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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 during the project because of a lack of adequate tools, project management skills, or, frankly, interest in doing so. If you don’t plan, schedule, and measure progress it’s difficult to generate consistent, predictable project results. Set Up for Success Whose responsibility is it within your firm to examine potential project risk? What could cause the team to blow the budget and burn through the project’s profits? Does this project involve a particularly demanding client or a compressed time frame? How about new or unfamiliar project delivery methods? Some projects are set up to lose money before they start because the risk is too great to overcome. Be sure to evaluate the risks for each project and set up project managers for profitable delivery. The Fine Print In the A/E training process, business classes regarding contract law are virtually non-existent. This is where many potentially great projects run into trouble. Very few A/E professionals have the expertise to properly evaluate contracts. Those that do have these skills rarely share the relevant details of that contract with the project team. Issues such as deliverables, schedules, reviews, etc. should be spelled out clearly in a good contract. Improved skills and communication could lead to increased profitability as well as fewer change orders (and happier clients). Track project profitability with real-time actuals from Deltek – Visual Planning Time is Money Many financial challenges begin because firms simply don’t discuss money with their project managers or teams. It seems, for example, there are plenty of project managers out there that do not see the importance of billing for services delivered in a timely fashion. Not to mention the fact that it’s hard to get many client’s to pay on time in ideal circumstances. These invoices pile up and firms end up with a shocking amount of money in accounts receivable (AR). Project teams must also be trained to recognize work that is out of scope and work with project managers to identify when to issue change orders. To be clear, this is not about “nickel and diming” your clients. However, there are situations where clients ask for substantially more than what is defined in the contract and firms end up giving this work away for free! In either case, firms can end up paying interest on the money they have not charged for or received. This results in firms effectively financing their client’s projects and providing interest-free loans. Sounds like a bad deal. Billable Hours How many hours every month does your firm need to bill to keep the lights on? What about meeting the firm’s profitability or growth goals? How many hours does each employee need to bill in order to justify their cost to the firm? Most if not all architects and engineers begin in the profession for love of the work. However, it’s also critical to recognize there is a business aspect to delivering this work and understand the associated costs. Everyone at an A/E firm needs to know the answers to these questions. It is critical that firms, from the CEO to project managers to designers understand profitability and break-even calculations. These challenges are common across the A/E industry. Discuss amongst your leadership team, invest in processes and tools, and meet with your peers to identify solutions. Your firm will see profitability and client satisfaction increase significantly as a result. Improve profitability and utilization with Visual Planning – schedule a call today! #Architecture #Engineering #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. 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 business. However, effectively running the business is critical to the continued ability of your firm to deliver design solutions. Implement a streamlined process and a few basic performance measures to track performance month-over-month. This will keep projects on track and help you identify issues before they become catastrophes. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are simple metrics that you can easily track and align to across your teams and disciplines. Use these metrics to track trends and identify disciplines or skills that require improvement. Profit Tracking profitability at both the project and firm-wide level helps Architecture and Engineering (A/E) firms maintain sustainable project- and business-management practices. Profit is the measurement of gross income minus expenses. Some firms believe that this profitability should not be shared with project teams or designers. We see it differently. There is nothing wrong with the company aligning their project teams to a profitability target. In fact, developing these skills with designers helps them understand their role within the project while building financial literacy for aspiring project managers. Project team members need regular evaluations, so they understand how their performance is affecting the project’s performance and company performance overall. Are they completing their assigned work within the allotted time? If not, why? Can coaching address the situation? Errors and omissions lead to RFIs, Change Orders, or overworked projects. In any case, this could lead to frustrated clients or unprofitable projects. Conduct a root cause analysis to discover “why” and use this as a learning opportunity to improve project delivery in the future. Track project profitability with real-time actuals from Deltek – Visual Planning Overhead It is critical for firms to accurately calculate and apply overhead to their project pricing. This number includes things like rent for office space, software, health care, and insurance costs. It also includes hours for operations staff and training time. All of these things are critical to running a successful business and must be priced into projects to maintain profitability. Accounts Receivable/ Work in Progress (AR/WiP) Collecting on-time payment for services delivered is a challenge for every A/E firm and every accounting department. Allowing payment to stretch to 90 or 120 days is like providing a free loan to your clients and puts a cash crunch on the firm. In order to get a handle on and improve this problem, start with the simple calculations below. Start by determining your firm’s “annual average accounts receivable,” Total the dollar value of accounts receivable at the end of each of the past 12 months and divide by 12. Next, calculate “aged accounts receivable” (the average number of days that it takes for you to receive payment from the invoice date). For example, if you have an annual average accounts receivable of $125,000 per month and annual net operating revenue of $1,000,000, then your aged accounts receivable is 125,000 ÷ (1,000,000 ÷ 365), which is equal to 45.6 days. Backlog It seems like every firm we talk to has a slightly different definition of backlog. However, it all boils down to: How much future work does your firm have? Backlog is a constantly moving data point as clients are invoiced and new projects are added to the firm’s backlog. Do you have enough work to meet the firm’s utilization target? Are people overbooked and the firm should hire? Are people underutilized and the firm needs to sell? These are critical questions to ask for an A/E firm to be profitable and sustainable. Profit, Overhead, AR/WIP, and Backlog. These metrics are just a starting point and there are likely other KPIs your firm uses to track performance. Regardless of which metrics your firm uses, consistency, training, and accountability are critical to overall success. Make sure everyone on the team understand the numbers and tracks to them as a measure of individual, team, and firm-wide performance. Planifi’s Visual Planning tools help remove the administrative burden of tracking and calculating these numbers on an ongoing basis. Become proactive and improve your business with live project plans and actuals in an easy-to-use interface. Improve profitability and utilization with Visual Planning – schedule a call today! #Architecture #Engineering #FirmLeadership #ProjectManagement

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. Developing a program for Architecture or Engineering (A/E) leadership development differs firm by firm and will be a challenging journey. It requires current leadership to both reflect and ask for feedback on their strengths/weaknesses, as well as to invest in process and training time for younger professionals. Both are challenging tasks. Self-critiquing is not particularly enjoyable. Also, leadership training time for younger professionals is sometimes seen as an extravagance or increased overhead the firm simply cannot afford. However, your firm simply must make these investments. There is an interesting paradox at many Architecture/Engineering (A/E) firms. By the nature of the work, A/E firms are composed of well-schooled women and men, people steeped in years of formal professional technical training and a well-established appreciation for ongoing technical learning as part of their careers. Many of these same professionals, however, masters of technical skills, do not place nearly the same value on formal leadership training. This leadership training is what’s required to operate and grow successful businesses that allow for the practice of these technical skills. Start Early Management education and training must begin early in the professional career of your firm’s rising architects and engineers. Do not wait until they are already managers, directors, or principals! This is a common mistake (discussed in our last post) that leads to numerous challenges and often poor performance. Investing in your firm’s rising leaders builds loyalty amongst your most valuable employees and proves your firm is forward-thinking. Leadership may be concerned younger engineers/architects will view formal training programs as “stifling their creativity.” However, the opposite is true. Leadership development and formalized processes enable design professionals to focus on the creative work rather than worrying about managing or developing their own process. Use data to help new PMs identify project budget and staffing issues – Visual Planning Develop Internal Programs It may be tempting to outsource leadership training to a consultant or expert. After all, your leadership team is busy drumming up new business and managing client relationships. External consultants can certainly help your firm get the ball rolling. However, executive leadership’s involvement in developing and sponsoring the program is a critical element to success. The busiest members of the leadership team often know the firm better than anyone else, knowing the intricacies of the business, the project work, and clients. The organization’s strategic agenda must include leadership training on par with professional education and training with the time and financial investments to back that up. In order to develop any internal leadership training program, your firm should do the following: Create your own teaching content that is relevant to our firm’s specific learning needs and type of work. Consider your strategic plan for the business when developing teaching content and address real-life problems during training sessions. Your “students” may come up with solutions not previously considered. Incorporate your firms cultural and strategic values into the curriculum. This provides an opportunity to deepen the understanding of your firm’s “why” and ensure those values continue with the firm for years to come. Keep Going Leadership training and development is an investment in your firm’s high-performing young professionals. It is an investment in your firm’s future and the continuance of the firm’s values. With that in mind, consider the following question – would you compromise your values if revenue started to decrease? Oftentimes, firms will strike budget line items for formal leadership education the moment new client engagement slows down. This is equivalent to answering “yes” to the question above. If you divest from leadership education when business slows, the signal sent to up-and-comers is clear: management doesn’t really view leadership development, career development, or the firm’s future as an important value. Paints a pretty bleak picture, right? Leadership development training is not an avoidable or discretionary expense. In fact, the immediate savings in cost will compound man times over when losing the firm’s most valuable young leaders and the relationships (future business) they’ve been developing. So, how can your firm take the first steps to developing a leadership training program? We’d suggest starting with some data collection and answering questions in three key areas: Interview your current managers and directors. Where do they feel like they could learn more? Interview your up-and-coming young leaders. What are their common questions about managing people, projects, and budgets? What do they know about business development in A/E? Interview the top-echelon of your leadership team, those that have a keen awareness of the firm’s capabilities and challenges. What does the firm need to overcome those challenges and how can you leverage leadership training to identify unidentified solutions? Interested in how Planifi software can help your firm with leadership development – schedule a call today! #Architecture #Engineer #FirmLeadership

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. Oftentimes listing “project management” amongst them, various services are what firms highlight in their value proposition to clients. The final product of the design process, and the process itself, are how many firms build their brand and compare themselves against competition. Another piece of the puzzle is your leadership team. How does your firm’s leadership stack up against the competition? Or, just as importantly, how does your firm develop future leadership? Leadership development keeps young talent engaged and incentives them to stay at the firm when others are trying to lure them away. Development of Business Skills in A/E It is generally accepted that while earning an Architecture or Engineering degree, business training is not part of the curriculum. Elite schools measure success by the quality of a graduate’s design skills, oftentimes to the exclusion of other abilities. However, as architects and engineers progress in their careers, project management and firm management arguably become of greater importance than design skill. Exposure to business skills is very limited. Skills such as marketing, business development, inter-personal communication, and employee relations are not part of the requirements when it comes to earning a degree. However, all of these skills are critical to advancing towards firm leadership. Despite the necessity of these skills, the current mind set prioritizes design knowledge and know-how above business acumen or organizational/financial management skills. This is reflected in the fact that design prowess (combined with client relationships) is the primary contributor when it comes to promotions at firms today. Typically A/E firms promote high performing practitioners to lead or manage operation units of their firm. It is at this stage their preparedness for such positions becomes an issue. Track plan vs. actual with real-time data from Deltek Vision – Visual Planning Sink or Swim In this situation, leadership is expected to “learn as they go.” Sink-or-swim is a universal expression for this approach to managerial development. It is also one of the least effective and most costly methods of education. A/E practice requires formal education and mastery of a complex set of skills before one can even call themselves an architect or engineer. However, it is the perception of many firms that leading a business unit of these highly skilled professionals requires no such education or training. This leads to a common perception amongst A/E professionals, who have mastered their craft, that management is not that complicated or difficult to learn. It’s probably no surprise that we disagree with this view and would argue, in fact, that it costs firms a lot of money. Consider the combined cost of unrecognized (or lost) business development opportunities, underutilized resources, and poorly managed projects. And it doesn’t stop there. Without formal training, your firm is going to have more sinkers than swimmers. And, most of those that can swim are barely staying above water. However, without the proper data or tools, firms cannot see who is, in fact, sinking. Difficult Decisions Amongst many leadership teams, there is reluctance to remove half-drowning swimmers from their new positions. This is due to a few factors. Politics for one. They wouldn’t have made it this far without being successful designers. Second, there is hope that the “school of hard knocks” will help them learn the necessary skills soon enough. Lastly, there just isn’t enough data to show how bad the problem really is. Traditional financial and managerial accounting systems at A/E firms are not capable of capturing and showing the costs of sinking leadership. However, it doesn’t stop at lost dollars and cents. There is another cost. If “barely swimming” leaders are left to struggle, their reporting employees are not blind to the problem. This can result in a perception of management “softness,” or worse, cronyism. This results in decreased morale and an increasing number of your most talented young people leaving the firm for greener pastures. This problem is particularly apparent in tight labor markets like today. On-the-job training can cost your firm a lot. In our next post (in two weeks), we’re going to talk about ways your firm can develop internal management programs and recommended actions to preventing these challenges. In the meantime, your firm can utilize Visual Planning from Planifi to better track project profitability and utilization metrics to better identify top contributors and those that may need a helping hand. Increase utilization and profitability at your A/E firm – schedule a call today! #Architecture #Engineering #Development #ProjectManagement #FirmLeadership

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 need useful tools to manage their projects to a successful end result, just as you need functioning headlights to drive at night. However, many Architecture/Engineering (A/E) Project Managers don’t pay proper attention to the road ahead. They wait until invoicing to evaluate project performance, which can lead projects off the road and into a ditch. Proactive project management means looking forward, considering how many hours have been used, what work is being done, and how quickly you’re closing in on completing deliverables. Simply put, you need to keep projects on the road by tracking burn rate. That is the rate at which project budget is being spent versus the overall budget, compared against the amount of work delivered. Starting to use Burn Rate The concept and components for calculating Burn Rate aren’t complicated, but they are essential to successful project delivery. The first step in the process is to assign budget by discipline and give a total number of days to complete the work, then break those days down into resource-hours (labor). This gives each member of the project team a specified amount of time to complete the necessary work. Oftentimes, saying to project team members, “you have X hours to complete this work” is a change in and of itself. While these conversations may be difficult at first, this will help project managers set clear expectations with the team, resulting in more successful project delivery. It also helps to: Clearly state and align the project team to a common set of project goals Define clear standards against which progress will be measured throughout the project. Define the meaning of a successful outcome for this project and manage the team to those goals. Check Your Pace Think of it as a long drive. In order to determine when you’ll get home, you need to factor in how fast you’re going and the distance remaining. Well, if you get stuck in traffic, it’s obvious you need to either go faster to make up the time or add that on to your overall drive time. With A/E projects, the traffic jam isn’t always so obvious. Architecture & Engineering (A/E) project management is about constantly checking pace and making corrections throughout the project. Otherwise, you end up going 95 MPH in a school zone and the project ends up in jeopardy. You can’t manage what’s already happened. Regular checkpoints are critical to ensure projects stay on track and realize successful outcomes. Track plan vs. actual with real-time data from Deltek Vision – Visual Planning Learn & Improve Review is also best done throughout the project at regular intervals, as well as at project closeout. Review project goals and processes. Was the phase/project set up for success from the beginning or can adjustments be made? Take full advantage of what worked well. Apply lessons learned from those successes to improve future work – both on this project and on future jobs. This one might seem obvious on the surface, but stop doing activities or change the processes that aren’t contributing to success. The hard part is finding alternatives to what isn’t working. However, it’s better to test something new versus something you know for certain (and have evidence to prove) does not and will not work. Measure often, take action, measure again, make changes (as needed). Increase utilization and profitability at your A/E firm – schedule a call today! #Architecture #Engineering #ProjectManagement

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 everything works as required. Architects provide us with a beautiful built world and engineers ensure it is safe and functional. These are critical roles in today’s world. However, whether we like it or not, architecture and engineering (A/E) services aren’t delivered in a vacuum. Services are requested from an owner and a market dictates the price for these services. Today, everyone that procures design services for a major project has an idea for how much design services will cost. Anyone can do a quick internet search on the type of building and, in short order, come up with a relatively accurate estimation of cost as a percentage of overall construction. Architecture and Engineering (A/E) Firms know these rules of thumb, especially those responsible for marketing and selling the firm’s services. If an RFP is advertised for a major project, most can approximate an acceptable fee. So, the market price is usually very competitive. The winning A/E Team will need a great design proposal, but at a very lean pricing structure. Align Fee & Scope As the project moves into production, many times the design professionals responsible for executing the work are not acutely aware of the constraints around their work. Many firms can improve project performance by simply educating the project team on how and why the design services were estimated. The scope of work articulated in the RFP will be clear. Share this with your team. This will help them understand requirements for the project. It will also help them recognize when the client is requesting services outside of the defined scope of work. Developing this understanding with your project team will result in both satisfactory work for the client and a profitable result for the firm. Easily create and share project estimates with Planifi’s Visual Planning tools. Last Minute Change Orders Projects change. Schedules shift, surprises come up, and clients ask for out of scope work. It’s part of managing an A/E project. Have you ever been in a meeting where senior management asks a project manager to request a change order at the end of the project? This illustrates project management failures across the board, from start to finish. At project closeout, it’s too late to get a change order from many clients. There is no remaining budget. Any remaining dollars have been reallocated or paid to other consultants who identified issues much earlier. This raises very real questions around project management competency. Why weren’t these issues identified earlier in the project? Project managers must always track and proactively manage scope, schedule, and budget. It’s a lose-lose situation. Even if the client does pay, they will not be happy with the PM or your firm. This puts the potential for future work in jeopardy. Effective Change Orders So, how can you generate change orders, get paid for them, and make your client happy? Manage your team and put tools in place to track out of scope work. That starts with proactively managing and communicating with your project team. Make sure they understand the scope and fee and don’t simply execute on every request. Capture these requests in a log and maintain your records. Issue your clients ‘No Cost’ change orders. If it all possible, show them again on invoices. This will help endear yourself to the client as a value-adding service provider. Further, it shows you DO NOT nickle and dime them. Emotional Bank Account Think of this as investing in an emotional bank account. This builds a strong working relationship between PM and client. This relationship will provide numerous benefits. One of which is an open channel of communication, which you can leverage to manage scope and mention the extra things you’ve done throughout the project. Finally, when the time comes that you need to cash in and issue a change order, you can point back to things you’ve already done to justify the charge for extra work. Some clients will already see it coming and have budget set aside because of the work you’ve already done. Change orders are oftentimes painful and drive wedges between A/E firms and clients. This puts profitability and future work at risk. Invest in an emotional bank account with your clients. This builds a strong relationship, demonstrates effective project management, and delivers additional revenue for your projects. Sound like a good investment? 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 #ChangeOrders #Engineering #ProjectManagement

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, budget and resource allocation, and high-quality results all improve as project leadership skills increase. Expert Project Managers navigate immediate obstacles, while looking ahead to prepare the project team for potential challenges and speed bumps. Elite leaders make informed decisions in a timely fashion and keep projects on course for success. Some people are natural leaders, but leadership skills can also be developed. The U.S. Military, for example, has been successfully developing leaders for generations. Here are my Top 4 assets for developing successful A/E Project Leaders. Communication This is absolutely, without question, undoubtedly the single most important asset in any project manager’s toolkit. It cannot be overstated. The fact of the matter is A/E project managers spend most of their time communicating with, and facilitating communication between, the project team. Top-notch project leaders can communicate with project team members in a diverse range of roles and varying levels of experience. This includes internal team members like designers and principals, as well as external project partners and clients. Project leadership requires the ability to clearly articulate vision, goals, and strategies for project execution; as well as, the business values derived from a successful outcome. All of this must be communicated to the audiences mentioned above, in terms relevant and understandable to them. Effective multi-channel communication is the foundation for successful project delivery. Increase profitability and utilization with Planifi’s Visual Planning tools – simple drag-and-drop A/E project staffing and scheduling. Vision Successful A/E project leaders understand and visualize the big picture and share this with the project team. Sharing the project vision helps ensure each team member understands the critical importance of their role and how their individual work contributes to the project’s overall success. Executing on the project vision also requires effective tactical management. Direct, measure, and coordinate the project team. Effective management for items like tasks, conflicts, project milestones, and progress reports contributes to successful project delivery. Learn when you need to dig into the weeds and when to take a higher level approach based on your team’s skillset. Delegation Leadership is about inspiring a team to achieve common goals. Architecture and Engineering (A/E) projects require a project team because it’s too much for one person to complete alone. Achieving common goals requires a common plan and purpose, as well as delegation skills to ensure work is completed in a timely manner. Start by identifying and sharing the project’s goals with the team. Establish controls, identify limits, provide support, and stay informed on the team’s progress. Lastly, focus on results rather than obedience to procedure. It’s a project leader’s responsibility to prioritize tasks and bring out the best in their teams. Understand the strengths and weaknesses of each team member and delegate tasks accordingly. A great leader creates an environment that fosters trust and self-belief through the art of delegation. Give recognition when it’s deserved. A “great job” can go a long way in building team loyalty and inspiring great work in the future. Creative Problem Solving Plans go awry, deadlines shift, client expectations change. The only constant in A/E projects is that nothing stays the same. Understand every plan changes and evolves, no matter how much you have researched and prepared or how much experience you have. The best A/E project leaders encourage out-of-the-box thinking to solve problems presented by a dynamic project environment. Develop a culture where creativity and individual feedback are encouraged and valued. When team members feel empowered, they’ll have your back when the going gets tough. Be open to new ideas on how to overcome unexpected project issues. Align your project managers, increase utilization, and achieve higher profitability by scheduling a call today! #Architecture #Engineering #ProjectManagement

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, preparation, and success. Herb Brooks, University of Minnesota and USA Gold Metal Hockey Coach once said, “The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win.” Everyone would like to succeed in whatever endeavor they chose, and some “naturals” do succeed without much preparation. However, for the greatest percentage of us, success requires a vision that is planned, executed, and measured. When I was coaching little league teams, we measured everything from number of pitches thrown to batting average to on base percentage. Over the years, I realized coaching baseball or, more specifically, teaching kids how to be successful at playing baseball, shares many of the same fundamentals as being a successful A/E project manager. Achieving Repeatable Success Scope, schedule, and budget – the Big Three for project managers. Otherwise stated as vision, cost, and time frame. In baseball many asked, “how do you win so often year after year?” Well, like many that excel in a certain field, we looked at the game differently than our opponents. Our team focused on not only winning games, but winning each and every inning, every at bat, and every single pitch. We broke the game down into bite sized objectives and focused on making the most of every opportunity. It works! Project Management in the A/E environment is unique, and more abstract in nature than a construction project. In construction, you set out to build what has been engineered, specified, and blueprinted. That’s not to say construction project management is easy, but it has different goals and therefore requires a different approach. Easily create and share staffing plans with Planifi’s Visual Planning tools – simple drag-and-drop A/E project staffing and scheduling. Breaking Down A/E Projects As a design professional, on the other hand, you research concepts, develop designs to meet the specified objectives, and apply creative analytical skill sets to create the “Project.” When taken as a whole, this seems like a daunting task – impossible to effectively manage and direct. However, it’s not. It’s common practice to break down the design process into phases – Schematic Design, Design Development, Construction Drawings etc. We can even break that down to each discipline within those phases. This is done every day when design professionals provide proposals for project fees and structure project schedules. There are two key pieces that I often find missing. Much like baseball games use a scoreboard, firms need a way to keep score during the project. The project manager should treat each phase like an inning. Then, at regular intervals, review pitching, hitting, and defense (disciplines) and player (project staff) performance to identify any coaching adjustments (staffing or schedule changes) that must be made. If you’re only reviewing projects at the beginning and end, you’re missing multiple opportunities to course correct or improve project delivery. Coaching doesn’t end when the games over. Review and discuss your projects with your team after close-out. Identify successes and challenges the team encountered during the project and figure out how you can improve upon these results on future jobs. Prepare to Win There are tools to help organize this data and streamline the effort required to manage at this level, but it requires discipline to enter and maintain project plans. This is where I call back to Herb Brooks – “The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win.” Consistent, elite performance for A/E project teams doesn’t happen by accident. Projects are already broken down into phases, take the next step and put review processes in place for continuous improvement and more successful project delivery! Align with your project managers, increase utilization, and achieve higher profitability by scheduling a call today! #Architeture #Engineering #ProjectManagement

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 consists of the appointment of a designer on one side and a contractor on the other. The design–build procurement route changes the traditional sequence of work. It fulfills the client’s demand for a single point of responsibility, which results in lower costs and some risk mitigation. Design-Build Projects Increasing Research from consulting firm Fails Management Institute (FMI) indicates that the design-build (DB) delivery method, where an owner contracts with a single entity to perform both design and construction, is continuing to gain traction in the industry. According to the June 2018 “Design-Build Utilization” report, DB methods will represent nearly half of construction put-in-place (CPiP) spending across many market segments by 2021. Effects of Change First, the RFP response process for design-build work has become increasingly time consuming (read: expensive). Every moment senior staff spend on an RFP is unbilled work. Not to mention printing, flights, and other travel expenses. In order to both win the project and still be profitable, estimates must be more accurate than ever. Estimates must be aggressively priced to stay competitive and, as a result, design services fees are being reduced to nearly unsustainable levels. This is due to the nature of the design-build agreement. Contractors are incentivized to reduce costs and maximize profitability for the client. This leaves little room for error in project execution. The correct personnel need to work just long enough on the project to get the work done without blowing through the profit. Meanwhile, the time required to fully explore detail and complexities has disappeared. Easily create and share staffing plans with Planifi’s Visual Planning tools – simple drag-and-drop A/E project staffing and scheduling. This approach cuts cost to be sure, but less design time comes with increased risk. For example, construction documents are nowhere near as complete as they have been in past decades. Project details and arguments over responsibilities for contract documents is an unintended consequence of the design-build process. Design Firm Evaluation Criteria The owner’s selection committee, which may include the general contractor, evaluates A/E proposals. The committee is responsible for awarding work to design firm’s that best fit the needs of both the project and the design-build approach to project delivery. As a result, the committee may highly value some practices or processes that design firms have traditionally not included in past pitch meetings. For example, firms may need to identify their project scheduling process in order to demonstrate specific understanding of the project milestones and key deliverables. How to Win Design-Build Projects Architecture and Engineering (A/E) firms should prepare for increased scrutiny of their project management approach. The committee may conduct an in-depth evaluation of the project manager’s qualifications and role during the design and construction process. Prepare this information ahead of time and highlight your project manager’s achievements in managing dynamic and complex projects. In addition to project manager scrutiny, most projects will require a submission of similar information for key project staff. Demonstrate availability for key staff and their qualifications to complete the work. Many RFPs also request a list of recent projects and require an organizational chart, key staff, and the firm’s policy on budget/schedule compliance. Set Your Firm Apart In a world where project delivery methodologies are constantly evolving, firms must prioritize and embrace project management as a key differentiator. You will set yourself apart from the competition during the RFP process and deliver successful projects, resulting in repeat work for your firm. Interested in learning how Planifi software can help your firm improve project management? Align with your project managers, increase utilization, and achieve higher profitability by scheduling a call today! #Architecture #DesignBuild #Engineering #ProjectManagement

Updated: Apr 19, 2020 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 goes on and on. Winning new business is expensive! Architecture and engineering (A/E) sales are unique. Many firms rely upon referrals, repeat business, and responding to RFPs to sustain and grow the business. Oftentimes, architecture and engineering (A/E) projects are won or lost based upon long-standing relationships. Similarly, firm interviews and expensive presentations are relied upon for winning new work. However, the RFP process makes it difficult to build those critical relationships or sell on value in the face of steep price competition and commoditization of services. In addition to these challenges, many architects and engineers simply do not enjoy the activities associated with business development. This makes it even more difficult to differentiate your firm from the competition, win new projects, or build the types of relationships that lead to valuable repeat business. With every lost opportunity comes, not only a loss of revenues from that project, but lost dollars in flights, hotels, and unbilled hours. Win more without spending more Leverage your project management expertise. World class project management in an A/E environment is a huge competitive advantage and is rarely used as a differentiator in sales meetings and interviews. In your next project interview, your presentation should address risk (and its mitigation). This demonstrates to the owner, your firm values effective project delivery, predictable project delivery, and proactive communication. All of which translates to a successful outcome for the client. Demonstrate your firm’s project management competency and assure them that the project will be managed in a formal project management system with real-time data. Clients have often been burned by A/E Firms over-selling work in busy times, resulting in delays on their projects. Provide a resource utilization projection for the client’s project team, demonstrating adequate capacity for key resources. Lastly, demonstrate how your firm manages key deliverables and milestones across projects. Clients know they aren’t your only customer, but they don’t want to be impacted by your other projects. Demonstrating to the client that you’re coordinating activities across projects can put their mind at ease that your firm can manage and deliver across multiple projects. Planifi’s Visual Planning tools can help you communicate all of these things to your client’s with ease! This shows that as a services provider you: Understand the client’s needs by identifying the correct key resources Value their business and will keep your promise to deliver on time Have available resources today to deliver the work as proposed This resonates particularly well with Clients and General Contractors involved in alternate delivery methods such as design build or integrated project delivery. The GC’s input to the Owner can be the deciding factor in winning the project and overcoming design services’ commoditization. Build Lasting Relationships Once you win a project, you now have an opportunity to let your project management practice shine and win repeat work from the client. Relationships are built with the client by successfully navigating the “ups and downs” of a project journey. All projects go through highs and lows. Central to elite project management (and relationship building) is the ability to communicate proactively – both good news and anticipated challenges. Relationship and team building occur when you face a challenge with the client, working shoulder-to-shoulder. Additionally, as a project manager, effective change management has a significant impact on the relationship moving forward. Let’s say there’s a change in scope. How did you present the additional services discussion? When did you approach the discussion? Effectively managing change orders will help you achieve the desirable “trusted advisor” status, which puts you head-and-shoulders above the competition. Demonstrate your proven capabilities to deliver a quality project management/project delivery experience for clients and this will differentiate your firm even in a highly competitive RFP process. Secure Repeat Work The project is complete, and your firm has proven its capabilities to deliver a quality project management/project delivery experience. This will differentiate your firm in the future, even in a highly competitive RFP process. Be sure to create a close out process. This is your chance to discuss opportunities for improvement, as well as remind them of your successes throughout the project! Take time to review the goals of the project and your collective achievements. Lastly, close out the review by inquiring about future project opportunities and asking about a good time to follow up. Then, set a reminder in your calendar and be sure to follow up on time! Manage Risk Great project managers are continuously assessing project risk. Always Identify, prioritize, and mitigate risk – from pre-design through design phases and into construction. Business development is expensive. Travel costs and unbilled hours add up quickly, but that’s nothing in comparison to losing a long-term relationship and opportunity for renewing business. Leverage your firm’s unique value and project management expertise to make the most of those expensive firm interviews and client presentations. Good luck and happy selling! Interested in learning how Planifi software can help your firm improve project management? Schedule a call today! #Architecture #Engineering #ProjectManagement #sales

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 stronger/weaker in certain areas, but generally design services are the same across the board. This results in a race to the bottom on price and vanishing margins. At your next proposal presentation, what if, alongside an outstanding design concept, you could confidently demonstrate the ability to keep your promise to deliver the project on time and within budget? Many, if not all, of your clients or prospective clients have been burned on late/poor project delivery in the past. Differentiate your architecture or engineering (A/E) firm from the competition with a disciplined project management practice and communicate this to your clients. Differentiate Your Firm As part of your next proposal presentation, provide the client with a clear task list and timeline that demonstrates understanding of the project’s scope, schedule, and budget. Additionally, present who will be assigned to work on the project, why they are the best person for the job, and demonstrate their availability to complete the work. This requires both effective project management practices and firm-wide alignment on resource allocation and scheduling. Check out Planifi’s Visual Planning tools for simple drag-and-drop A/E project staffing and scheduling! The cornerstone of every successful architecture and engineering (A/E) project manager is the ability to effectively communicate. This includes both internal communication (with their teams) and external communication (with clients and subs). An effectively planned schedule of events provides the means to keep all stakeholders on task, orchestrate the necessary sequence of events, and effectively keep your promises made, while also winning the project for you and your firm! Rockstar Project Managers Provide the client with a brief biography of the project manager assigned to the project and demonstrate their track record of successful project delivery. When a client is comparing so-called “comparable design services,” a Rockstar PM will undoubtably swing the decision-making process in your favor. Highlight your project manager’s accomplishments and years of experience — particularly experience with high-visibility and complex projects and in delivering to tight/ever-changing deadlines. In most cases, the project manager will be the client’s main point of contact. They need to be confident that their project manager can deliver the project successfully. Effectively highlight your Rockstar PMs and your firm will win more work. Repeat business in the architecture and engineering (A/E) industry is a direct result of the PM-Client Relationship. Challenges will always come up during project delivery – schedules shift and scopes change. However, effective communication helps PMs and clients work together to address these challenges. This builds a trusted relationship and rewards your firm with long-term customer loyalty. Role of Leadership A disciplined project management practice requires great project managers. Just as important, though, is the support and commitment from firm leadership. Strategic vision drives both the initial investment in a project management practice and commitment to key performance indicators (KPIs) as methods for evaluation. A committed leadership team will compel the entire organization to embrace project management as a corporate value (strategic objective). This reinforces itself over time, leading to more successful projects, less waste, and lower costs for clients. All of this equals more repeat work and recommendations for your firm. Lastly, a successful project management practice provides a competitive advantage, particularly in high-risk/high-visibility projects. Not only design services, but project management determines whether your firm wins these projects. Further, successful project delivery – delivering on time, within budget, and to the client’s satisfaction – will determine whether your firm gets the next job as well. Interested in learning how Planifi software can help your firm improve project management? Align with your project managers, increase utilization, and achieve higher profitability by scheduling a call today! #Architecture #Engineering #ProjectManagement

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 that time, I’ve learned many things, but one of the most important is this: Effective relationship management is the cornerstone for successful project management. Architecture and Engineering (A/E) Project Managers are the tip of the spear for your client relationships. They are your marketers, your brand representatives, your salespeople, and your project delivery leads. Project Managers are critical to the success of every A/E firm. However, they are almost always, architects or engineers at heart. Project Managers rarely receive formal training when it comes to client management, sales, etc. That’s why I’ve written this post on how A/E Project Managers can improve client management. Be a Resource The services firms have long relied upon as their core business are becoming commoditized. In order to differentiate your firm, and earn higher margins, go beyond the client/vendor relationship. Be a resource to your clients. Engage with your clients regularly, offer expertise, and go beyond what’s expected. Before long you will become a trusted advisor. Building relationships takes time, especially with new clients, but it will establish your firm as a partner and earn recurring business in years to come. Complete Engagement Great communication is the cornerstone of building trust. It is easy to get tunnel vision during the design process and drop the ball on client communication. Talk to your clients and update them on what’s going on and what’s happening on a regular basis. Regular situation reports can bring potential problems to the surface earlier in the process. This shows you’re committed to client satisfaction with the final product while eliminating wasted effort on design work the client doesn’t want. Improve profitability and client satisfaction at the same time! Stay up to date on project status and staffing with Planifi’s Visual Planning tools! Align and Simplify How does your design respond to the client’s scope, schedule, and budget expectations? Communicating your design intent to clients in a language they can understand is essential to effective relationship management and building trust. Simplify the complex. Translating technical jargon into language a lay person can understand is a valuable skill and often one overlooked by many A/E professionals. This will you earn trust and respect from your clients while maintaining your project’s scope, schedule, and budget. Conflict Resolution Regularly communicate, in a direct manner and with respect. When the project is going well, both you and client will be happy to talk and provide updates. Well, how about when trouble comes? Proactively communicate and address problems. This is a difficult and uncomfortable skill to learn, but, no matter how good you are as a PM, conflict resolution is a critical skill for successful relationship management. Change Orders The new world of design and construction is all about change management. The most successful project teams are agile and equipped to respond to change, within reason. You must know the scope of work and how far you can go while still delivering a profitable result for the firm. Your clients will ask the impossible, they will push for more. Be respectful, don’t procrastinate, and simplify the facts. Often, PMs make the mistake of waiting until the end of a billing cycle or design phase to propose a change order. This is a recipe for disaster and un-does all the hard work of building trust done to that point. A candid, timely discussion around scope and proposed changes builds trust and respect. The ability to communicate what is (and what is not) reasonable, and even saying no, is an invaluable skill. It will lead to better relationships, less stress, and more successful project delivery. Interested in learning how Planifi software can help your firm improve project management? Align with your project managers, increase utilization, and achieve higher profitability by scheduling a call today! #Architecture #Engineering #ProjectManagement