Going Paperless

About 8 years ago, at Autodesk University, Carol Bartz was making her keynote address.  In that address she made a prediction that the construction industry would be paperless in the next 10 years.  My colleagues and I just laughed.  We were drowning in paper and there were no signs it was getting better.  In fact it seemed to be getting worse.  There was no way at that time that we could see ourselves moving into a paperless world.

Last December, I completed my conversion to being paperless.  You can see my dramatic office changes here: http://youtu.be/N6krYvzBPAU  I’m happy to say that 8 months later, I am still completely paperless.  If you have been thinking about making the conversion or just wondering how it might be done, I thought I’d share what I did to get there.

So first, we had a number of changes in the office that really facilitated our ability to do this.  The first big change was moving our shop drawings and fabrication tickets to PDF.  We looked at this in the past and people were opposed to it because it was easier to flip through a set of drawings than try to flip through them on their screen using a set of PDF documents.  So we decided, if we could make it easier to work in the PDF files, then people would be more likely to adopt this change.  We wrote several custom programs to help with this.  First, we made everything into hyperlinks.  You could click on a unit mark number on your elevations and it would take you straight to the unit drawing.  Then click on a mark number for a vertical or horizontal and it takes you directly to that fabrication ticket.  Suddenly it was easier to review and check fabrication tickets electronically than it was using paper.  Second, we created a set of hyperlinks from the elevation marks on the floor plans or the detail bubbles on the elevations that would take you to what they were referencing.  And we included a tool to take you back where you came from.  So for instance, if you zoom in on an elevation and then you click on a detail call-out, you are taken right to that detail.  You can then hit the back button and go right back to the elevation and the zoom level you were on previously.  This converted the field to PDF in about a day.

Another advantage is that we could use the Adobe review process for all our internal reviews.  No more sending documents around for people to review then trying to collate the comments.  You can now send out a link to your review drawings, everyone can access them on-line, create their comments all on the same set of drawings.  This saves a ton of time and we can get our reviews in less than a week.  It used to be a nightmare trying to chase down all the paper drawings.  It also allows us to do reviews and include people from other offices in other parts of the country.

The next thing that was required was a wireless connection.  If you are going to be paperless, you need the ability to get to your documents wherever you are.  Our IT department went through and installed wireless in all the offices and that solved that issue.

Now that we had our documents electronic and a wireless connection to be able to access them, we needed a device that could be the interface.  Enter the iPad.  Small form factor, the ability to run all day on a charge and all the apps in the app store that you will need to become paperless.  With that , the conversion was complete.

So, here are the applications I am using to make my digital life more productive than I ever was with all that paper.

Dropbox – This is the hub of most of my applications.  Most applications you download will sync with dropbox which makes it a great starting point.  Install this on your desktop, iPhone, iPad and laptops at home and you will have access to any documents you upload wherever you are.  In addition, you can invite other people on your team to share documents.  This allows you to create a folder on your desktop, drop the architectural’s and shop drawings into it, then everyone on your team has the latest documents.  If you replace the shop drawings, everyone will get the update.  It also backs up your pictures and movies from your phone so when you get back to the office they are already there and you don’t have to plug your phone in and get them.

iAnnotate – this is the program I use for viewing and marking up my PDF documents.  It syncs with Dropbox so again, that just makes life easy.  You can also attach pictures to your shop drawings if you want to document something that way. Documents are kept local so even if you don’t have wireless at a jobsite you can still get to your drawings.

Evernote – this is my main program for keeping notes, pictures and emails.  Great search functionality.  Easy to forward emails from your desktop to Evernote then be able to access them from your phone or iPad at a future time.

Notability – this is my handwriting application.  I find it weird to type notes during meetings or one-on-one’s with my staff.  Using a stylus, this application lets me take handwritten notes.  I love the feel and interface and I don’t miss my old pen and notebook.  It automatically makes a PDF of my notes and places them in dropbox when I exit the note.

For all of these applications, I do not need to be connected to our internal network.  I place files in my dropbox at my desktop or forward documents and emails from Outlook to Evernote.  After that, everything can be accessed from wherever I am.  I use my iPad for all of my meetings and I always have the documents I need at my disposal.