Datasheet

CHAPTER 1: WHAT’S INVOLVED: DEFINING THE POSITION ■

Gaining the Power to Do Your Job

At this point in defining the CAD management position, you’ve completed the follow-

ing analytical steps:

• You’ve analyzed the tasks that you’re expected to accomplish.

• You’ve looked at that task list from different perspectives—from your own per-

spective, from the users’ perspective, from management’s perspective, and from

a money perspective.

• You’ve painstakingly processed and prioritized lists, thinking about what is

required to accomplish each task.

• You’ve developed a simplified multivariable equation that describes your job.

Now that you’ve come this far, you probably know more about doing your job

than 90 percent of the CAD managers I’ve ever talked to. You have a good understand-

ing of what’s expected of you in your environment and who expects it, and you have a

game plan to get there. But one important thing is missing from your CAD management

plan: authority. Your authority.

I see far too many CAD managers who are expected to do a lot but are given no

power to do their jobs. Many of these CAD managers will say their management team

doesn’t give them the power they need to do the job. But I would argue that it’s the

CAD manager’s responsibility to gain the power required to do the job. Nobody is

going to give you the power to go out and tell people how to work, until you earn it.

Your senior management is the only group that can give you the power you need. To

gain that power, you must earn your management’s respect.

This is why I’ve taken so much time in this chapter to help you develop your

task list and think things through. When management questions you, when they ulti-

mately want you to make recommendations and tell them why things should be done a

certain way, you’ll be well prepared.

How do you take the task list and all the thought, variables, and equations

you’ve developed and distill them down so you can gain the power you need to do

your job? The process is somewhat detailed, so I’ll tackle it step by step:

You must have clear documentation. It’s not enough to think about the tasks you need

to accomplish. It’s not enough to think about what order they should be done in or

how much they will cost: You have to write it down. In order for management to

Note: If you want to get management’s attention, look at your job from the business angle.

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