Can one trust a BIM-mer, that is not personally practicing ‘paperfree’?

A provocative question.

Of course, one can.

Why would the good character or even the BIM knowledge of a person be undermined by a paper-notebook and a pen?

Or a stack of A3 drawings?

Or owning bookshelves full of ring binders stuffed with paper?

None of the above should be an embracement to those actively promoting BIM?

Surely, not?

One must keep things in perspective, the industry is in a (forever) transitional stage –

of course paper is needed and allowed for, even in the most sophisticated of operations.

So, why do I feel uneasy to reach for an old-fashioned pen even for the most mundane of tasks?

Am I being overly zealous? Because of my ‘paperfreeconstruction’ movement?

Or a bit hypocritical?

The perfect illustration of the old saying of “people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones"?

As recently as a month ago, I had a desk-full of post-it notes alongside my keyboard at work.

I enjoyed the guilty pleasure of multiple note books and kept paper copies of critical documents handy.

I still have a bucket of coloured pens and pencils in front of me as I type this.

Surely using paper is not a capital offence.

Moderate  consumption must be acceptable even in a strong push for digital progress of the AEC industry.

Or, should it?

No, let’s draw the line in the sand! (but not on paper…oh, what a feeble pun)

You BIM? You must be paperfree!

If your title has BIM in it, you ought to go paperfree!

Totally!

Lead by example.

And the best of all is, that you can start on this journey without big announcements or pledges to make.

Just ditch the paper.

If your date-to-date activities are preventing you to do so, the problem is bigger than the medium.

Start examining those obstructions in detail.

They could be tasks, arcane processes or dealings with particular individuals within your organization.

Regardless, it is likely that you will be able to hit a pretty high percentage mark of paperfree within a month of focused work.

You should try it.

And, if you claim to be any-sort of a BIM professional, you ought to.

For the sake of credibility.