Producing a Drawing

Last updated March 27, 2025
By Ian Story

General Principals

ONE DRAWING AT A TIME: Work on a single drawing at a time, all the way through until it is finished. Don’t try to jump between drawings or work on multiple drawings simultaneously. The one exception to this is when identifying work items: Don’t try to plan the work for multiple drawings at once, but if you add a Redline Text work item to the drawing you are working on and realize it also applies to another drawing or requires coordination items on another drawing, add Redline Text to those other drawings to document the required work.

Step-By-Step Process

1. PLAN THE WORK: Review the current state of the model/drawing and any checklists associated with that drawing type. Use Redline Text to write down each item that needs to be done. Get these all written down on the drawing before moving to the next step.

Write down everything you can think of or find that might be applicable to the drawing, but don’t worry about being comprehensive (you won’t be – something else will often come up regardless of how thorough you are at the beginning). You can add additional items later in the process as they occur. But you should make your best effort to get everything on the page before you start. Once you are familiar with the checklists for a drawing, this step should take 5-10 minutes.

2. IDENTIFY UNRESOLVED ISSUES: Identify whether any of the redline items require additional design or decision making before you will be able to execute on drafting them. Change these items to use the “Issue Note” text type (purple). Create Design Tickets for each of these items (process to be determined). Identify all the Issues from among the Redline Text work items. All of the Design Tickets should be solved, with written solutions, before you proceed to the next step. See the standard operating procedure for Design Tickets (process to be determined).

Through experience, we have found that projects move faster when decision-making is separated from the drafting process. While it is tempting to start drawing right away in order to see progress, we have found that identifying design issues in the middle of drafting ends up requiring heavy switching costs. As much as possible, these procedures are designed to batch the work into similar types (design work requires big picture thinking and problem-solving; drafting requires attention to detail, speed, and repetition. One can be done while listening to music, the other requires eliminating distractions).

Additionally, identifying problems early can prevent rework. Sometimes the solution to a problem requires making changes to the model or using a different system. If you already did a bunch of drafting work using the original system, you would need to redo this work once you finally got around to solving the design problem.

3. EXECUTE: Work through the Redline Text work items one by one, deleting the Redline Text as you go. Work on a single drawing at a time until you have completed all of the work items – don’t try to bounce between drawings. Add annotation text to callout items (see Annotation procedure, TBD), but don’t worry about organizing the textboxes yet – just place them out of the way so you can continue working on the remaining work items. If you see additional items that need to be done or drafting errors that need to be fixed, add them to the list using Redline Text. If the new item will require design or decision making, switch the text to use the “Issue Note” text type (purple) and create a Design Ticket for it. Don’t try to resolve the Issue immediately. Keep working through the Redline Text work items until you finish them or decide to take a break.

When adding a new work item during this step, resist the urge to immediately switch to working on that item. Note the work item using Redline Text, but finish the thing you are currently working on first.

We acknowledge that additional work items will frequently be found during the drafting process. Over time, the goal is to move as many of these items as possible into checklists so they can be identified before drafting starts. But in the meantime, the drafting process is a highly effective tool for problem finding because it requires you to look closely and systematically at every part of the building. The procedure about continuing to work on drafting even after discovering an issue is a calculated compromise between efficiency and the risk of rework. Switching from drafting mode to design mode costs time and focus. The goal is to batch these work types as much as possible. While you are in drafting mode, keep drafting. But when an opportunity (such as a lunch break) presents itself, take advantage of the natural break to switch to the higher-priority design mode when you get back.

4. TIDY UP: Organize the text boxes and leader lines so they line up in orderly blocks. Nudge labels, interior dimensions, and symbols to minimize overlap and produce a legible and tidy drawing.

5. REVIEW: Scan the drawing visually to look for drafting errors. Mark any identified errors with Redline Text. Review and compare any applicable checklists with the drawing: check off all completed items, and cross out all not applicable items. If you find anything missing, add a note to the drawing with Redline Text. If there is any Redline Text on the drawing, return to Step 2 and repeat the remaining steps.