Phases of a Project, Phases of A Career:
by Nick Salmon
I developed this piece several years ago with a different audience in mind, but I believe that the core message is relevant to those with a passion for education.
A number of years ago I was asked to teach a professional practice course to third and fourth year architecture students. I organized the lectures, projects, presentations and discussions around the phases of the project, beginning with the pursuit of employment (resumes and portfolios), followed by the pursuit of clients and then an overview of issues encountered during various design and construction phases of a project. The course was relatively successful and helpful to the students involved. On the final day of the course I had an opportunity to re-think how I would teach the class in the future and arrived at a much different model, focusing on the phases of a career. I believe that it is helpful to think of a career in terms of four phases organized in a circle, beginning with Acquiring Knowledge, followed by Building Credibility, Developing Insight and concluding with Sharing Wisdom in close proximity to Acquiring Knowledge. Over the past 9 years of talking about this view of a career I began to view these phases as applicable to both a career and a project.
Acquiring Knowledge
This phase of a career typically begins with an architectural education and extends several years into the early professional experiences of a young architect or engineer in training. This experience can be self directed, or deliberately orchestrated to expose an AIT/EIT to a variety of market sectors, project types, design phases and construction activities.
Knowledge is also acquired by all team members during the initial phases of a project. This might be in the form of site data, program information, project delivery method and project schedule, but also getting to know the client and learning the strengths and weaknesses of the team.
Building Credibility
This phase typically emerges on a job site or in a client meeting as an AIT/EIT or young project manager is no longer viewed as the neophyte and begins to be viewed as the person actively managing the project, answering questions and aiding the team in making decisions. You know when you have built credibility with the design team, client or contractor when the senior project manager or principal in charge no longer attends weekly meetings. A key part of this phase of a career is knowing when not to answer a question in the field, but to gather more information in the job trailer, back in the office, or from other team members before responding to an RFI. Facilitating timely, but thoughtful responses can be more important than making quick, but flawed decisions during this phase of a career.
Credibility is built during a project in much the same way. As questions emerge during the design process, the person who conducts the extra level of research, and provides the client, design team or construction manager with the information needed to make good decisions is viewed as the “go-to” person for the project. It is important for project managers to delegate a portion of the work to AIT’s/EIT’s who are still acquiring knowledge in order to aid in their growth as future project managers. It is also important to acknowledge the contributions of other team members in front of clients, contractors, building officials and others in order to build the credibility of each team member over time,
Developing Insight
Although it is possible to remain in the “Building Credibility” phase of a career, and to focus on being the best “go-to” team member, I have found that it can be an exhausting role with an intensity level that is difficult to sustain. As an architect or engineer matures, the cumulative collection of issues that arise on a given project or collection of projects result in opportunities to say– “If I had to do it all over I would…” “The next time I would…” We have all had “ah ha” moments after struggling with an issue when we suddenly see the project differently and a better solution emerges. These insights grow from the years of experience managing projects, personalities, budgets and construction issues. Although it may seem solipsistic, developing insight requires a senior architect or engineer to develop insight. This phase of a career cannot be achieved by accident; it requires a conscious effort to look critically at each decision made, and to assess the impact of those decisions on the project as a whole.
20 years ago I sat on a design jury with Thom Mayne of Morphosis. Although Morphosis was known for creating avant garde design’s, Mr. Mayne’s advice to the young student was rather ordinary– to not include anything which was not integral to the design, or it would certainly be value-engineered out of the project. Although I participated in that jury, I recently allowed exterior shading devices to be dropped from a project by first identifying them early on as a potential additive alternate and secondly not assuring that they were viewed as a critical part of the design by the client and construction manager. Although I had participated in the advice shared with a student 20 years ago, I did not develop the insight until 6 months ago.
As we move through the “developing insight” phase of a career these moments occur more frequently, and prepare us for opportunities to share our wisdom.
Sharing Wisdom
Developing insights and filing them away in a personal email is not nearly as rewarding as sharing what you have learned with others. It is important to share the insights developed with team members during weekly meetings, quality assurance/ quality control reviews and project post mortem’s. In general, team members who are sharing wisdom tend to be principals-in-charge, but constantly changing technology allows younger team members to share their knowledge and wisdom with more senior team members and to jointly apply that wisdom to the design and construction of buildings.
Ideally every design team would include team members at each phase of a career and they would sit in close proximity to one another. The young AIT/EIT would be acquiring knowledge from team members actively developing insight and sharing wisdom. Project managers would build credibility first with other team members before demonstrating their capabilities with clients, construction managers and building officials.
Imagine an open office seating chart that worked like the folds of our brain—each discipline would have a team acquiring knowledge, building credibility, developing insight and sharing wisdom resulting in an overlap between architecture, interiors, civil, landscape, structural, mechanical, plumbing and electrical teams each acquiring knowledge, building credibility, developing insight and sharing wisdom. Although a loose association between disciplines rather than a departmental model may be a challenge to some, I believe that the cross-fertilization that would occur would lead to exceptional professional development during all phases of a career.
Big Picture/MET