Autodesk University 2026 has accepted one of my five submissions. The session is called “The Stack Inversion Is Real: How AI Is Changing What CAD Managers Actually Do.” It runs 60 minutes as a Technical Deep Dive, foundational and strategic, aimed at CAD managers, engineering technology leaders, and firm leadership.
This wasn’t my favorite of the five I submitted. The two I was most excited about were the CER analysis session and the crash data session. Both got declined. The Civil 3D dataset complexity sessions also got declined. I get it. The accepted one is the strategic argument, not the technical deep dive, and I will take it. The AU room needs that conversation right now.
This will be my ~36th AU and roughly my ~30th time presenting. It has been a few years since I was on stage at AU. The last time was when I was still at Autodesk. Coming back as a practitioner running engineering software for a large firm is a different seat, and my talk reflects that.
What the session is actually about
The quote I am expecting to lead with:
The question isn’t whether AI changes CAD management.
It already has.
The question is what the role becomes when it does.
CAD management was mostly built on expertise scarcity. You knew AutoCAD, Civil 3D, some IT/IS deeply, your users didn’t, and that gap was the job in many cases. AI is compressing that gap faster than most people in the role want to admit. This isn’t a warning or doom and gloom lecture; it is one of opportunities and expanding skills to solve challenges you couldn’t prior. It is a clear argument for where the role is moving and evolving.
The 3 things I want people to leave with
- Which CAD Management functions AI has materially changed in the last 18 months and expected in the next 18.
- A personal and organizational strategy for repositioning CAD management expertise in an AI-augmented environment.
- The high-value skills that separate expert CAD managers from AI-replaceable ones.
The declined AU 2026 sessions may show up here on the blog
The CER analysis material, the crash data PowerShell and AI work, and the Civil 3D dataset complexity stuff are too useful to sit on a shelf until 2027. I will probably write those up as blog posts over the next few months. The data is real, the workflows are working in production, and other CAD managers can and should use it now.
See you in Las Vegas
AU 2026 runs September 15 to 17 in Las Vegas, yes, it is back to Vegas. If you are going, come find me.
Cheers,
Shaan