5 praktilist nõuannet edu saavutamiseks
Erik Sanford’il on ligi 15-aastane kogemus BIM-protsesside rakendamises ning hetkel vastutab ta BIMi juurutamise eest Ameerika Ühendriikides Dimeo peatöövõtufirmas. Eriku kogemusest on võimalik lähemalt kuulda 19. – 20. aprillil toimuval BIMsummit Estonia konverentsil.
Eestikeelne kokkuvõte Eriku mõtetest (originaaltekst kokkuvõtte all)
SA oled otsustanud, et Sinu ettevõte hakkab juurutama BIMi – oled tutvunud teoreetilise materjaliga, õppinud välismaistest edulugudest, oled välja valinud tarkvara. Palju õnne – lihtsam osa on nüüd selja taga! Kuidas aga kaasata ja inspireerida oma meeskonda? Siin on minu kogemuse põhjal 5 peamist võtmetegevust, mis aitavad Sul selles tegevuses reaalseid tulemusi saavutada.
1. Selgita Selgita, mis eesmärgil BIMi rakendatakse ning kuidas see muudab töötajate igapäevaelu. Kuna BIM toob endaga kaasa muudatusi harjumuspärastes protsessides, siis eeldab ta ka muutusi mõtteviisis. Oluline on, et töötajad saaksid aru BIMi potentsiaalsest väärtusest ning sellest, kuidas see nende tööd tulevikus lihtsustab.
2. Planeeri BIMi juurutamine eeldab muudatusi protsessides, mõtteviisis ning ka rollides. Kõik need muudatused ei toimu üleöö, seega planeeri oma tegevusi. Mõtle läbi, millal peaks BIMi rakendamisega alustama, millise projekti juures seda kasutada, kuidas seda rakendada ning kes selle eest vastutab.
3. Eesmärgista Eesmärgid võivad olla üldised või väga spetsiifilised, aga kõige olulisem on, et nad on meeskonnale arusaadavad ja saavutatavad. Väikesed võidud sellel teel on ülimalt olulised, aga ka iga tagasilöök õpetab ning annab suuna edasiliikumiseks.
4. Küsi meeskonnalt tagasisidet Uuenduste läbiviimine ei ole kerge ning on pea võimatu viia neid läbi jõuga või vastumeelselt. Inimesed peavad tundma, et nad panustavad ise millegi uue juurutamisesse ning on osa protsesside arendamises. Seega küsi oma meeskonnalt tagasisidet nii tarkvara ja riistvara kohta kui ka üldistes küsimustes.
5. Koolita ja varusta Et edukalt täita uut ülesannet, peab meeskonnal olema teadmine, mida ta teeb, kuidas ta seda tegema peaks ja omama selleks õigeid töövahendeid. Üritused nagu BIMsummit Estonia on hea võimalus teadlikkuse tõstmiseks ning annavad võimaluse õppida teiste edulugudest. Mida rohkem on inimestel teadmisi BIMi rakendamisest, seda kindlamalt nad ennast tunnevad. Ära unusta varustada oma meeskonda vajalike töövahenditega ja seda nii tarkvara kui riistvara osas – see on investeering, mitte kulutus!
Inimeste kaasamine uuendustesse on alati keeruline. Paraku on see aga võtmeküsimuseks, kui edukas Sinu ettevõte BIMi juurutamises on.
(Originaaltekst)
Top 5 Things to Engage a Company/Team to successfully implement BIM:
So you’ve decided that your company is going to implement Building Information Modeling (BIM). You have gone to the seminars and you have read the case studies. You have a clear idea of how BIM will help your business. You’ve decided on a software platform and have specifications for your BIM workstations. Congratulations, you have completed the easy part. I consider this next part to be the hardest. Now you have to engage the people. The people that are going to manage the process, the people that are going to be the practitioners, and the people that are going to promote BIM in and out of the company. Here are my top 5 means of engaging your team.
Provide meaning Explain why you are implementing BIM. Clearly express how BIM will fit into the Corporate Business Plan and how it will fit into the daily lives of your employees. BIM is a process and will require a shift from the current mindset. People need to know how they fit into the new process. Let them know how they can help the process and how it will help them. People need to know that this change is meant to help. They also need to know that they have a hand in the process to ensure success.
Provide a Plan BIM implementation isn’t easy. It requires a change of process, a change in mindset, and often a change in roles. Be realistic about your time frame. This isn’t going to happen overnight. There is a saying I heard once that has stuck with me, “Plan the work and work the plan”. It fits as a base to any implementation. Develop a plan outlining when BIM will be implemented, where it will be implemented, how it will be implemented and by who. Maybe you start small with a pilot project. Maybe your plan begins like this.
On “Project A” we are going to use BIM to aid in Spatial Coordination. We are going to make sure that structural framing fits within the architecture. This effort will begin in Design Development and continue until 100% Construction Documents are issued. This will be a joint effort between the Architect, Structural Engineer, and the Contractor.
Or
We have decided to implement BIM in our company. We are going to hire a BIM consultant to evaluate our goals, our current capabilities, perform interviews of personnel, and develop an implementation plan. We will create a BIM Task Force (BTF), by the end of February, of between 3 and 5 people to help develop goals, evaluate possible positions to be created, evaluate internal personnel to fill these BIM positions, and pick, hire and work with the BIM Consultant in the development of the BIM Implementation Plan. The BTF will also evaluate different training options. The consultant will be hired by the end of March and interviews will begin in the second week of April. We expect the first version of the BIM Implementation Plan to be issued by the end of May. During this time we will be evaluating possible pilot projects.
These examples are simplified, but hopefully this gives you an idea of what kind of expectations to set. People need to know the where, what, why, when, and who. Having a plan will provide the answers that they are looking for.
Set goals This is a broad concept. Goals can be very broad or very detailed. Maybe your first goal is to differentiate yourself from you competition. Adding BIM capabilities does this if your competition isn’t doing the same. You can provide an easier way to visualize the design and how it will be built. If a picture speaks 1,000 words, then a model speaks 1,000,000. Let’s face it, you could have the most genius design or construction plan in the world but if you can’t communicate it the genius is lost. Whatever your goals are they need to be achievable. You team needs to achieve success for BIM Implementation to work. I look at implementation like learning to walk. First you have to stand while supported, then you take a few steps while supported. You then take you first steps unsupported. You will stumble and you may fall down, but you learn from those stumbles and falls. Then you take the first steps without falling and before you know it, you are running. You don’t go from sitting to running. Little victories build confidence.
Ask for input People need to know that they are active participants in the BIM process and that their voices are heard. Encourage them to provide feedback on the process, the software, the hardware, and the personnel involved. The BIM process is about helping to streamline the design and construction process. Your team can provide important information on whether or not the BIM process is helping or not. They will also provide valuable information and suggestions on how to improve. Strive for constant improvement and empower your people to help achieve it.
Educate/Train/Equip Educate I consider this the most important in engaging a company and its employees. If someone is going to begin a task they need to know what it is, how to do it, and have the correct tools to do it. You’d never give an employee a frying pan, point at a field and say “build”. There would be a lot of questions for sure. Events like the BIMSummit are key to educating folks that are interested in learning more about BIM at a high level or early stage. Events like this allow you to learn from others that have gone through what you are going through. You can get insight into why they did it, how they did it, and how they are being rewarded for doing it. I feel events like this to be the spark that ignites the BIM flame. The knowledge that is gained at these events needs to be brought back to your firm. Share with your peers, executives, your subordinates. If you are enthusiastic about BIM, then be enthusiastic when sharing.
Train When you are ready to begin using BIM, start training your team on the process. Train them about the different uses of BIM. Train them about the different software providers and train them on the different hardware requirements. This training may require a consultant to come in or to send the team to a specialized training. Commit to training them. The more knowledge they have, the more comfortable and confident they will be. This will lead to more success and trust in BIM.
Equip Equip them properly. BIM software can be very taxing on hardware. Make sure that your team has the right hardware to support the software. They won’t use software that is slow and/or burns out their machines. Educate your IT Department on what BIM is and why it will be used. Make sure that they are capable of supporting the new requirements. IT should help in specifying and purchasing the correct hardware. Make the initial investment after proper evaluation. Remember that you are making an investment not a simple purchase.
Engaging people to adapt to change can be difficult. Some will be quick to adapt and others may never. Engagement is a continuous effort. Implementing BIM should be an evolution and not a revolution. Keep your team involved, listen to them and adapt with them.
HOW ERIK STARTED WITH BIM
I think we all have those points in our lives when we experience a turning point or we make a leap of faith. I experienced such a moment during the early part of 2004 when the company I was working for started construction on Wellesley College’s Lulu Chow Wang Campus Center (WCC). I was a Senior Field Engineer in charge of providing survey control and layout for our subcontractors along with performing shop drawing reviews. These tasks in themselves are not overly taxing, after all most designs have predefined grid systems and pretty straightforward elevation changes. This campus center wasn’t like most designs. There were very few right corners to be found. Walls didn’t always go straight up and sometimes changed direction at seemingly arbitrary elevations.
My leap occurred when I was asked how I planned on laying out points that occurred in space. No problem, I could simply work on coordinate and planar geometry problems all day and get a few walls laid out. All it would take is another year and a half added to the schedule. I had been playing with 3D modeling for a few years. Primarily really simple extrusions and massing. Nothing remotely as complex as the WCC. I soon found that the software I was using while “playing” was capable of creating very complex 3D models. I started using these models to find points in space to provide coordinates to my survey team. Sometimes we had to calculate points based on where we could physical place them in the real world. For example, a soffit that needed to be constructed at a varying distance from structural framing couldn’t be laid out in mid-air. My team and I developed a very fluid and adaptive data collection and layout process. Using 3D modeling to calculate points found within complex geometry on the fly proved to be invaluable.
All those calculations happened behind the scenes in a small brick building that not many people knew about, a very secure little silo of information. Another value add to the modeling was the impact of visualization. Sometimes there was confusion around the points we placed and the actual intent. “What?” accompanied by a very odd look was a common response to our point descriptions. 30 seconds with the model answered almost every question they had. To watch someone “see” the intent and know they really understood is very fulfilling. I knew they would build it only once and that it would match the design intent.
I knew when I saw the benefits of 3D modeling with AutoCAD that this was the way I wanted to work from then on. While exploring other uses for 3D modeling I learned about a relatively new process called Building Information Modeling, which added to my excitement and helped point me in the direction I am now traveling. It has been a few years since then, but I still love learning about and implementing new processes and technologies.