Being a CAD drafter is far more involved than just operating CAD software.  To  explain my point, I will give you a brief glimpse of board drafting.  Board drafting was an art form, if you will.   Just as a painter takes paint to an easel, a board drafter would  look at his media (Vellum, Mylar, etc…), and spend time thinking out how to develop his plan sheet.  This was important because plans were done in pen.  A mistake or miscalculation was lost time and money.

Why do I bring this up?   Simply put, I’m a part of a generation of people who came into the engineering community with no previous board drafting experience.   I took drafting in high school, but only for one year. (Though my teacher did say I was good at it.)  I learned my craft of developing roadway plans on the job.  I was taught by a skilled CAD designer who had once been a board drafter.  He made it clear to me that just because a mistake in a cad program is far easier to correct, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t think out the process as if I were working with pen and paper. 

Now to my point-  Too many of us CAD professionals have a tendency to be in a rush to create drawings.  We don’t always take the time to think out all possible problems or issues that may arise when putting together plans.   If we don’t take time and think out the assigned task,  it inevitably leads to wasted time.  Let us all try and become more like board drafters.  I think it will lead to better generated work, and is a good step towards effective time management.

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