Unpopular opinion: I think we rely too much on the software to do the thinking for us

Last week, I was checking a set of shop drawings from a junior drafter for a steel frame in a Denver warehouse. The 3D model looked perfect, but when I printed the plans to scale, I saw a major clash between a beam and a duct run that the clash detection just missed. It was right there on paper. Three years ago, before everything went fully digital, I would have caught that in the first review because we had to think about the space, not just trust the green checkmark. Now I make my team do a full paper check on every big job before it goes out. It adds maybe half a day, but it saves a ton of site headaches. Has anyone else had a close call like that where the software said it was fine but it really wasn't?

3 comments

3 Comments

terryr462mo ago

Totally, software misses the obvious sometimes.

susan_ward2mo ago

Misses the obvious" is the perfect way to put it. What's a recent example you've seen where the software just completely whiffed?

wren6525d ago

Misses the obvious" yeah that's so spot on. I'm still shook from when my GPS took me on a 30 minute detour through a dirt road because it said the main highway was "closed for construction." I drove past the highway on that dirt road and it was wide open, no signs, no workers, nothing. How does a $1000 phone with satellite connection not know a road is perfectly fine? It just stared at me with that blue line like it was doing me a favor. Have you ever had it send you the complete wrong way for no reason?