TT5: What the Tools Can't Replace
May 21, 2026
This weekly email is my curated selection of interesting and useful topics related to BIM, design, and technology. I aim to provide you with some good information and a few laughs along the way. So, what did I find interesting this week? Read down to find out!
This week's links sit squarely at the intersection of tools getting smarter while we all try to figure out what that actually means for the work. An interesting place for sure. In the first link, someone taught Claude to build Revit families. Next, we learn why Autodesk renamed its entire cloud platform. In the third link, Nilay Patel explains why most people hate AI even as the tech industry doubles down on it. The last two remind us that no matter how fancy the tools get, the hard part is still working with other humans.
#1: Claude as a Revit Family Creator
Kyle Bruxvoort at Fetch BIM built an MCP server inside Revit and wrote an 800-line skill file to teach Claude how to create parametric families from scratch. The AI performs at a junior content creator level, and the real surprise was that most of the work went into documenting institutional knowledge that experienced creators carry in their heads but have never written down.
Click here to read the full article at Fetch BIM.
#2: ACC Is Now Forma
Autodesk rebranded ACC to Forma, and it goes beyond a name change. This video breaks down what changed, what stayed the same, and the real reason behind the move: positioning Forma as a unified, data-driven AECO platform with AI at the center.
Click here to watch the video on YouTube.
#3: The People Do Not Yearn for Automation
Nilay Patel coined the term "software brain" to describe how tech leaders see the entire world as databases that can be optimized with code. That worldview has been turbocharged by AI, which helps explain why Silicon Valley is all-in on the technology while polling shows over half of Americans think it will do more harm than good.
Click here to listen to the episode at The Verge.
#4: The Middle of Middle Management
Bob Borson and Andrew Hawkins tackle the career stage where responsibility shows up long before authority, clarity, or extra hours in the day. The best takeaway: the goal is not to survive the fog of middle management and then recreate it for the next generation. It's to remember what it felt like and make different choices when you can.
Click here to listen to the episode at Life of an Architect.
#5: Architect vs GC
Matt Brennan digs into why CA so often turns into a battle between architects and contractors. Both sides want the same outcomes but carry different pressures, and when communication breaks down, RFIs become weapons, and every email reads like a legal filing.
Click here to listen to the episode at What the RFI.
That's all from me. I hope you're having a great week.
Michael
