Autodesk Authorized Developer with 25+ years’ experience in software development and specific focus on Building Information Modeling (BIM). As an Autodesk solutions provider, Ideate has offered quality software, training, support and custom consulting services to the architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) industries since 1992. Headquartered in San Francisco, California and operating Autodesk Authorized Training Centers (ATCs) in California, Oregon and Washington, Ideate is recognized as an Autodesk Gold Partner for Architecture, Engineering and Construction, one of Autodesk’s highest levels of authorization. 

Ideate Software is a comprehensive set of far-reaching BIM data management tools. Ideate BIMLink powers the “I” in BIM, allowing users to pull data from an Autodesk Revit file into Microsoft Excel for fast and precise editing, and push the data back into Revit with equal ease. Ideate Explorer for Revit lets users search, filter, quantify and select to easily manage the 100,000+ elements in a Revit model. Both solutions help Autodesk Revit users solve problems in AEC workflows and help the Revit community leverage BIM to its fullest advantage.

Autodesk, Autodesk Revit and ATC are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Microsoft Excel is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries.    

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The 80/20 Rule

The phrase 80/20 rule gets used by a lot of pundits to describe "that 80 percent of all our results in business and in life stem from a mere 20 percent of our efforts."

The original 80/20 rule came from the Pareto Principal which talks about root cause analysis - 80% of effects come from 20% of the causes. 

My 80/20 Rule 
It has been my experience that the first 80% of any task or project takes 20% of the time - and - the last 20% of a task or project takes 80% of the time.

Here are some examples:

1. Trade partners (construction subcontractors) will get about 80% of the work done, leaving 20% to be found by others. 
2. Students will prepare for about 80% of the test material, hoping the last 20% will not be on the test. 
3. Kids will clean 80% of their room, and hide the last 20% under the bed or closet.
4. Team members are gung-ho to finish the first 80%, but have other priorities at the last 20%. 

Why Does the Last 20% Need the Most Attention? 
It needs the attention because that is where the 'finish' zone is. The finish zone is where all the: 

• Synthesis is done. 
• Customer receives the value of the service. 
• The job /task/project is DONE and COMPLETE. 

The last 20% may be the hardest part, but it is worthy of the same attention and dedication and thoughtfulness as the first 80%. Here are some strategies: 

1. Understand the last 20% will be harder and give it the appropriate amount of project time. 
2. Give the effort that is required. It is hard being the last 20% team member, but I say it is rewarding to be a part of the 'finishing' team. 
3. Use more checks and balances so the last 20% is not so much about fixing things (see Last Planner, Agile methodology, and writing effective requirements.)

Finally, the pundits say "that 80 percent of all our results in business and in life stem from a mere 20 percent of our efforts." I think here they are talking about most of our time in life and business is not spent in productive pursuits. How much time do we spend trying to find that email the boss sent out that he/she wants an answer on? Too much time, I agree.

A job worth doing is worth doing well (and to completion). Planning well and good execution are the keys to success. 

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David Haynes, NCARB, PMP, LEED AP
Ideate Director of Consulting

David is a Registered Architect, Project Management Certified Professional, who previously had his own architectural practice and was President of a commercial design-build construction company for 15 years. A graduate of University of Arizona, he has worked as an Architect, contractor, developer and as a national construction manager for a national retailer. David currently provides business process analysis, virtualization and change management solutions for AEC clients across the United States involved in the design and building industry. Follow David on Twitter: @dhaynestech 

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This post was originally published on David’s blog Connecting the [Data]… 

Overcoming the Blame Game

Presently, I am in the Business Analytics Certificate program at the University of Washington, and part of the class deals with how to get groups to be committed towards a goal. Each class the students are asked questions about our commitment towards our goals in life. It is called "Conversations that Matter"  (The tip of the cap to Peter Block of designedLearning + Gary Mesick and Shelly Lawrence of the UofW).

One set of questions asks about how to transform Blame to Ownership. Before I get into the questions, let's review the issues:

•     How many discussions are we involved in each day that revolve around: 
• Whom to blame
• Whom to 'throw under the bus'
• It can't be me !

•    Is this productive time, or wasted time 
•    How can we overcome the blame game.

Here are the four questions (which can either be done on a scale of 1-7, or in sentence form) that should be asked in the group (at the start of the process/project) and answers should be said out loud. This forces commitment to the responses. 

          HOW VALUABLE DO I PLAN FOR THIS TO BE?

Great question. If the process, decision, or project is not valuable - then why bother. I think what happens is that if it is not valuable to all the team members, then it is easy to sabotage the process, the decisions, and undermine the endeavor by adding 'dead weight'.
 
            HOW PARTICIPATIVE DO I PLAN TO BE?

Another key question. If we plan to sit there with our arms folded, then why be there. If we plan to 'snark' at every opportunity, that is no help. But worse of all is to not participate to the fullest extent to make the meeting, decision, etc a success.

             HOW MUCH RISK DO I PLAN TO TAKE?

Ah yes, that pesky risk taking! I have always said that taking risk is inevitable. If you wake up each morning and get out of bed, you are taking risk. The point is to be involved (to be "all in" - http://connectingthedata.blogspot.com/2013/10/are-you-all-in-or-just-surviving.html), you have to take risk.   

TO WHAT EXTENT AM I INVESTED IN THE GOOD OF THE WHOLE?

Investment is a key part. If you are floating, then you are not investing. In this case investment is an active participation, not passive investment. The other key part is "good of the whole". The whole; that is the whole project and the whole team.

Important questions to ask of our professional and personal lives.

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David Haynes, NCARB, PMP, LEED AP
Ideate Director of Consulting

David is a Registered Architect, Project Management Certified Professional, who previously had his own architectural practice and was President of a commercial design-build construction company for 15 years. A graduate of University of Arizona, he has worked as an Architect, contractor, developer and as a national construction manager for a national retailer. David currently provides business process analysis, virtualization and change management solutions for AEC clients across the United States involved in the design and building industry. Follow David on Twitter: @dhaynestech 

Get it. Know it. Use it.

This post was originally published on David’s blog Connecting the [Data]…