Line Meets Curve

At least, some would have the consumer to  believe that there aren’t that many things to consider in making sure that their residential home construction or addition project goes smoothly.  Actually, this Homebuilder FAQ page for the consumer has some good points…and a few that can bring a smile as well.

•  How do I choose a builder? - Get someone you trust.  Ask your potential builder tough questions (though they don’t say what those questions should be).
• Competitive bidding is inherently flawed. - So, if getting bids isn’t a good idea, what should the consumer do?  Quoting:  “If you find a good builder whom you can trust, and he or she has a reputation for pleasing clients, being efficient and fair on pricing, this is the builder you probably want.”  Sounds easy enough.
• Cost Plus or Fixed Price? - In one place on the page, this quote:  “A cost plus job creates more of a team atmosphere. In general, a cost plus contract will cost you more money, but you will have a better quality job.”  and in another:  “So expect it! If you are on a time and materials contract you are vulnerable to overruns caused by poor estimating by the builder or changes in material costs.”  and “As soon as you get a good price, lock it in.”  I think most owners would like to have a cost plus with a locked in maximum…but find a builder who’ll do it.
• How can I minimize problems? - Partial answer quoted:  “The first step is to understand that all construction problems can be reduced to issues of money or communication. Money. Either your money or the builder’s. Either the builder’s or his subcontractor’s.”  Money and communication seems to be the center of the matter.  I noted that never on the page did I see fire the project manager.

Actually, there is a great deal of good information on the page for the residential consumer that we might wish the commercial project owner would read as well.

Just when we think managing a complex construction project has become almost impossible, a new problem crops up.  It could be the weather, or it could be a materials shortage, or perhaps some difficulty in getting materials to the site.  Maybe our contract personnel are grousing about the remote location, and their drive times and gas consumption involved in getting there every day.

Well, why don’t you just bookmark this link to a video about a construction job in the Antarctic to help you to refocus and appreciate the things about your project that are actually not that bad.   With only about four months of available work time, during the arctic summer, it doesn’t seem so bad if you’re getting rained out a few days every month.  Talk about pressure for staying on schedule!  A delay of a week could put the entire project completion late by an entire year.

We can also appreciate the milder wear and tear on our equipment, as well as the ability to get a part or mechanic on site in less than a couple of weeks.   The video speaks to the type of problems this project manager faces, with the failure of a crane to start being a huge calamity.  It’s enough just to think about the harsh temperatures this equipment must endure, but there isn’t a spare one in town to rent when there’s a problem.

The next time you’re lamenting the problems of the day, just remember that your project could be in Antarctica, and it should help to ease the pain.  Or, you could really have fouled up a project, such as building a hospital at a lower elevation than the reservoir supplying its water.   See, you just think you’re having a bad day.

It might be easy to take offense to the fact that there is a “Dummies” book for project management.  And, it’s quite possible that some project managers have been called “dummies” by those who obviously do not understand the complexities of the job.

In a blog post at The Art of Project Management,  we could possibly take offense as well to the tongue-in-cheek comment “After all  there is probably no profession beside air guitarist that competes with the ease and overpayment of  project management.”

However, the author of the post offers a solution, and claims “Instead, I’m gonna let you in on a really big secret.  It’s better than project management for dummies, better than project management in 10 minutes, heck it’s even better than project management for anencephalitics”  Basically, it’s a recipe for making your own zombie project employees.

Wait!   Don’t throw it out yet.  Think of the possibilities.  A totally mindless being who does exactly as we instruct, without second-guessing or argument.  They require little care and feeding, and, since they’re dead already, we should have little concern about on-the-job accidents or injury.

Then there is the total lack of concern for them arriving on time for work, as we’ll just warehouse them in a storage building every evening, letting them out each morning for work.  Now remember, we’re talking about easing our burdens as project managers.  After all, volumes have been written about the people skills necessary for this work.  And, more volumes are out there about communication skills and dealing with conflict.  None of that is necessary with our Zombie workers.

Oh yeah, and they don’t require a paycheck either.  Ah, the perfect solution.

In my previous post, I placed a short sample video done from the hood of my truck.  We want to do frequent video reports of job progress, problems, congratulations and instructions, but it must be easy and inexpensive.  I’ll explain the tools I used here, and how it is done, taking very little time or money.

First, we’ll look at the camera.  Not only is The Flip an amazingly simple video camera to use, it comes with onboard software that will take your video segments, meld them into one, and send them up to your project YouTube account with one click.

Just take your video on the job, holding the camera in your hand, or using the tiny tripod.  Videos are high quality 640 x 480 format, and you get good motion quality if you move the camera slowly.  On the tripod you get the best rendition.

It’s called The Flip because, when you come back to the computer, a button on the side pops out a USB connector for the computer…no cables.  When you connect it to a USB port, the onboard software starts, let’s you view your segments, select those you want, and it produces a video.  You can save it to your computer, but the really great feature is the one-click upload to YouTube.  You can even designate that it be private to keep the video from being viewed by the public on YouTube.

When you return to the computer, home or office, you just connect and upload to YouTube.  Take the “embed code” given to you by YouTube, and use that for your external widget.  The instructions in Tangentworks 550 are easy for dropping in the code, and that part of the process will take about two minutes.  The processing of the video on your computer, and upload time to YouTube, will depend on video length, but you can do paperwork or other tasks while it’s doing the work.  Your actual time in making it happen is less than ten minutes.

Think for about five minutes, and I’ll bet you can come up with a dozen other uses for this video solution.  Check out all the specs on TheFlip.com, but you can buy it at a better price on Amazon.com, camera and tripod for about $132 total.

Tangentworks 550 allows the SkyView Page to display “external widgets.”  These widgets can be used to show everything from a weather report to a map of how to get to the job site.  Another use of a widget is a video report to the construction job participants about the current status of the project, or any portion of it.

The image is of the widget box as it is displayed on your SkyView Page, and you can click on it to view the video on that page.  Here, you’ll view it on YouTube.  Your participants will not need to view it on YouTube, and you can label it there as private as well.  This will preclude the public from viewing it.  Your job personnel will see the video on the SkyView page in a widget box.  In my next post, I’ll show you how it’s done in a few short minutes, with very inexpensive technology, and free video hosting.

What could you use this for?

• You’re the PM, and every day you check job status at the end of the day.  You find some things that you like, and would like to say something good to the crew or person responsible.
•  Something needs to be addressed tomorrow, and it is easier to explain if they can see the problem or situation first-hand.
• You want to report on the overall progress of a certain job phase or building module.
• A quick rundown of what you expect for tomorrow would be easier done with video available to all participants.

How many times have you had to call or email three different contractors or personnel about a situation, attaching a photo if available, and explaining what you need done?  Did the message get mis-interpreted, or were there problems with delivery?  Would it have been better if they were standing there with you?  They could be via video.

Visualize pointing to a mis-routed water pipe and giving instructions on how it needs to be corrected.  Or, on a more positive note, standing in front of a newly-completed marble counter and congratulating the counter crew on the quality.

In the next post I’ll show you the equipment I used (Under $150 cost), and how I spent less than ten minutes of my time in getting it uploaded and displayed on the Skyview page.

Project Managers, well into a difficult construction job, can begin to feel a little under-appreciated.  There are a lot of demands, some disputes, and not much praise for the PM.  Here’s a story about a pet store to cheer you up.

A man walked into a pet store looking for a dog.  He was walking through the cages checking out the choices and their prices.  He hears someone come in and ask for an “A” dog.  The proprietor tells them they’re in luck, as there’s only one left.  The shop owner takes one out of a cage and charges the man $5000.

Our customer is really taken aback, asking the owner what made that dog worth the huge price.  The pet shop proprietor says “He’s an Architect Dog.  He can actually use a computer to draw plans in a CAD program.”

Well, still looking through the choices, the customer finds a dog with a tag labeled “E” dog, and it is priced at $10,000!  “What’s this one all about?” he asks.  The owner says “That is an Engineer Dog.  She can solve almost any structural problem.”

Thinking that he’d seen just about everything, the customer was absolutely amazed to see a dog labeled “P” Dog, and the whopping price on this one was $50,000!   He couldn’t hide his shock in asking the proprietor why the ridiculous price.  The owner replied “Though I haven’t actually seen him do anything yet, I’m told he’s a Project Manager Dog.”

Just remember that value is in the eye of the beholder.

In a blog post entitled Project Management - Common Sense or Clever Science?, the post’s author talks of new degree programs in Britain for Project Management.  There are several schools, including Oxford Brookes University, offering specialized education in project management.

Then the post asks the questions:  “What impact will such courses have on the discipline?”  A commenter replies with “I am one of those believing that the quality of Project Managers will definitely degrade because of the current hatching process in producing them (degrees, why would you ever need a degree in PM).  Project management is all about communication and conflict management, and in my opinion, there’s no better place to learn these things than work…”

Debate can surely come about on the question of whether degrees are appropriate or necessary for PM.  However, the “communication and conflict management” quote is interesting.  How can a project manager communicate effectively with an architect, engineer or contractor if they don’t have some basic knowledge in their fields of expertise?

Perhaps more education, if it increased this area-specific knowledge, would greatly enhance the communication aspect of the job.  That, in turn, might reduce the “conflict resolution” requirement.

It’s hard to believe that a really effective Project Manager wouldn’t have a great deal of knowledge about each trade and profession involved.  Knowing how each one’s work output impacts that of others is critical, IMHO.  If you have no idea of what the framer must have completed before the electrician or plumber comes in, how can you communicate well with either, much less maintain scheduling and quality output?

The post mentions the “growing need” for project management professionals.  Along with a need for quantity, there is a critical requirement for quality competency.  It does seem probable that the education required to turn out quality PM people for today’s complex construction jobs would be a body of material that merits a degree program in any university.

If you’re an architect, engineer or contractor, you’ve likely experienced a dispute or two on projects in the past.  If not, please become a contributor here, or actually get out participate in a project or two.

In an article discussing the increase in the use of dispute resolution services, the author sets out som obvious points and concerns:

• Disputes increase in more competitive markets.
• Contractors sometimes ignore clauses that bother them in order to get the job.
• Owners rely too much on job specifications and plans without adequate schedules and progress checks.
• When disputes arise, fairness on both sides is the best approach.

Nothing in those points that is likely to cause debate.  The item that is of most interest to me is the statement that owners lack adequate schedules and progress checks.  I doubt that there are many projects in play today that have no schedule for phase completion, if for no other reason than to facilitate progress payments or draws.

It is more likely that the schedules set forth in the contract documents and specifications are unrealistic, or not flexible enough for the expected issues that are bound to crop up and cause small delays.  The compounding, or domino effect takes over, and the project can become seriously behind schedule.

The article states that regular updating of the schedule is as important as its initial development.  Both owners and contractors should review and adjust schedules as the job progresses.  If delays are unavoidable, at least the parties involved should identify them early and minimize negative results.

Of course, a comprehensive project collaboration platform will aid in these efforts.  Actually, the article recommended monthly schedule analysis and adjustments.  That seems a bit of a long stretch, and an online project management solution, properly implemented, would bring problems to light much more quickly, perhaps becoming an ongoing and daily adjustment tool.

photo credit: ben pollard

A story told by a marketing person helps to illustrate how we all approach problem solving in different ways.  It could be due to our education, specific job training, attitude, or just our basic nature.  It’s fun sometimes to see how a diverse group would solve a problem.

• Taking a church tower and a group of professionals, the problem was to determine the height of the tower using only a barometer.  Each person approached the measurement calculation from their own experience and perspective:
• The Engineer - climbed to the top of the tower, dropped the barometer, and timed it’s descent to work out the height calculation.
• The Physicist - took barometer readings at the top of the tower, and again at ground level to come up with the height based on air pressure changes with altitude.
• The Architect - took a ball of string, lowered the barometer from the top to the ground, and then measured the string.
• The Surveyor - measuring the shadow cast by both the barometer and the tower, took the ration and calculated the tower height based on the barometer height.
• The Marketing Person - searched around the church until she found the Sexton, and stated:  “I’ll give you this barometer if you’ll tell me the height of the church tower.”

Was any one of these professionals more correct than the others?  Probably not.  And none were really smarter than all the others either.  When we’re managing projects, especially as they become more complex, it helps to remember that there rarely is only one way to solve a problem or accomplish a task.  Letting the people involved do it their way is sometimes the best way.

If you’ve had no trouble getting the best talent, be it architectural, engineering, or construction, then you should comment here and let us all benefit from your skill and good fortune.  If you’ve experienced difficulty with staffing in any area of AEC, then you might have an interest in a study done in the UK that states “Flexible working is becoming a key weapon in the fight to attract and retain staff.”

A design and engineering consultancy commissioned the survey.  The survey results clearly indicated, according ot 71% of respondents, that offering flexible working benefits is increasing in importance for the retention of quality staff.  Work-life balance is mentioned.  It isn’t unreasonable to find that the best architects, engineers, project managers, and construction trades people all want to better utilize their time and spend more quality time with family or in personal pursuits

Helping our building project stake holders to gain more control of their time, with the attendant improved work-life balance, should be of interest to those wishing to attract and retain the very best.  There can be a number of approaches to work flexibility, and all of them will require better communication and project information exchange.  After all, the electrician can’t gain time flexibility unless the progress of the framer is known.  The architect can’t go home at a decent hour if the day’s important project information is late in arriving.  And none of the participants can make better use of their time and resources if we do not improve the flow of information and documents.

Implementation of an online project management solution, with all participants able to easily upload the latest documents, images and data is a major first step.  When all involved are able to view status in real time, decisions are made sooner, schedules are easily changed, and everyone’s time is more efficiently utilized.  Providing the flexibility to achieve better time management is a definite benefit.