But I’m faster in LDT!

Just a quick story, and something to keep in mind as you or your firm is moving to C3D. I managed to cover almost 6000 miles last week, but heard the same thing in both places, “I could do that faster in LDT!”
You probably could. A good designer with their own setup and shortcuts and good coffee could be faster in LDT than in C3D. I had a designer tell me they could do a cul-de-sac in 20 minutes, each curb return in about 10. I was impressed. They could do it faster than I could in C3D.

The first time.

Maybe the second time even…maybe.

The third time you run through the design and actually have to get something out the door? C3D is kicking your ass, I’m home with my kids, and you’re working on Saturday.

Again.

The main thing to remember is Dana’s old post about Play Doh versus granite. Everytime LDT changes the design, you’re starting over. Every label is wrong, every page requires QA/QC to go over it again. The granite has been chiseled, and you have to get a new piece. The amount of money and effort involved in a simple LDT change is astronomical to me. I can’t fathom why PMs and CEOs aren’t screaming to get to something with a less costly change process, especially in this business.

The paradigm shift is there for the grasping. Make the adjustment and go home early. And don’t forget to tell the boss you just saved his Christmas bonus.

One comment

  1. jmaeding says:

    I couldn’t resist commenting.
    The issue of speed is dependent on if you have techniques of bridging gaps in any given design software. A comparison of C3D to LDT is irrelevent unless you consider what additional tools people have to get something done. For instance, the idea of reference text with formulas is so old I can trace it back to van gough. At H&A, we used the madcap tools for years in R14 to get elevations and then we wrote our own. In the area of callouts we have our own tools to draw them, so yes it will be faster to do them in “LDT” – but we are really not. What is going on is there is so much history to using LDT that we have covered most of the headaches by programming. So after C3D has been actually USED for as long as LDT has, I’m sure there will be no contest in yerms of productivity. Only problem is, almost no one is using C3D yet. It is so interconnected between its styles and data references that there is no stable pattern for most people to start using it. Time will change that, but the issue of customization has to be factored in when doing a comparison, and right now, LDT has the advantage hands down. For those that don’t bridge gaps with extra tools, geeze, why not switch, you already must be getting killed by the hand fixes needed to make final plans with LDT.