• Tips and Tricks that Stick — Jason Peckovitch reimagines “tips and tricks” not as mere shortcuts for speed, but as essential tools for shaping daily behavior and ensuring data consistency in complex BIM environments. He argues that tips often fail due to a lack of context and ownership, advocating for a strategic approach that balances discipline-agnostic foundations with discipline-specific depth. By embracing intentional repetition, these small, repeated reminders serve as active training that bridges the gap between formal manuals and daily production. Ultimately, he suggests a “three-month rule”: if a tip consistently solves a problem, it should be promoted to a formal standard, transforming fleeting advice into a reliable system for risk reduction and model health as the industry moves toward 2026.

• Tech Principles: Part One — Mark Kiker discusses building on the concepts of integrity and ethics, he introduces a formal framework of Tech Principles designed to align technology management with a firm’s overarching business goals. These principles serve as guiding statements that create a shared strategic direction, ensuring that tactical decisions—from infrastructure stability to software adoption—are consistent and results-oriented. The first ten principles emphasize supporting the business mission, fostering a unified staff experience, and maintaining a “rock solid” system architecture to prevent project derailment. He advocates for a “Use-Buy-Build” hierarchy to maximize existing assets, treating tech as a managed investment portfolio, and applying rigorous project management methods to tech initiatives. Ultimately, these principles empower the organization by encouraging measured innovation and standardization while ensuring that technology remains a reliable, agile asset in the CAD/BIM marketplace.

• AutoCAD Architecture 2026 Annotations — Melinda Heavrin talks about how AutoCAD Architecture offers a robust suite of standardized annotation tools categorized into non-annotative (fixed scale) and annotative (auto-scaling) objects, such as keynotes, labels, callouts, dimensions, and hatches. Keynoting provides a database-driven method for linking building materials to CSI MasterFormat or Uniformat standards, while text tools like MText allow for complex internal formatting and scaling. Callout tools facilitate the creation of specific model space views for details and sections, while dimensions can be set as associative to ensure they update automatically when geometry is modified.

• BricsCAD Tips and Tricks: With trials, brings confident decisions — Craig Swearingen provides a structured five-step roadmap for maximizing the BricsCAD 30-day trial, moving from initial setup to advanced productivity. He emphasizes launching with intent by using the SETLICENSELEVEL command to match the trial to a specific edition—Lite, Pro, Mechanical, or BIM—ensuring the evaluation mirrors the intended purchase. The workflow guides users through testing muscle memory with familiar commands, migrating essential CAD resources like LISP and templates, and exploring unique BricsCAD tools such as DWGHEALTH for automated cleanup and Drawing Explorer for centralized standards management. By the final weeks, users are encouraged to master “intelligent” features like the Quad, the Manipulator, and COPYGUIDED, which automates complex trimming and alignment. Ultimately, this 30-day plan is designed to build muscle memory and data-backed confidence necessary to prove BricsCAD’s value as a high-performance, cost-effective CAD alternative.

• Understanding the Tools we use Means Owning the Work Behind Them — Kristina Youngblut argues that true digital transformation in AECO depends not on software features, but on the “human layer” that maintains the foundational systems—templates, data structures, and standards—supporting them. She contends that while perfect vendor demos create an illusion of ease, real-world success requires individuals to take ownership of the backend processes that make work repeatable and sustainable for downstream users. Neglecting these foundations leads to “technical debt” where short-term shortcuts create long-term waste, friction, and stunted growth. Ultimately, software is an enhancer of professional responsibility, not a replacement for it; by embedding necessary data today and moving beyond surface-level skills, teams ensure that technology remains a functional, scalable asset rather than a source of persistent inefficiency.

Questions about AUGI? Please visit www.AUGI.com to learn more.