Hi all,
In a large, single-office architecture design firm, we have about half of our projects in Revit, and transitioning to Revit 2016. Some of our more design-centric studios are having issues launching new projects in Revit because of the difficulty transitioning senior-level people. Project managers are one group, but they are being targeted with training to bring them up to speed on how Revit affects them. Theirs is a word and habit transition, as they wouldn't necessarily even crack open the old-method tools - ACAD, SKP, etc. Partners, working with PMs, need updated expectations on turn-around times and the ability to communicate those expectations to clients. Juniors who don't already know Revit can be taken offline for a week for focused training and then significant oversight while they're working up to full potential.

The big tripping point is turning out to be senior designers. They work side-by-side with design partners and then share a significant part of the of the design and visual production workload once they get back to their desks. They are sketchup/vray masters who generate design ideas while they're working in sketchup and then model and render their own ideas while also overseeing juniors in the creation of more design ideas in other parts of the project. Design continues in a significant way, with many options, through DD. Because this group is so central to the work of the firm, they cannot be taken offline for lengthy training and cannot afford a significant slowdown once they get into a project. They already work extra hours on projects and proposals, plus they have families and other commitments, so there's little potential to push their schedule.

Acceptance is NOT an issue - Everyone is on board, but there's no implementation plan that's not very treacherous.

My question: How do we phase education, training, updated workflows, and updated supervisory expectations to be able to transition this small but critical group of designers to Revit while minimizing impact on profitability and deliverables? Additionally, because whatever solution is proposed will likely be a very narrow path where the slightest misstep leads to panic, we'd also need to pitch a plan-B in order to minimize risk (Probably staffing up and going dual-path skp and rvt).

Any ideas would be appreciated, but I'm especially focused on specific, actionable methods that have worked for other design firms.

Thank you,
VV