A New Year always sparks thoughts of resolutions, and two foci have emerged for mine over the Christmas break - and both of them grow out of key initiatives in 2012.
Over the past year I have spent a lot of time talking about and developing the thinking around BIM and the Design Principles. This year I think all my efforts should all be about personally living these and delivering all they can achieve.
Looking back on my blog a year ago I was congratulating myself at having finally learned to draw using Revit. Being capable of doing it myself is always a key step towards me believing my own propaganda. Over the year I have spent time talking with many of Atkins' BIM practitioners and presenting to many of our key clients and contractor partners. I think that both personally and as a company we now have a BIM message that resonates closely with their needs and aspirations, that cuts through the 'BIMwash' and focuses on what we can all realistically deliver together.
However, despite industry experts constantly repeating that BIM is all about the 'I for Information' the collective eye keeps getting drawn back to the 'M for Modelling'. This in turn reverts back to 'we need more, better, up to date, modelling software' to which perhaps a bit of information can then be tagged onto in the future - although we are perhaps not clear why.
This eventually dumbs down to the 'BIM = Revit' message that is sometimes heard. However, this is the equivalent of saying you live a green lifestyle because you have a solar panel on your roof. There are so many other changes you should be making, and similarly having a box of Revit is only a small part of the BIM journey.
My growing realisation last year, and one I am hearing from several others in Atkins, is that we can't move on to the parallel 'BIMs' models of Level 2 shown in the upper part of the Bew-Richards Maturity Model without first delivering the bottom line shown starting in Level 1.
The key differentiator between Level 0 CAD and 2D Level 1 BIM is the introduction of 'IM for Information Management'. Many in industry concentrate on the top part of the diagram and the new 3D toys this needs. However the necessary first step is for us all to consistently deliver on CIPIC, Avanti and BS1192 as shown in the bottom part.
And, as is true for all change programmes, this comes down to the behaviour of individuals. Atkins has had systems for managing our information in place for years. We now need to make sure we all consistently, religiously follow them. We need to make sure every one of our staff and contractors knows how our data gets handled – and then does it.
This should be true for all our emails, instructions, incoming, outgoing and work in progress drawings and models - everything. As soon as something is put in the wrong place or copied into a personal area we have destroyed the 'single source of the truth' that we say BIM is about.
So, 2013 resolution No 1 is to personally become red hot about the way I handle all my data, and to evangelise this vision for others! It might not be as much fun as 'let's go 3D' but if we all did this we'd be well ahead of the pack chasing the Government's 2016 Level 2 BIM dream and Atkins would reap the benefits.
Time for resolution number 2! I've been really pleased with the work many of us put into launching the Design Principles. At times it seemed to be a huge amount of talking to get seven simple points explained across the company, but it’s great that so many people feel they represent the way we need to deliver our projects. I am hugely encouraged that over 1000 people (sometimes over 2000!) have kept tuning into the webinars to participate in discussion around these key topics.
Now, the Design Principles were never meant to be an end in themselves. Rather they are an armature around which several ongoing initiatives can fit – and hopefully make sense as part of a whole. BIM is one of these. Our evolution towards more common ways of working across the company is another. The one I personally want to focus on this year is improving the way we Review and Check our projects.
As with Resolution 1, this is not something new. Our BMS has defined the need for check and review since before it was called a BMS! However two events in December show me that we need to keep quality in sharp focus.
Firstly some of our 2D deliverables, despite coming from a sophisticated BIM model, didn’t get annotated as well as they should have been. Perhaps an emphasis on BIM had distracted the team from the fact their deliverable would be judged as a 2D ‘old-school’ sheet. It is clear that we must not take our eye off the quality ball, especially when our processes are being disrupted by evolving needs of clients, ever tougher programmes and new technologies such as BIM.
Secondly, three projects wanted me to review work in the last week before Christmas. I had only been warned about one of these, so some serious diary editing was needed to allow these to be fitted in. When I picked up some deficiencies in an approach it all became a panic at a late stage, with me being drawn in to help redraft a report. It could have been planned and processed so much better.
Thus 2013 resolution No.2 is to revisit our existing requirements for checking and review, and to redefine, rearticulate and recommunicate what is needed and expected on all our team's projects. It’s going to be all about behaviours again! I have been asked to contribute to an upcoming Design Principles webinar on Review, so no doubt you will be hearing more from me on this one soon!
So, 'Information Management' and 'Checking and Review' are my two 'Back to Basics' themes for 2013. Sometimes you need to take a look backwards before going forwards in confidence.
