Options are cheap in a model and expensive in a federated one. Keep options out of shared models, say what is fixed at each stage, and let the others build on what won't move.
A model makes it easy to try options: two staircases, three façade rhythms, four plant room layouts. That is one of its strengths. The trouble starts when options leave the designer's desk. Other teams can't tell an option from the design; they coordinate against it, route around it and price it. And when nothing is ever declared settled, nobody can build on anyone else's work.
In a CDE, work in progress belongs to the team that is developing it. Shared information is for others to use. Options are work in progress; a shared model should hold the design as it currently stands.
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