Training went pretty smoothly today, but I found out what a total nightmare Worksharing can be and I'm glad that we won't have to use it very often. It sounds like the link between the Central file and the local files can be easily broken. And make sure that people always relinquish what they check out, lest ye have to hurt them in a slow and very painful manner.
A word to the wise: if you have to use this feature (and I'm sure many of you will), be very attentive and precise on how you set this part up and operate it.
I made the unfortunate mistake of bringing an architectural RVT sample file that was messier than I realized. We ended up using it in training and it caused a few small problems for just about everyone in the class - including The Specialist and his Apprentice because they had to deal with the file, too. I thought it would be better to see the exercises done in an actual real-life project. A well-intended direction to go, thought I. Well, if there had been a little less weirdness in the sample file, training would've gone better. This was not any fault of the trainers (they fought through it rather well), but I think my crew would've done better and had fewer snags had we used the sanitized training files that were ready to be used by the Specialist. I use the word "sanitized" because that's essentially what they are. Because they need to be. Yes, those types of training files lack the "real world" pieces & parts that you'll eventually have to deal with. But during training, those extras became distractions that screwed up the continuity on the learning side. Hindsight: The Specialist was very accommodating when I asked to use our file. Damn him! I wish he would've shot me down cold when I asked to use a "real" RVT file for Copy/Monitor.
More wise words: Unless you have a really clean & error-free file from and outside source (i.e., architect or engineer), use the set-piece training stuff to get the basics into your head. THEN you can venture out and apply it to real-life files. Crawl before you try to walk.
Lesson learned for today: If you have previous experience with Revit, have an open mind when it comes to different methodology.
I was an instructor's nightmare for a little while today. When The Specialist started into Copy/Monitor, I let my past training (& limited knowledge) influence me into resisting what he was trying to teach and I almost blew it. See, I was previously trained to NOT use Copy/Monitor for a number of what I thought were good reasons. I think those reasons were valid back then and still are. Sometimes. When I questioned why he was teaching us that way instead of the other way, I could almost see my crew start to question the methods of The Specialist. What I thought about during the lunch break was the fact that this guy who is getting paid to travel around the country and teach this stuff probably knows what he's doing a helluva lot more than I do, and what I know is from older versions of the software. He still has not referred to the AOTC book even once that I've noticed! So I apologized to him and came back into training after lunch with an open mind. Now that I've cleared my mind and started to listen more instead of thinking "that's not the way I learned it before," I am actually getting much more out of it, everyone's confidence in The Specialist has returned, and I'm less of an Ass in Class.
Sometimes it truly is easier to teach someone who has no experience than the person who has just enough to be dangerous.
One last footnote to Day 2 and then I'll shut my yap. One of my crew who I never thought would opt to do things work related on his own time, actually asked me to give him what he needs to install RST 2009 on his home computer before he left for the day. He's smart, a hard worker, and he understands structures, but he really leaves work at work and does everything & everything work-related while on the clock. And there's nothing wrong with that. After all, none of us does this for a hobby, right? But now he wants to put it on his own machine at home? I almost lost it.
That's how well the training is going overall.
Check out the LWC Blog again tomorrow...
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
RST 2009 Core Training: Day 1 (Part II)
Ok: time for the follow-up to the comments from yesterday. For you "real implementation content" readers, check out my Day 2 posting for the actual stuff. For the most part, this post is just me venting a little.
Here's the story. We were given RST 2008 training manuals for RST 2009 training. I didn't think it was kosher and asked about it. Explanation: they aren't available yet. Ok. So I checked the online store and found (after putting it in my cart) that they are "in stock." That was before my posting last night and the biggest reason I wasn't very comfortable. Would you be? Since I have a contact or two at The Desk, I put out a few feelers after hours last night and had my replies before I hit training this morning. As it turns out, the RST 2009 AOTC "has not shipped yet but is very close."
The Desk evidently does not have the magic wand that they should to make the manuals materialize out of thin air right after the product ships. Go figure. However, I do think they could do better since they had our gazillion-page User's Manuals and Imperial Tutorials to us a few weeks ago. Somebody out in Cali is calling in a few markers with the Tooth Fairy or somebody to make that happen, so why not the AOTC books, too? Anyway, that's not the fault of our trainers.
I will say this, though, because I feel I have to. I thought it would've been more professional if they had told us up front (before I specifically asked about it) that we would get the new ones when they came in. Honestly? It made me feel like they were trying to slide that one by us. If they had approached me first, more than likely I would not have questioned whether they were available or not, but because I had to be the one to bring it up....
What would you say if Microsoft sent the instruction booklet for XP-Pro in the package for Vista? And that's a little booklet you get for free. These things aren't small and definitely aren't free.
To their credit, a few people there have said (in roundabout ways) that they will make it right.
So my suspicions have been arrested. Sorry, guys - it's not personal. Some of that suspicion comes from having teenage kids. Me to my wonderful wife: "Weren't report cards supposed to come out yesterday?" My wife: "I think so." Me again: "Did they say anything to you about it?" My wife: "No." Sirens, bells, whistles & flags going up all over the place! See what I mean? You with kids are laughing & gritting your teeth at the same time. Some call it paranoia, some call it a sixth-sense. My therapist says I shouldn't tell you what she calls it until the medication has had more time to start working.
I'm back to feeling much better about things.
"Take us back to DEFCON 4."
Here's the story. We were given RST 2008 training manuals for RST 2009 training. I didn't think it was kosher and asked about it. Explanation: they aren't available yet. Ok. So I checked the online store and found (after putting it in my cart) that they are "in stock." That was before my posting last night and the biggest reason I wasn't very comfortable. Would you be? Since I have a contact or two at The Desk, I put out a few feelers after hours last night and had my replies before I hit training this morning. As it turns out, the RST 2009 AOTC "has not shipped yet but is very close."
The Desk evidently does not have the magic wand that they should to make the manuals materialize out of thin air right after the product ships. Go figure. However, I do think they could do better since they had our gazillion-page User's Manuals and Imperial Tutorials to us a few weeks ago. Somebody out in Cali is calling in a few markers with the Tooth Fairy or somebody to make that happen, so why not the AOTC books, too? Anyway, that's not the fault of our trainers.
I will say this, though, because I feel I have to. I thought it would've been more professional if they had told us up front (before I specifically asked about it) that we would get the new ones when they came in. Honestly? It made me feel like they were trying to slide that one by us. If they had approached me first, more than likely I would not have questioned whether they were available or not, but because I had to be the one to bring it up....
What would you say if Microsoft sent the instruction booklet for XP-Pro in the package for Vista? And that's a little booklet you get for free. These things aren't small and definitely aren't free.
To their credit, a few people there have said (in roundabout ways) that they will make it right.
So my suspicions have been arrested. Sorry, guys - it's not personal. Some of that suspicion comes from having teenage kids. Me to my wonderful wife: "Weren't report cards supposed to come out yesterday?" My wife: "I think so." Me again: "Did they say anything to you about it?" My wife: "No." Sirens, bells, whistles & flags going up all over the place! See what I mean? You with kids are laughing & gritting your teeth at the same time. Some call it paranoia, some call it a sixth-sense. My therapist says I shouldn't tell you what she calls it until the medication has had more time to start working.
I'm back to feeling much better about things.
"Take us back to DEFCON 4."
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
RST 2009 Core Training: Day 1 (Part I)
Can you believe that I was almost late for the first day of training? All of our crew was there in plenty of time, but I was still gathering "stuff" and forgot that I had to drive through morning rush-hour traffic. On-time I was, though.
The Specialist: impressive. He didn't use the AOTC book at all, but he didn't need to. Very knowledgeable, fluid in presentation of material, he kept a good pace going throughout the day without getting ahead of anyone, immediately had answers to all questions, and seems like a helluva nice guy too.
We also have an Apprentice Specialist attending the training also who will be striking out on his own after he finishes his Jedi training. He knows his stuff and had input of his own at key points during the day.
The Sales Rep. stopped by and chatted for a few minutes even though he didn't need to, but our Project Manager never once stopped by. I found that odd since, after all, he's the Project Manager for our implementation.
For the most part, everything ran very smoothly for us as well. A few small snags, but less than I thought there would be for the AutoCAD users. Our lone engineer in attendance did better than everyone else (except me maybe?) and he has almost no AutoCAD experience. He attributed it to the fact that he's very used to the 3D modeling process because of using RAM for structural analysis. It makes perfect sense to me. That aside, it is no surprise to me that he picked it right up. He's not where he is because of a coin flip.
This entry is entitled Part I because that is all I'm going to say about today's training for now. There are a couple of items that I'm checking on before I comment further, lest I put my big-fat-foot in my just-as-big-fat mouth. Sometimes I can be a little quick to defend my position (and our $$$ investment!), but I'm going to wait. For now. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt until then - especially when I could be mistaken. Not wrong: just mistaken.
Let's just say that I don't feel all warm and fuzzy about a few things, but we'll see what develops.
Tune in again tomorrow night. I hope you'll hear me humble myself again.
Time for me to make like a tree and 'leave.' Go Celtics!
The Specialist: impressive. He didn't use the AOTC book at all, but he didn't need to. Very knowledgeable, fluid in presentation of material, he kept a good pace going throughout the day without getting ahead of anyone, immediately had answers to all questions, and seems like a helluva nice guy too.
We also have an Apprentice Specialist attending the training also who will be striking out on his own after he finishes his Jedi training. He knows his stuff and had input of his own at key points during the day.
The Sales Rep. stopped by and chatted for a few minutes even though he didn't need to, but our Project Manager never once stopped by. I found that odd since, after all, he's the Project Manager for our implementation.
For the most part, everything ran very smoothly for us as well. A few small snags, but less than I thought there would be for the AutoCAD users. Our lone engineer in attendance did better than everyone else (except me maybe?) and he has almost no AutoCAD experience. He attributed it to the fact that he's very used to the 3D modeling process because of using RAM for structural analysis. It makes perfect sense to me. That aside, it is no surprise to me that he picked it right up. He's not where he is because of a coin flip.
This entry is entitled Part I because that is all I'm going to say about today's training for now. There are a couple of items that I'm checking on before I comment further, lest I put my big-fat-foot in my just-as-big-fat mouth. Sometimes I can be a little quick to defend my position (and our $$$ investment!), but I'm going to wait. For now. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt until then - especially when I could be mistaken. Not wrong: just mistaken.
Let's just say that I don't feel all warm and fuzzy about a few things, but we'll see what develops.
Tune in again tomorrow night. I hope you'll hear me humble myself again.
Time for me to make like a tree and 'leave.' Go Celtics!
Training Prep
In order to prep for the classroom training, I opted to have everyone complete as many of the eLearning exercises on the Subscription website as possible. The first one I had them go through was Exploring the User Interface - since you can't do much (effectively) without being familiar with the program. I went through them also (as a needed refresher) since it has been a while for me, too. This should mean fewer slowdowns during the training - I hope.
It was recommended by our Implementors (?) to try the Getting Started with Revit Structure 2009 booklet that is included with the DVD, but that is more for someone at least a little familiar with the program. And, just for the record, there are a couple of mistakes that easily confused our novices when they tried that before the eLearning mini-courses. I would point them out, but I can't remember them exactly. I do remember that one called out the wrong elevation marker to use (or was very vague in the description - north instead of south, maybe?) and consequently ended up with the grids showing reversed from what they showed in the picture. You should've seen the puzzled looks I got.
One thing to mention about the eLearning exercises: we all had some major issues trying to get the Simulations to work and were forced to use the Application to complete them. There is nothing really wrong with that, but if they give you the option to do it either way, they (Autodesk) should make sure that it works either way. I say that it's their issue because we tried on at least ten computers (all 6 of our work computers and most of our home computers as well) and had a very low success rate using the Simulations anywhere with either XP or Vista. If you try it, definitely use Internet Explorer as Autodesk is one of those sites that doesn't always play nice with Firefox (unfortunately). The only times it worked for us was with IE7. Score 1 more for Bill Gates & Co.
Like he needs any more points.
Confidence Level going into the classroom: High.
It was recommended by our Implementors (?) to try the Getting Started with Revit Structure 2009 booklet that is included with the DVD, but that is more for someone at least a little familiar with the program. And, just for the record, there are a couple of mistakes that easily confused our novices when they tried that before the eLearning mini-courses. I would point them out, but I can't remember them exactly. I do remember that one called out the wrong elevation marker to use (or was very vague in the description - north instead of south, maybe?) and consequently ended up with the grids showing reversed from what they showed in the picture. You should've seen the puzzled looks I got.
One thing to mention about the eLearning exercises: we all had some major issues trying to get the Simulations to work and were forced to use the Application to complete them. There is nothing really wrong with that, but if they give you the option to do it either way, they (Autodesk) should make sure that it works either way. I say that it's their issue because we tried on at least ten computers (all 6 of our work computers and most of our home computers as well) and had a very low success rate using the Simulations anywhere with either XP or Vista. If you try it, definitely use Internet Explorer as Autodesk is one of those sites that doesn't always play nice with Firefox (unfortunately). The only times it worked for us was with IE7. Score 1 more for Bill Gates & Co.
Like he needs any more points.
Confidence Level going into the classroom: High.
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