The Shifts Practice Leaders Are Starting to Notice
Architecture isn’t short of new tools. What’s changing much faster is who is expected to make digital decisions and what those decisions now affect.
This week’s conversations all circled the same pressure point: digital capability has moved beyond BIM standards and software rollout into something far more structural. Data, workflows, and systems are now shaping risk, fees, speed, and design quality, often without clear ownership or mandate.
That’s why this issue focuses less on “what’s new” and more on what’s shifting:
roles stretching beyond their original remit, practices unlocking value from tools they already own, and firms quietly redefining what digital leadership actually means in 2026.
If you lead a practice, or support one, this edition is about spotting those signals early, before they surface as delivery problems, resourcing strain, or missed opportunity.
Let’s get into it.👇
What Sparked the Most Discussion This Week
Here’s what resonated most:
1. Download the Free Digital Design Leader White Paper - in association with Arcol.
Click here to download the resource: 260107-Why the BIM Manager Role Is Evolving and What’s Next for Digital Practice.
2. In 2026, AEC won’t be disrupted by new tools. It will be disrupted by firms that unlock the DATA trapped inside the ones they already own.
Click here to Download the full report: 260126-Speckle Data Insights
3. If you’re still called a BIM Manager, you’re probably doing more than the title suggests.
Click here to see the full post: LinkedIn
Theme of the Week: Why the BIM Manager role is Evolving
This week’s theme is why the BIM Manager role is no longer enough.
As practices move into BIM 2.0, the challenge isn’t managing models, it’s orchestrating systems, data, workflows, and decisions. The most progressive firms are recognising the rise of the Digital Design Leader: a role that sits at the intersection of design intent, technology strategy, and organisational change.
If your digital leads are still stuck firefighting tools instead of shaping how your practice designs and delivers, that’s not a skills problem, it’s a structural one. This shift is already happening, whether firms acknowledge it or not.
If You Sell ConTech, This Is the Room That Matters
If you build technology for architects or engineers, your biggest constraint isn’t product quality - it’s access to real decision-makers.
That’s why AEC INNOVATE (June 16–18, 2026, ARIA Resort & Casino) is different.
This is not a trade show. It’s direct access to 500+ Principals, CTOs, Innovation Leads, and Digital Directors who attend specifically to evaluate AI and workflow tools and shape their 2026 technology roadmaps.
Why exhibit
-/ Two days of high-intent conversations
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Exhibitor package includes
-/ Exhibit space
-/ Two passes
-/ Logo placement (website + main stage)
-/ Custom promo link offering prospects $200 off
If you want visibility with the people who actually influence buying decisions, this is one of the few events engineered for that outcome.
→ Register interest: https://www.psmj.com/innovateaddd
5 Tools Architects Are Exploring - Compliance!
Rather than “best tools,” these are tools I’m seeing practices actively evaluate:
Ideatura: Never check a callout or the index again. You're already spending hours checking callouts and verifying the sheet index. An incomplete drawing set results in outsized risk. Our results are faster, less $'s, and as accurate as a superintendent. Start by dropping a drawing and entering your details. First use is always free.
Best suited for: Architects / Engineers / Contractors / GCs
Fits in workflow: Stage completion
Contact: Christopher Mouflard
ICHI - Build Faster. Design Smarter. Navigate codes instantly. Automate tedious QA/QC and CA reviews. Capture and distribute firm knowledge. Save hours on every project while keeping client data secure..
Best suited for: Architects / Engineers
Fits in workflow: early to mid stage
Contact: Ben Rotner
Structured - Your AI Workforce for Design Engineering. Free your engineers to focus on high-value work. Our AI agents learn your standards, apply the right building codes, and automatically review your drawings, so you see fewer clashes, fewer inconsistencies, and fewer costly RFIs and change orders
Best suited for: Engineers
Fits in workflow: Early to mid stages
Contact here: Issy Greenslade
Freeda - You Build, We Double-Check. Freeda keeps real estate and construction projects on schedule by catching plan and document errors before they become costly delays.
Best suited for: Architects, Engineers, BIM Managers
Fits in workflow: early - late
Contact: Augustin Perraud
LightTable - No surprises. Smarter builds. Catch costly issues early with AI-powered quality control built for developers and contractors
Best suited for: Developers and Contractors / GCs
Fits in workflow: Early - mid
Contact: Ben Waters
Free Resource: Explore the ConTech Landscape
If you’re scanning this space, I maintain a free ConTech database covering hundreds of tools across architecture, engineering, and construction.
I use it as a starting point before advising practices, not as an answer in itself.
→ Browse the database here: https://contechdatabase.softr.app/
What This Means for Practice Leaders
If you lead a practice, the challenge isn’t a lack of technology, it’s deciding where leadership attention actually belongs.
This week’s most-read pieces all point to the same underlying issue:
digital capability has become a strategic concern, not a technical one. Titles, tools, and org charts haven’t caught up with the reality that data, workflows, and systems now shape risk, fees, speed, and design quality as much as talent or design vision.
This newsletter exists to surface those signals early. Not to review software for its own sake, but to help practice leaders understand:
-/ where responsibility is quietly shifting inside firms
-/ which roles are being stretched beyond their original remit
-/ where unmanaged digital decisions are already affecting delivery, margin, and resilience
If you’re relying on individual “BIM heroes” to hold everything together, or if digital leadership sits outside business decision-making, you’re already carrying structural risk, whether it’s visible yet or not.
ADDDitive is written to help you spot those pressure points before they become problems, and to frame technology as a leadership and operating-model question, not an IT one.
One Role Worth Noticing This Week
Regional Design Technology Director - Gensler
This role is a clear signal of where serious practices are placing digital leadership in 2026.
Gensler isn’t hiring a BIM lead or a tools specialist, they’re appointing a regional design technology executive with authority over people, budgets, strategy, risk, and delivery. The remit spans BIM, computation, AI, data-driven design, cultural change, and client-facing work, with a direct line into global leadership and regional managing principals.
What’s notable isn’t the software stack, it’s the intent. This role exists to shape operating models, influence investment decisions, embed AI and data into design delivery, and lead change at scale across multiple offices. It formalises what many firms already rely on informally: senior digital leaders who sit between design ambition, business performance, and technical reality.
If you’re still treating design technology as a support function, roles like this show how far ahead the market leaders already are.
→ View role: Here
See all roles here: www.aectechjobs.com/search
One Next Step
If this issue resonated, let’s have a chat:
→ Book a short diagnostic call - Click here
No pressure, just a next step if useful.
One Question for You
When evaluating new software, what’s harder right now: deciding what to trust, who should decide, or what to remove from your existing workflow?
Hit reply, I read every response.
This newsletter exists to help architects navigate technology with confidence, not hype by focusing on workflows, decisions, and real practice constraints.
Thanks for reading!
Allister
