TT5: Slow down to speed up
September 10, 2026
This weekly email is my curated selection of interesting and useful topics related to BIM, design, and technology. I aim to share useful information and a few laughs along the way. So, what did I find interesting this week? Read on to find out!
One idea kept popping up in my reading this week: the best results come from slowing down before you act. Bob Borson makes the case for pausing long enough to ask a real question, Chun-Lin Peng found that AI handles tough Revit tasks once you break them into smaller pieces, and Ryan Holiday swears by the humble walk. Speaking of asking better questions, I'm building a new training on AI in AEC, and I want it focused on the problems you're actually running into. If you haven't filled out the survey I sent recently, you can take it here. I'll send details on the training early next week. Alright, here are five things to check out this week.
#1: Giving AI actual write access in Revit
Chun-Lin Peng found that Autodesk's built-in AI tools can tag and schedule, but they can't touch geometry. To fix this, he connected Claude to Revit through MCP and pyRevit. The results were mixed. Ceilings, walls, and worksets came out right from plain-language prompts, while a Farnsworth House rebuild was recognizable but largely unusable. His biggest takeaway is that hard tasks work once you break them into smaller, reusable skills.
Click here to read the full article at AEC Magazine.
#2: To remain an architect, must you leave architecture?
Randy Deutsch starts with a paradox: architecture schools are at record enrollment, yet many students leave for construction management, real estate, or planning before they graduate. He traces how the profession lost ground, from the end of standard fee schedules to rising liability, and lands on a sharp point: if you don't carry the risk, you don't keep the authority. It's a long read, but it'll give you plenty to think about.
Click here to read the full article at Who We Need To Be.
#3: Create automated occupant load schedules and plans in Revit
Recalculating occupant loads every time the plan shifts is a classic Revit time sink. Jacob Wright shows how to set it up once with a dedicated area scheme, a key schedule for occupant load factors, and a calculated value, so the numbers update whenever the layout changes. The same approach works for plumbing fixture and parking counts too!
Click here to read the full article at BIM Template.
#4: Ep 208: Ask Better Questions
Bob Borson and Andrew Hawkins argue that asking good questions is a skill you build, not a trait you're born with. My favorite idea is the "guess in disguise," a question like "Does this look right?" that's really fishing for agreement. The fix is pausing long enough to look at the problem before you react, and that works as well in a client meeting as it does in a prompt to Claude.
Click here to listen to the episode at Life of an Architect.
#5: This Won't Solve All Your Problems (Just Most of Them)
Ryan Holiday's kids promised to walk the family's rescue dog, didn't follow through, and now he walks her twice a day and couldn't be happier. He runs through history's great walkers, from Aristotle to Darwin to Kierkegaard, to make the case that stepping away from the screen is where the good ideas show up. Next time you're stuck on a problem, take a lap around the block.
Click here to read the full article at RyanHoliday.net.
Thatā€™s all from me. Time to get outside for a nice walk. I hope youā€™re having a great week.
Michael
