Along comes Revit Systems

I think plenty of engineering firms have already adopted or have plans in motion to investigate ABS, when along comes Revit Systems.

Well…. crap.

What do I do now? Do I put ABS on hold? Am I wasting my time in ABS? What is the difference between the two? Where there used to be a clear direction there is uncertainty now.

We engineers are facing what architects faced back in 2002 when Autodesk gave Revit its first big push. I remember how they felt at AU that year, angry and confused. Autodesk is clearly telling us Revit is the future, yet I just bought and trained my entire staff on ADT. You jerks. Do you realize the efficiency drop that just happened? The training cost, the lost production? All for a software that is apparently NOT the future. Thanks a lot.

Well, time passed, and both ADT and Revit survived. Looking back it seems to me that there is room for and I’m sure Autodesk is banking on a need for both platforms. ADT is still going strong. Revit Building is growing in popularity. For that matter, AutoCAD still dominates the much of the market.

The real question now, is which one is best for your firm. I know the answer.

“It depends.”

It’s not a cop out. It’s just the way it is. While we are all out there providing the same service, we all get there different ways. We all have a different talent in our staffs, different cultures, and different business plans. To find the software that best suits your firm you are going to have to do your home work. You will need to consider your business, your people and your process and make the best match to the available software.

You know your firm. I’m going to do my best in my next couple of posts to differentiate AutoCAD from ABS from Revit Systems. Hopefully, it will help you match the best technology to your particular firms needs.