Poll: Does Your Team have a Processes and Procedures Manual?
The next issue of AUGIWORLD Magazine focuses on management issues. There are a lot of factors to be concerned with when it comes to keeping a design team ticking.
File management, standards management, training, budgeting, licensing, customizing, reviewing, submitting, etc. I look forward to getting my copy of this month's magazine and reading what our content managers and their authors have shared with us in each column.
Processes and Procedures Manuals, when clear and kept up to date, can remove a lot of mystery and inconsistency from a team’s workflow, so let us take a look at what portion of your fellow AUGI members have one.
So, 56% of us have a manual in place. However, over 22% of those teams have an outdated guide.
39% of our respondents do not have a processes and procedures manual. And 5% aren't sure whether their team has one or not.
Is there a risk in not documenting our policies and workflow?
A few years ago, I included a chart in the salary survey, showing which industries had the most people approaching retirement age, both to show a potential loss in knowledge to firm owners as well as to point out future job opportunities for young people.
While Baby Boomers are delaying retirement more than initially anticipated, there will come a time when they leave the workforce en masse. And, of course, losing your best people to other job opportunities is always a risk.
Do you (or does your management or owner) really understand how projects move through your company, grasping what information is needed or included at each stage of the project and why?
Let's be honest, documentation is a thing that is often pushed to a backburner, because it generally does not make money for a company. If you think you need to document your work, it will likely require a dictate from upper management, if they value the time and effort that goes into such a task. If they aren't pushing for it, it will be hard to get others involved, let alone invested in it.
How do you keep it?
If you DO have a manual, where do you keep it? A shared network drive in DOC or PDF format? A HelpFile on your server? Or a Wiki on your intranet?
Are we talking detailed paragraphs? Bullet-pointed checklists? Or workflow diagrams?
No matter how you document your workflow, I encourage those who have not started yet to do so. Including explanations of Why along with the When and Who and How can help you know when it is acceptable or necessary to modify your procedures.
Next Month
Thank you to everyone who took a moment to chime in on the homepage poll. Please come back for our current poll and share whether or not you're currently looking for a new job. We have conducted this poll for the past three years, so we can compare results and see whether the increase in those looking for new opportunities has continued.
Melanie Stone is a CAFM/ IWMS Specialist & System Administrator supporting and writing about ARCHIBUS, FMInteract, Tririga, Revit, AutoCAD, BricsCAD or similar. She served as an AUGI Director/Officer for over 6 years and is currently involved with the STLRUG. Melanie can be reached at mistressofthedorkness@gmail.com or found on Twitter as @MistresDorkness on YouTube or on her Mistress Of the Dorkness blog.
