Fuzzy Logic

So I've got one project to work on in Revit (there have been dozens come through the door, but they always have their schedules cut in 1/2 or 1/4, leaving the Revit-idiots scrambling to put together something half-ass to put out the door, and me giving Revit the middle finger, completing my projects on time, and making a healthy profit - if it isn't eaten by the Revit fucks).

Of course it's not one project, but an entire series of them, with no clear scope defined, nobody knows who is doing what, where, or how.  And then months into the project, I am given both design criteria to conform to, drawings to 'coordinate' with, and yet another round of apocryphal comments.  The guy managing the project is like a deer in headlights, and there are dozens (if not hundreds) of people involved spanning at least three-four different companies (besides ours).

Repeated requests for information come back with incomplete, incorrect, or completely nonsensical responses, but deliverables are still expected on schedule.  Now, this would already be enough of a pain in the ass, but throw the Revit Dick into the mix, and HOLY FUCK.

Now, a lot of projects get into these situations, and the solution is usually for all of the decision makers (read: those with control over the purse strings) to sit down and come to a consensus, and get the fucking thing out the goddamned door.  In this case, those people are in three different continents/time-zones, speak three different languages, use two different systems of measurement, and to top it all off - while all of the other disciplines are using BIM (or at least 3D software) nobody else working on the project uses Revit.

So then I get handed an ACAD file showing the locations of duct and cable tray.  EVERY-FUCKING-WHERE.  After wasting time in a meeting discussing other idiotic aspects of the job and getting no answers (we get implored by the manager to 'ask questions' - which I'll cover here in a minute) I bring this 'coordination plan' to the attention of my boss, but unfortunately he is still flustered from the meeting and somehow becomes convinced that the ductwork is actually floor drains.

I don't argue with people when they are flustered, but I mentioned offhand that it might be helpful (since we are working in Revit, and the other firm is working in some 3D software) to have these elements in our 3D model for coordination, which he disagrees with, since the 2D drawings are 'sufficient' (which they obviously aren't if he thinks ductwork is floor drains).

I was too busy with other projects yesterday to put my full attention towards the matter in the first place, but when I came in this morning I noticed that not only was the CAD file named 'Ductwork and Cable Tray', and several dimensions and notes to this effect as well.  I was able import this file into Revit (after linking it failed to work), figured out that it could actually switch from metric to standard when importing (a whole other story), and fucked with the view range settings for half an hour.

This leaves me starting almost from scratch with my lighting layout - and some fucking glitch has made it to where circuits will not allow fixtures to be removed or added (I've solved that problem in the next project, but it's not feasible to do it in this one, so I'll be having to manually label, calculate, and schedule some shit).

Now - back to the questions.  The comments on our first round of drawings have these extremely vague references to stuff that someone somewhere decided they wanted to see on our drawings (despite that person probably not having any idea where our scope starts and stops, and almost certainly not giving a fuck if they waste our time).

My boss compiles a list of questions to clarify the comments (note, I had already done this previously, and had no real reply).  I read through them, and after I got done being stunned that we were this far into a project without answers to some of the most basic questions (things that usually get decided before we even start a project), I am filled with absolute certainty that this list of questions will go unanswered (if it even gets to someone capable of answering), or result in mass confusion.

This is just one example of the bullshit I have to deal with on a daily basis  (ironically it is having the effect of making some of my government projects look sane by comparison), having to deal with Revit at the same time makes it fucking impossible.