Taking the Leap: Transitioning to a BIM Manager

CHRIS LINDO: Hi, welcome to Taking the Leap, Transitioning to a BIM Manager. My name is Chris Lindo, I'm a consultant here at CADD Microsystems. This session is going to be really focusing on how to transition to a BIM manager. And obviously that can mean different things for different organizations, really fitting into the gaps of what is actually missing in your organization.

And now, this could mean where we are first transitioning to that BIM process, being able to adopt BIM into our company, into our organization, or really just trying to fit what a BIM manager requires in our organization.

So let's actually go over the outline. So really we're going to first talk a little bit about an introduction, just a little bit about me, your speaker. Then we're going to go over the learning objectives, and then we're going to talk about BIM as a process, because I don't think that process or at least that talking point isn't really talked about too much. I think a lot of people think BIM is a product, but really it's a process. So we're really going to dive into that and see what I mean by that idea.

And then we'll go into elements of a BIM manager. Now obviously, I'm not going to tell you what exactly a BIM manager means to you, or what it's going to mean to your organization. But there are certain elements that are very important to becoming a BIM manager.

We're also going to talk about taking the leaps for your organization. So it's not just taking the leap for yourself, but also taking the leap for your organization. There's going to be a lot of planning, a lot of road mapping, a lot of things that you have to keep in mind. So we're going to really dive into that.

And then we'll go over resources and summaries, some really great tips for you guys to use. There's a lot of really great resources out there. Not just this session, but other kinds of sessions at AU, so we'll talk a little bit about that.

So again, my name is Chris Lindo. I'm a consultant with our design practice team here at CADD Microsystems. CADD Microsystems is a platinum partner with Autodesk. We sell the software as well as sell solutions and training and consulting around Autodesk software, other kinds of software, and other kinds of products really just built around the AEC industry. We really have a focus on design, build, and construction, to owning and operating. So we definitely talk to a wide range of users, a wide range of organizations.

As my background, I was a BIM manager for a few years. But I started out as an electrical designer, and even started out as early as just a drafter. So I've been working with the software for about 20 years now, actually. So I know some of you guys have been, "I worked in it for about 30, 40 years." Well, I'm still kind of new to it if you want to think about it that way. I'll put it in those terms. But about 20 years I've been working with the software.

As far as BIM, goes I've been working with BIM for about 10 years. So about half that time. And I realized where the industry was going during that time. I started out with AutoCAD, or really actually started out with hand drafting, went to AutoCAD, and then went on to other BIM processes and BIM applications, such as premier ones like Revit and Navisworks, things like that.

Yeah, so I've been in the AEC industry since 2010, but been working with AutoCAD and the software for 10 years prior to that in various college courses and things like that. I've been a speaker at BiLT North America, Tyler Connect, XCON, and others, including right now AU.

So my interests are technology, 3D modeling, history, traveling, even bow ties. I don't have a bow tie on currently, but I love dressing up with bow ties. I'm also based out of here in DC, so if you ever get around DC, certainly look me up and I'll take you on a nice little tour around the city.

So the learning objectives. We're going to discover what a BIM manager is and how one can help your organization. We're going to discover how planning strategies, training, and continued education can certainly help with the transition to a BIM manager. And then we're going to really get down into the nuts and bolts with it, learn how to fit the role to your organization by defining clear objectives and responsibilities. I can't stress that enough.

And then also, if you will actually see the session live, we're going to actually engage in an open room discussion on the role of today's BIM manager, best practices, and even other resources available.

So let's talk about BIM as a process. So BIM as a process-- it's important to understand just what we mean by this statement. Now, BIM as a process-- you have to kind of think of it less as a product and more of that process. How can we adopt BIM to our workflows and processes that we already have in our organization?

So when you understand that BIM is a process rather than a product, you can see why there is a need for an individual or a team of individuals to focus on the development, implementation, even execution and maintenance of BIM, and how important it really is for your future in that organization as well as that organization's future.

It must be noted that a BIM process and a BIM manager, who is essentially in charge of that process, it can be different depending on the organization. So it can mean a very different role than in one organization then it means in another organization. So the types of projects, and the requirements, and in what is actually being processed or what kind of workflows are already enacted in that organization really do matter.

It is also important to note that there are many organizations that already have developed into some kind of BIM focused or BIM supported firm. So when I say that, when you are transitioning to this BIM manager role in a new firm that is kind of new to BIM, just note that you're not the first ones that did this, and you certainly are not the last ones to do this.

So it's an ongoing process, it's an ongoing thing that you have to kind of evolve and be flexible with. But also your other partners are probably already focused on BIM, or already using BIM in their other projects. So certainly take experience from them.

If that is the case, then it is very important to do your homework. What are they using? Why are they using it? What support there is? Who is part of that BIM team? So if BIM is not a part of your firm, then you can take the amazing opportunity to find what that BIM means to your organization. We'll be focusing on this area, but keep in mind that strategies laid out in this presentation can be utilized in either case or either scenario.

So let's talk about BIM as a process. So just defining what BIM actually stands for. So building information modeling. Or really, how I actually learned it was building information management. But building information modeling. It's a holistic process of just creating and managing information for a built asset. Basically, it's allowing us to build something and to apply metadata to it.

What does that building mean? What does this piece of equipment mean? How does that affect the rest of my design? Things like that. So it's based on an intelligent model and enabled by a cloud platform. BIM integrates structured multidisciplinary data to produce a digital representation of an asset. This is actually straight from autodesk.com.

So that actually really aligns well with what BIM is as a process. It's understanding that it's not just one thing, it's a conglomeration of many things that can come together to build out a solution or to finish off a project. And whenever we're talking about BIM as a process, we also need to think that BIM as a process can be adopted in several different, what I would call phases. And these phases can kind of work inside what's called the building lifecycle.

So hopefully you guys know what the building lifecycle is, but basically, it's a view of a building or asset over the course of its entire life, taking into account the design, construction, and operation of the building and or assets. So the idea of BIM is being able to apply this process in any particular part of the building lifecycle. Now they can be interconnected in various ways, or they can be treated very separately.

In my experience, when I first started out with BIM, I thought it was just in the building-- sorry, in the design-- and then move into construction, and then that was it. And you don't use BIM after that. But actually, no, you use BIM through construction.

And us, as CADD Microsystems, we've been really focusing on getting the ownership and operations of these buildings, of these assets, to really look at BIM as a possible solution or at least as a possible process with which that they can operate and actually continue to run their buildings and assets.

So let's talk about this image here. So when we're talking about BIM as a process, I usually approach BIM utilizing what we here at CADD call the five T's. So there's these five pieces that can really be attached to really any process, or really any adoption, but we're going to focus on BIM.

So technology, which can include hardware, and software, applications, and others to be used either internal operational or project based, or maybe external things, how we can collaborate with other users. So when we're talking about the kind of technology, we're talking about the applications and software and hardware, things like that that enable you and your organization to do the kind of work and do the kind of projects that you want.

And when we're focusing on BIM, obviously you want to think about what technology you do need, or what you already have in place. Now this doesn't necessarily just mean production software. This also includes things like your webcasting capability, or maybe other things like, how do we get meetings scheduled, how email is tracked, and things like that.

So technology is very broad, but when you focus on a BIM process, then you can kind of really adhere, well, what does technology actually mean to me and my colleagues and my organization moving forward?

We're going to talk about training as well. So training on those said tools, or those said applications, and how to approach ongoing education. I can't stress this enough. I've met many, many people that have worked with AutoCAD and worked with Revit and other kinds of software, Navisworks, and even cloud platforms and things like that.

But education is nonstop. You do need to keep up with your training. So it's not just understanding that you do have to keep up with your own training-- how do you support that? How do you bring that process in your organization? Because BIM as a process does require you to continue on with your education. What else is out there, what's the next best thing? How can we adopt that for our organization? And we'll talk a little bit about how we can kind of plan for that later on.

Also, team. So we need to find the right team, and support their skill set with fostering growth. So obviously, we have many different parts of an organization. People in production, people as project managers, superintendents, and even people out there on the front desk and answering phones.

Or in my team, I have sales and marketing. But we all need to come together to figure out, well, how do we perform? Or, how do we make use of this BIM as a process?

So when we come forward, and we think of another process just like BIM, we can think of, well what kind of team members do we require? Is it going to be one person being this BIM manager, or is it going to be a team?

Tools. So this can include things like roadmaps, and checklists, templates, and content. Whenever we're talking about AutoCAD and Revit, there are things that we need to build that enable us to actually perform our work in these BIM centered applications.

And technique. Just standards and workflows, documentation, and understanding, how do we get there and how can we continue to be successful in these areas.

So let's talk about BIM manager. We aren't going to define exactly what a BIM manager is, I'm not going to put something on there that says, hey, take this to anybody and this is exactly what a BIM manager is.

If you talk to a lot of different BIM managers, you're going to get a lot of different perspectives of what a BIM manager really means. So it can be one of many things, but there are key elements, I think, that really make up a BIM manager. So these key elements, the details of which can be completely flexible to what you and your organization needs in a BIM manager or from a BIM manager.

Is it going to be more technical or more thought leadership? Is it going to be more R&D, or is it going to be really someone who puts out fires all day? And that's completely fine, as long as you define it with very clear goals.

So what I like to first highlight, and I think this is something that is kind of overshadowed by a lot of people, a lot of BIM managers, and even upper management, is being a liaison between leadership and production. So obviously, we have a leadership hierarchy in most organizations that say, hey, we need to perform these projects at a certain level. Well, there can be kind of a disconnect between that goal and production.

Now obviously, there are a lot of built in checks and balances with a lot of organizations. But I think as a BIM manager, you are really going to act as a liaison between leadership and production. Being able to tell people, well, right down to being able to click a button and perform one single action-- or sorry, many actions-- with one click of a button that helps your production crew, and then kind of translating that to your leadership.

Why did that button matter? Why did we spend 20 hours creating that button? Why does it solve our issues later on down the road? So kind of connecting or being that liaison between leadership and production, I think is extremely important.

You are also going to develop strategies for BIM implementation and practices. So when we're talking about BIM as a process, you are essentially defining what that actually means to you and your organization. What is that implementation looking like, what kind of practices can we adopt to continue with our BIM processing? And then, really answering the what, the why, the where, the who, and how for your organization.

Training and education. So you're not just looking for training for yourself, you're also looking at training for your colleagues. Because the more production that they can perform, or the more efficient production that they can perform, the better off you and your organization are going to be as a whole.

So really, kind of look internally. What are we actually missing, what kind of training options or training opportunities are there for you and your colleagues?

Again, when people come into an organization and they tell me that they can work with a certain application, I don't expect them to just stop there. There's always something new to learn. Always something new to adopt and think outside the box of, what are we using and what are we not using in certain applications and things like that.

You're also going to develop and maintain standards. So a BIM manager is going to be enforcing these standards, and certainly a lot of times you might be thought of as the quote, unquote "bad guy" or the "bad news guy." But that's OK, because you are developing these standards that your company values, your organization values. And certainly, your colleagues will value as well.

So always think about that. How are we developing these standards? How are they being implemented, and how are they being maintained? Really, that important part, that maintenance of standards, is really important. When you develop standards and you develop these processes and they're six or seven years old, and you never touched them before-- or, since then-- it's time to touch them again. It's time to look at them and figure out what can we do, how can we make this a little bit better?

You're also there to support your staff. So they're working with these applications, working with these new tools that you developed and these standards, but now you need to support them. You thought of one way to perform a certain action, or really, to work in a certain project. If they come back to you with feedback, support that and really figure out what actually works best.

Because I'll tell you, with BIM implementation, it's a continual process. You always have to go back and revise things and fine tune it. And one thing that you might've had an idea that is going to be a short term goal-- and we'll talk a little bit more about that-- now it's going to be more of a medium or long term goal. So really kind of come back to how you're supporting your staff.

Innovation and thought leadership. This is actually probably the more fun part of being a BIM manager, is being able to sit there with Google or sit there with YouTube-- there's a lot of blogs and AU videos and sessions held by Autodesk, and even ourselves that help you innovate and kind of think more about what the future can bring. We brought in one application, we brought in one tool, but what else is out there? How else can we bring that in?

So really, the idea of BIM manager is to also strategize your transition. So you want to identify how you and your organization can benefit from the adoption of BIM, and how the creation of a BIM manager can really work. So you want to focus on key areas that help you define what you need in order to be a successful manager for BIM, such as, what are your goals as a BIM manager? What do you need or who do you need to buy into? So you need support from leadership as well. What does it actually mean to you to be a BIM manager? So you define goals that you want to accomplish.

What does it actually mean to you? Are you going to be the stop gap for everyone, or are you looking for more of just a supportive IT role? What education do you need? Initial and ongoing. You need to know these applications that support BIM, but you also need to think about, how can they be integrated together? How do they work together, how do other companies use them? What is expected when we perform a BIM project?

What tools do you need? So that's software, hardware, support from your IT. What gaps are you trying to fill in that organization? That's actually a big part here, is being able to answer exactly what are you trying to fulfill that your company is currently missing? It could be that they're just missing the BIM manager role, but why is that role important? Why do they require it, why is it needed here?

And then also, responsibilities. What do you want to actually perform? So after you answer these questions, you will now need to find what that organization really requires. So answering these questions, or really focusing on these areas, can help you define and strategize your BIM manager role.

So let's talk about taking the leap for your organization. So what does this actually mean? What does it mean for you, and what does it mean for your organization? You assess where your company is. You assess where they are, where do they want to go to.

So really, taking the leap for your organization requires a lot of different steps, obviously. A lot of people to buy in. But for you guys, as a potential BIM manager, you really want to focus on some key aspects of how it can fit in your organization, or really key strategies.

So first, start the conversation. Just throw it out there. Hey, what if we had a BIM manager? Does anyone know what that BIM manager is? So you discuss, layout, and research. Has your organization tried it before? That's actually a huge question, because a lot of times people who are in the industry know about BIM, and they might have tried to strategize this before.

So what were the goals? Were there clear goals defined? What were the pitfalls? Was there any support for a BIM manager, or did someone just kind of write a piece of paper what a BIM manager is, and hand it in?

So think about that, OK? Who has heard of a BIM manager? You'd be surprised how many people might not have heard of a BIM manager. So what do they think it is, and how would it fit? A lot of people think of it as an IT role, and if that's what fits with the organization at that point, that's OK. You can be more of an IT role. But a lot of other people think of it as more of a thought leadership, or a process leader, if you will.

So also the buy in. Who are we trying to convince? So you want to step up the conversation, assess current processes, the pros and cons, what is the potential ROI? Return on investment-- that is a big, big thing. It's not just a buzzy phrase to throw out there.

A lot of people in management positions are really looking for what is going to be the investment, because a BIM manager a lot of times has a lot of overhead. And that overhead cost isn't necessarily supported by these different projects, so you have to validate that. What is the return on investment? What are you trying to resolve, what are you trying to accomplish in the company?

All right, so also you want to assess the current state. So how is your organization already performing their work? So you look at current projects. What are your pitfalls and shortcomings? What kind of role did you play in that project, or what kind of role did your company play in that project? Me, coming from an electrical design background, we were just in charge of a photovoltaic field, and that was it. Just this kind of a solar power field, if you will, out in the middle of Maryland, and that was it.

Everyone else was in charge of this office building, everyone else was in charge of the server room, and things like that. But really understanding what your role in that organization-- sorry, in that project-- is going to help you assess what is missing. Why didn't we get the other roles? Why were we only set up for this kind of project, and not other kinds of projects or other aspects of that project?

Production staff and support. So what kind of responsibilities are there? Who is using what, organization and management. Also the IT support is there as well. Speaking of which, you have technology, hardware, and software. What are you using? Are you just an AutoCAD shop? That's OK, because you know what? A lot of that training in AutoCAD can actually move into other BIM processes, BIM applications like Revit, things like that.

So what are you using, and how is it being utilized right now? Are you just drawing shapes on a computer screen, or does that shape actually require you to apply certain kinds of data? What does that shape mean to me and my colleagues, what does it mean to the organization, what does it mean to the overall project?

Access and training. Again, it's kind of going back to that idea of, what is out there, who is using it, and how well are they trained in it? And also, upgrades. Understanding a little bit more about what technology applications you have, and what does it take to get to the next version? Is it more of a ongoing maintenance process where every new application or every new version that you get you can automatically install? Well, what does that installation process look like? How do we upgrade from one thing to the other? That's going to be very important, especially for standards.

If anyone has any experience with AutoCAD versioning and things like that, or even Revit versioning, they'll tell you that it's very, very important to understand how you can upgrade from one version of software to another, and what that does and how does that affect your overall production and project work.

Also, figure out what kind of barriers there are. What prevents new work? Is it just the economy, or is it the area that you're looking to use projects, or is it just, you know what, this project is requiring BIM. We're not really a BIM shop, we can outsource that, right? But what if we didn't outsource that, what if we did it more in house?

Software and training-- always that training bit-- and time. Is this project going to take too long? Or is it supposed to be a short project? Things like that, because a lot of times when I've worked with clients to transition into BIM, they see their projects as an AutoCAD project versus a Revit project.

And that's certainly fine in the beginning, but eventually you are going to want to move away from that AutoCAD application use and that AutoCAD production, and move more into the Revit production, because that's a little bit more repetitive. And that can be used in a variety of different ways that get you more work and get you more opportunities.

Also, project initialization. What actually creates the project, or how does a project kick off? Usually when we're talking about a BIM project, there's going to be hopefully a BIM centered meaning. How are we actually going to perform this project in the sense of BIM?

And then also process documentation. How do we document all this, how do we keep it? How is that information shared? Is it through a wiki, is it through just emails? Or is it just a memo being passed around, or is it just a meeting?

Also, asset library. So really understanding your current state can help you fill in those gaps. If, in a current project, you find that there are pitfalls and shortcomings, list those out and figure out how you as a BIM manager can help resolve these. Either foresee them before they happen, the rework.

If, during a current project, we laid out some duct work or put in some structural trusses and things like that and things tend to have to be reworked during the as built phase, well, a BIM manager or a BIM focused firm can help resolve a lot of those issues before that even happens.

A lot of that can be solved in Revit. A lot of that can be solved with Navisworks. Just being able to see what actually has taken place or what you have designed, versus what other users have designed. But also, just talking about it in a BIM meeting before we actually break ground is really, really important.

Also, assessing your current staff and technology, barriers, project initialization, process documentation. Again, how are these processes documented? How are they shared? How are they viewed?

So also, it's really important to develop a mission statement. So figure out in a couple of sentences, what is your goal and how does it fit in your organization? Review your organization's mission statement. Usually there is a mission statement. What is important to your organization? How can you help them meet that mission? What does the implementation of BIM mean to you? What are you view as important goals? That's going to be part of your mission statement.

Define that mission, gain that support. And again, developing that mission statement can help you keep on track. We can roadmap every single step of the way, but really, how does that drive forward? What is that mission, what are we actually really resolving here?

Also, investment. Again, upper management, investment, and support. Provide a detailed assessment. Use that current state that you just defined earlier, use that current state and get a perspective of staff. Where do they see the production going, or where do they see their projects going? And what kind of pitfalls did they fall into? Why is it important to you to look back at these projects?

Game it out. What can this look like for your firm? Mission statement and culture alignment. There's going to have to be a little bit of that, a little bit of pull and tug. But you're going to also want to find short and medium and long term goals, and we'll talk a little bit about that as well.

So engage your colleagues. How can you support your colleagues as a BIM manager? Figure out through interviews, what works well? What doesn't work well? What can be improved, what is missing? The tools and technology. Do they have the right tools, and are they working well?

You'd be surprised to see that a lot of people say, well, this is just what we have. But I prefer this other tool. Maybe it's a little bit more expensive, but if it actually really does what they need for a project, and gives them better results and be more of an efficient user, then look at that as a possible opportunity.

Training. Are there gaps in training? Support and continued education, that is a very big role for you as a BIM manager. Obviously, asses technology, so applications and software. What are you using in production? What are others using? Can this benefit everyone? What is out there, and what can we actually use?

Again, there's Revit, but then there's Autodesk BIM 360, Navisworks Manage. Understanding that layout of different kinds of solutions and software out there can help you figure out where this takes place in your overall grand scheme of how to be a BIM focused firm, how to be a BIM manager.

Hardware. Obviously, server and IT support. Hopefully you have an IT person, or maybe a consulting firm. Talk to them, figure out why we ordered the kinds of parts or the kinds of workstations that we have. Or maybe server support as well. Do we need to upgrade, do we need more room? Is everything on the server? Can we actually VPN in? All these different key elements.

You want to also define goals and responsibilities. Is this going to be a role, or is this going to be a team? A lot of times, I see people being as a BIM manager-- or maybe there's a couple of BIM managers-- maybe focused on multiple areas of your firm, but also model managers. So kind of work under the BIM managers, but more focused on project based while the big managers look at it as a whole process. Just like I was saying before.

And now we get into BIM manager responsibilities, and these are just a few of them. I can label off dozens and dozens of BIM manager responsibilities. But really, the focus here is asset creation and management, project development, standards development, and enforcement of those standards, maintenance, continued education and training, project production support, BIM execution plans-- BEPs-- and there's so much more to it as well.

You also want to define success indicators and continued assessment. So what indicates success to you? Could it be staff morale, adoption prevalence? How well are they adopting things? Are we getting new work? Did we create new assets and new tools, and how are they working? A higher level of software comfort? Are you getting more questions, are you getting more advanced questions? Hey, Chris, I know that we can do all these different things, but how can we make it all to be focused on this one thing that I want to have happen in the product?

And that could be a yes or no answer, but basically, are they asking simple questions of how to save a file or how a file is managed, or are they actually trying to figure out, well, how can we perform this kind of work in the kind of software that we're using?

So utilization and efficiency fall into that as well. And taking a survey. So really, taking a survey is going to be very important there.

So it's easy to say roadmap, or really, roadmap an objective or goal. But when it comes to an intrinsic process and workflow change, I rely on defining what are my short, medium, and long term goals? So I talked a little bit about that leading up to this, but I'm going to give you a really good example of what that can look like, when I utilize those five Ts that I talked about earlier.

So this will also help you define what a BIM manager is, or what BIM management is, and how it can benefit your organization. So when you try to get that buy in for this position, you've outlined a good plan of attack.

So this is kind of what it could look like. Basically, going into production and software, we follow this short term, medium, and long term goal arrangement, but kind of breaking it down into those five T's-- technology, training, team, technique, and tools.

So when we're talking about short term for technology, it could be your applications. What do we need? We need to buy Revit. Great, OK, cool. Get Revit, get it installed, get people trained. So that could be hardware upgrades, and mobile apps, and things like that.

But what's the medium term? Well, OK, we got training. But now we need to actually get training on our assets. So we need to build that asset library. So you can talk about application integrations, the in house training, things like that.

And long term could be ongoing strategy for training, and things like that. So your short term and medium term and long term goals can mean various things, depending on which of the five T's you're trying to hit.

Now again, let's say that I'm doing a full Revit implementation of that application. So I'm a BIM manager, and now I want to implement Revit. The first short term for technology is just getting Revit. OK, cool, fantastic. Now, the short term is getting that initial training, the short term for training is to get that initial training.

And then for team, I need to figure out, well, who's going to be part of that initial team? Could it be a couple of different people in various parts of our production crew that can help us game it out and figure out, does this work for us? How can we transition for the rest of our team? And how can we make the training a little bit better for the rest of our team? So kind of figure out a pilot crew.

The technique will be, well, could this be a new application implementation, or is this also going to require us to process a roadmap, and kind of come up with a BIM execution plan? How our company is going to be utilizing BIM, and starting that out and figuring that out. And then also, short term, produce those templates and assets and things like that.

So as a Revit implementation process, that short term is getting us the application, getting us trained, figure out who needs that initial training, how that training is going to affect us in our production, and also what we actually need to be successful initially in that implementation. And then the medium term and long term goals of that can kind of flow with that projection of that goal.

So again, breaking this down into your short term, medium, and long term goals can give you a really great plan of attack. And think of this in terms of, well, my short term could be a couple of months or maybe a few weeks, depending on how fast you want this. Medium term could be into a year, and then your long term can be that multiple continuation plan. How do we be successful five years from now?

So let's talk about resources. So there are a lot of resources out there that you can certainly use. I'm just going to throw out a couple of them, just out there for you guys. So AU is great for an online resources containing several talks about BIM, BIM management, applications, solutions, and industry talk. And even roundtables, things like that.

You also have ATCs. CADD Microsystems is an authorized training center, we help with initial, ongoing, and customized training. You can also attend AU. Right now, it's the digital version, or web version of AU. But when we start coming together, we can actually go to AU and start connecting with other users, other people who are kind of going through the same struggles as you, or someone who figured out five years ago. It's really, really fun to attend AU.

There's also Revit user groups. So there is probably one likely in your area, since Revit is a premier application for BIM processes. Joining a Revit user group. And we have one in DC as well. It's a great way to connect with others who are in your shoes currently, or who have figured this out. And it's all about the industry, and those users in the industry.

Social media. You can connect with BIM experts. There's a couple off the top of my head. We have BIM experts here at CADD Microsystems, but we also connect with people like the Revit Kid and BIM Guru. There are other social media contacts that you can certainly look up.

There's blogs, and there's plenty of books as well, including things from Ascent, which is actually a really great training manual production company.

So let's kind of go over a summary of what we talked about today. So process versus product. BIM isn't just a product. It's not one application, it's a solution. A process, a way to change how to approach a project from start to finish. Understanding this helps you define what a BIM manager is for you and your organization.

Approach the question with those five Ts in mind. What technology do we need, what training do we need or what training are we missing? What makes up our team currently, and what are we missing? What tools do we have, and what are we missing, or what do we need to move forward?

The technique and the approach, and the tools, just like I said. What the elements of a BIM manager, you want to be a liaison, connect your production team with management, develop standards, research new technology, innovate. Innovate, how we can work more efficiently. Being a BIM manager means much more than just being tech savvy.

Leading or taking the leap for your organization means leading your organization to this end goal. So defining where you are now, where you want to go, and how to get there is very important. You also want road map it out. You want to figure out what your short term, medium term, and long term goals are. What do we want to-- what if we want to use Revit? Great, but what does that actually mean? What does that look like two to three months from now, a year, five years? How do we continue that upward trajectory?

Focusing on those five T's can help you define what your termed goals are, and the five T's can be applied to many other aspects of your organization. Not just the work you do, and not just being a BIM manager, but also other processes and workflows that you might want to redefine in your company.

Finally, just to end off, a BIM manager is basically whatever you want it to be. Hopefully, I gave you some really good strategies of how to approach being that BIM manager, how to take that leap as being a BIM manager. But really, the focus here is just getting you in tune of what you want to define that BIM manager is for your company, and how to strategize and move forward.

So I do want to thank you for joining me today. As always, you can feel free to connect with me. You can certainly connect with me at CADD, which is our Twitter handle. You can also connect with us at CADD Microsystems slash blog. You can also feel free to send me a message here through Autodesk University.

Hopefully you enjoyed it, and have a wonderful day.