Description
Several questions arose when the roles of CAD manager and (more so) building information modeling (BIM) manager became regular parts of design firms: Should this manager work on projects too? Should this person have a billable expectation? Should this role be a practitioner or someone completely unique? Should the manager be part of an architectural studio or an engineering group, or should they sit outside the design teams? Many of these questions were debated early on, and as the industry evolved, so did the CAD and BIM manager roles. What were once isolated roles became several people in a group, and responsibilities expanded from a focused software-type management to a larger umbrella of technology. With this evolution, should we again consider these questions? The one that is particularly interesting is where does this team/group sit, and who do they report to? Is it the design and project side? Is it IT? Or is it somewhere else? Please join this roundtable to share your experiences and opinions.
Key Learnings
- Revisit some classic questions about CAD and BIM management roles.
- Explore whether CAD and BIM managers should be part of design teams or IT.
- Should CAD and BIM managers have billable expectations.
- Consider whether CAD and BIM managers should be design professionals or software experts.