Below is an excerpt from a draft of a document I’m putting together for my role as CAD / BIM Manager at SALA Architects:

Competencies:

Outside of the office standards, users will not learn or use the program in an identical manner. As a result, tiers of users are differentiated by having competency in a certain quantity of skills within the program, rather than specific requirements. The intent is that these various groupings of skills will produce an equivalent level of speed across a given tier. All speeds are relative to a user’s previous non-ArchiCAD production method.

Trainee: slower than previous production methods (hand drafting or Autocad)
Competency in 0-09 of the areas listed below

Beginner: equal to previous production methods
Competency in 10-29

Intermediate: faster than previous production methods
Competency in 30-49

Advanced: faster + (added service, little bim)
Competency in 50-79

Power User: faster ++ (added service, Big BIM, create new services)
Competency in 80+

The number of competencies is just a guess at the moment and I’m not going to share the list just yet. Later though. This concept is my preferred strategy on how to learn ArchiCAD (and BIM). And at the root of it is production. Production. Production. Production. The ‘I’ in BIM can pertain to understanding how people use the program too. As BIM Managers (whether you’re in an office of 100 or 1) we need to acknowledge the limitations and opportunities of not just the program but of the users as well. Before we fulfill all the grand promises of BIM, the first task in my view is to match and then best our old production methods. Until one can produce a set of drawings at least as fast and at least as good looking as one’s previous production method, there should be no freaking out about the horrors and complexities of the new BIM world.