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© 2011 Autodesk
CAD Standards vs. Office Politics:Winning the BattleEric ChappellAuthor, Consultant, CAD Manager
© 2011 Autodesk
Class Summary
In this class, we will explore how to defuse typical sources of resistance that prevent good standards from happening.
© 2011 Autodesk
Learning Objectives
At the end of this class, you will be able to: Identify political motivations that can affect your standards Identify obstacles in the way of standardizing your company Employ techniques to overcome those obstacles Design your standards to be “politic-proof” to avoid future obstacles Ensure that you are not guilty of political behavior
© 2011 Autodesk
Who Is This Guy?
Been working in the CAD world for 20 years 4 years in the field 6 years in production 4 years in consulting 6 years in CAD management and consulting
Author AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 Essentials AutoCAD Civil 3D Certification Exam Various Autodesk Documents
Whitepapers Tutorials Internal Training Materials
Consultant/Trainer Various Autodesk and non-Autodesk projects
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Understanding Office Politics
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Understanding Office Politics
Office Politics - When ideas are being judged or dismissed based on something other than their merits. - Brown’s Dictionary of Relationship Terms
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Understanding Office Politics
Most people know that standards are a good idea
For reasons we’ll try to understand – when you try to implement standards, they don’t always respond that way
To help us to understand, and to have a little fun, we’ll break these responses down into several types
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Personality Types of the Resistance
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Gender Disclaimer
He = He or She
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Personality Types of the Resistance
The Veteran CAD Guru Reactions
Defending Territory - “We’ve been doing it our way for 10 years and we are very efficient. No other system of standards could possibly be an improvement.”
Defending Expert Status - “I’ve been doing it this way for 10 years and I am very efficient. No other system of standards could possibly be an improvement.”
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Personality Types of the Resistance
The Deer in the Headlights Reactions
The TMI Effect- “Our schedules are too tight. We can’t afford to waste time checking the manual to use the right title block, text styles, symbols, colors, linetypes, and everything else you’ve changed!”
Culture Shock - “These new standards are really going to change the appearance of our drawings. The client is going to freak!”
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Personality Types of the Resistance
The Prima Donna/Diva Reactions
The “Nobody Asked Me” Effect - “Nobody asked me what I thought of storing all project data under one master folder. I don’t see any benefit in this.”
The “I Don’t Get Paid for That” Effect- “How am I supposed to focus on designing when I have to worry about layers, and styles and all this stuff?”
By the way – both males and females are eligible for this category
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Personality Types of the Resistance
The Indifferent Teenager Reactions
The “You’re Not the Boss of Me” Effect - “Until <supervisor’s name> tells me to do this, I’m not going to worry about it.”
The New Year’s Day Gym Membership Effect - “This is the first I’ve heard anything about the CAD Manual since it was posted 6 months ago. I didn’t think we were that serious about it.”
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Political Responses
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Political Responses
Possible Responses: Meet with supervisor beforehand – “This is a bad
idea” A Problem because:
Supervisor will listen – this is his go-to person Supervisor will be ready for you
Why is this political? – Not based on merit, based on: Preserving expert status Job security Protecting his regime
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Political Responses
Possible Responses: “How will we get anything done!?” “Everything’s going to be late!?” “This is going to cost us a fortune?!”
A problem because: When folks start talking about money and missing
deadlines, people get nervous Why is this political? – Not based on merit,
based on: Fear Perception of extra work Perception of complicating his world
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Political Responses
Possible Responses: No response – no compliance Ignore standards until they’re called out At that point they proclaim what a great burden the
standards are to them A problem because:
These folks have a way of getting what they want Why is this political? – Not based on merit,
based on: Feeling of entitlement Perception that their world will change
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Political Responses
Possible Responses: Don’t even know standards exist May try to adhere after a reprimand but the “New
Year’s day gym membership” effect kicks in. After repeated reprimands the “You’re not the boss
of me” effect kicks in. A problem because:
These folks are often repeat offenders and have to constantly be watched
Why is this political? – Not based on merit, based on: Indifference to doing a good job Perception that their job will be harder
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Making your Standards Politic-Proof
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Making Your Standards Politic-Proof
Pave the Way Build Consensus Make the Standard Way the Easy
Way Deal with Resistance Stay Involved Don’t Play the Game
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Paving the Way
How do you pave the way for your standardization effort? From the top, down.
Start with the president – get 100% support.
Move down to upper mgmt – get 100% support
Move down to middle mgmt – get 100% support
Do user level last
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Paving the Way
Meeting Rules The higher up the ladder you are…
the shorter the meeting is the less technical the meeting is
A meeting should contain equals, not a mixture of subordinates and supervisors
Step up if you have to Combine and conquer
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Building Consensus
Doing it on your own is tough, if not impossible
Most CAD Managers do not have true authority over users
You will need supporters Form a committee
Yes, this will make the process longer and more difficult
But without it, standardization has little chance of gaining much traction
You will have an integrated team of standards defenders implanted throughout your company
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Make the Standard Way the Easy Way
Integrating your standards is a powerful way to promote sustained compliance
Provide tools that make complying easier than not complying
Users will become dependent on the tools
In their eyes, the standards are simply part of the software
If following the standards slows them down, users will have a valid argument not to do so
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Dealing With Resistance
For as long as your standards exist, there will be resistance
If everything mentioned so far is done well, most resistance will be easily dealt with. “Paving the way” establishes supervisor
support for difficult employees. Integrated tools easily quiet someone claiming
the standards are too difficult or time-consuming to follow
The consensus you’ve built will provide folks to stand behind you when there is a “problem”
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Dealing With Resistance
“The client won’t accept it this way” is a difficult argument to deal with.
As unpopular as it might be to question this argument, you must do so.
Often it is really “we’ve done it for the client this way for a long time and we’re afraid to change.”
Offer to work with the client to identify “deal breakers”
If there are deal breakers, make them part of the standards – then they become standard.
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Stay Involved
Don’t treat the standardization effort like a finished project
When construction ends, maintenance begins
Stay involved Talk to users Look at their drawings Ask them questions Do some production Try their tools
You will need to get your hands dirty You will need to get out of your seat
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Don’t Play the Game
You’re susceptible to the same stresses and political reactions as your users
If you lose your way, your users will lose theirs
Take the high road Be able to accept and implement
good ideas – even if they’re not yours Keep everything out in the open
No covert discussions regarding non-compliant users
Keep your users well-informed/involved
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Conclusion
Get support - from the top down. Make the standard way the easy way Build consensus by involving the
users in the process Stay involved - keep talking with your
users to keep political activity in check
Don’t get sucked in - don’t join the political game, rise above it.
© 2011 Autodesk
Autodesk, AutoCAD* [*if/when mentioned in the pertinent material, followed by an alphabetical list of all other trademarks mentioned in the material] are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. © 2011 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.
