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Prepare for Profitability

Dec 10, 2019

Prepare for Profitability

About the author: Don Archibeque is a Project Executive with Planifi, bringing more than 25 years of experience in construction and A/E (architecture and engineering) Project Management, as well as associated professional managerial services. Architecture and Engineering (A/E) projects require collaboration to reach a successful end result. As the design lead, your firm may be responsible for much more than just your own work. Whether those responsibilities are spelled out in

Project Scope and Profitability

Nov 26, 2019

Project Scope and Profitability

About the author: Don Archibeque is a Project Executive with Planifi, bringing more than 25 years of experience in construction and A/E (architecture and engineering) Project Management, as well as associated professional managerial services. Architecture and Engineering (A/E) project management can feel like juggling 15 balls at a time. You check one thing off the list and 14 more immediately require your attention. Then, as soon as one thing gets off course, everything else

Profit Pitfalls of A/E Firms

Nov 12, 2019

Profit Pitfalls of A/E Firms

About the author: Don Archibeque is a Project Executive with Planifi, bringing more than 25 years of experience in construction and A/E (architecture and engineering) Project Management, as well as associated professional managerial services. Due to the inherently creative nature of architecture or engineering (A/E) work, it can be difficult to estimate time or labor for one or several parts of a project. To make things more difficult, plan vs. actual is sometimes not tracked

Metrics for Running a Profitable A/E Firm

Oct 29, 2019

Metrics for Running a Profitable A/E Firm

About the author: Don Archibeque is a Project Executive with Planifi, bringing more than 25 years of experience in construction and A/E (architecture and engineering) Project Management, as well as associated professional managerial services. As an Architecture or Engineering (A/E) firm, your focus is typically something like creating amazing buildings, environments, and solutions for your clients. It can be difficult to justify energy spent on the bigger picture of the busin

Challenges of Developing A/E Firm Leaders

Oct 1, 2019

Challenges of Developing A/E Firm Leaders

About the author: Don Archibeque is a Project Executive with Planifi, bringing more than 25 years of experience in construction and A/E (architecture and engineering) Project Management, as well as associated professional managerial services. We talk about Architecture and Engineering (A/E) project management a lot here on the Planifi blog. However, there’s more pieces to the puzzle when it comes to running a successful A/E business. There’s, of course, design services. Often

Using Burn Rate to Improve A/E Project Delivery

Sep 17, 2019

Using Burn Rate to Improve A/E Project Delivery

About the author: Don Archibeque is a Project Executive with Planifi, bringing more than 25 years of experience in construction and A/E (architecture and engineering) Project Management, as well as associated professional managerial services. Architecture/Engineering (A/E) project management is a lot like driving at night. Functioning headlights are essential to safe driving, but you also need to pay attention to what’s ahead of you to make it home safely. Project Managers ne

Pain-Free Change Orders

Sep 3, 2019

Pain-Free Change Orders

About the author: Don Archibeque is a Project Executive with Planifi, bringing more than 25 years of experience in construction and A/E (architecture and engineering) Project Management, as well as associated professional managerial services. Most architects and engineers go into their respective fields, not for money or fame, but because they love the practice of architecture or engineering. It’s an incredible feat to create a new design from the ground up and to ensure ever

A/E Project Leadership

Aug 20, 2019

A/E Project Leadership

About the author: Don Archibeque is a Project Executive with Planifi, bringing more than 25 years of experience in construction and A/E (architecture and engineering) Project Management, as well as associated professional managerial services. The outcome of any architecture or engineering (A/E) project relies upon the leadership skills of the Project Manager. Expert project leadership contributes to successful A/E projects like few other factors. Project-time management, budg

A/E Project Management and Little League

Aug 6, 2019

A/E Project Management and Little League

About the author: Don Archibeque is a Project Executive with Planifi, bringing more than 25 years of experience in construction and A/E (architecture and engineering) Project Management, as well as associated professional managerial services. As my son was growing up, I coached his little league baseball teams, and even went to the Little League World Series twice. I learned a great deal from coaching, or should I say from teaching these young people about baseball, preparat

The Secret for A/E Firms to Win Design-Build Projects

Jul 23, 2019

The Secret for A/E Firms to Win Design-Build Projects

About the author: Don Archibeque is a Project Executive with Planifi, bringing more than 25 years of experience in construction and A/E (architecture and engineering) Project Management, as well as associated professional managerial services. Architecture and Engineering (A/E) firms that establish and demonstrate project management as a strategic priority for their firm consistently win more work on design-build projects. The traditional approach for construction projects con

Project Management Wins Repeat Business

Jul 9, 2019

Project Management Wins Repeat Business

About the author: Don Archibeque is a Project Executive with Planifi, bringing more than 25 years of experience in construction and A/E (architecture and engineering) Project Management, as well as associated professional managerial services. Current market data suggests that the average architecture/engineering (A/E) firm spends ~5% of net revenues on marketing, sales, and business development. Flights, hotels, meetings, association memberships, RFP response costs, the list

Project Management is a Competitive Advantage

Jun 25, 2019

Project Management is a Competitive Advantage

About the author: Don Archibeque is a Project Executive with Planifi, bringing more than 25 years of experience in construction and A/E (architecture and engineering) Project Management, as well as associated professional managerial services. One of the top concerns of Architecture and Engineering (A/E) firm leadership today is around commoditization of core services. The idea is that design services offered by competing firms are largely comparable. Perhaps one firm is a bit

Five Tips for Better A/E Client Relationships

Jun 11, 2019

Five Tips for Better A/E Client Relationships

About the author: Don Archibeque is a Project Executive with Planifi, bringing more than 25 years of experience in construction and A/E (architecture and engineering) Project Management, as well as associated professional managerial services. I’ve spent over 25 years in architecture and engineering (A/E) project management. Over the years, I’ve been an A/E project manager and an owner’s rep, and have managed the project management practice at a 300-person firm. Throughout tha

A/E Agile Project Manifesto

May 28, 2019

A/E Agile Project Manifesto

About the author: Don Archibeque is a Project Executive with Planifi, bringing more than 25 years of experience in construction and A/E (architecture and engineering) Project Management, as well as associated professional managerial services. If you’re part of an Architecture or Engineering (A/E) firm leadership team, we need to talk for a second. Whether you want to or not, you own the critical responsibility of developing your firm’s next generation of leaders and project m

Agile Project Management for Architecture and Engineering: Traditional vs. Agile

May 14, 2019

Agile Project Management for Architecture and Engineering: Traditional vs. Agile

About the author: Don Archibeque is a Project Executive with Planifi, bringing more than 25 years of experience in construction and A/E (architecture and engineering) Project Management, as well as associated professional managerial services. Traditional A/E Project Management Traditional project management takes a step-by-step approach to delivering Architecture and Engineering (A/E) projects. The project goes through initiation, planning, execution, and monitoring, then str