The Business of Design

Category: strategy

  • How to Educate the Perfect Design Student

    ArchDaily had posted another question: What do you wish you had learned in Design School? [And since I had first drafted this, they posted their article based on the comments they received: What Should Architecture Schools Teach Us? ArchDaily Readers Respond] Accredited design programs really are in a tough spot when it comes to preparing professionals. They…

  • Engineers Are Good With Numbers Until…

    Conversation #2 of my 100 Conversations had a structural engineer state that a focus of his ponderings related to “Engineers are good with numbers until you put a dollar sign in front of them.” This certainly doesn’t only apply to engineers. The reality is that most people who are closer to the beginning of their careers are focusing…

  • Know What Not To Do: Part 3

    We can’t know everything. When we actively manage our ‘knowledge deficits’, we invite others in to help us and spur our own initiative.

  • Know What NOT to Do: Part 2

    In our management of unknowns and our ‘knowledge gap’, we need to understand what is within our control and what is not. That allows us to invite help.

  • Raise the Profile of our Profession!

    We have the power to raise the visibility of our profession. It just involves: ‘like’, ‘share’, ‘retweet’, “repin” and so on…

  • Know What NOT to Do: Part 1

    Within our work, unknowns often result in uncertainty to scope, schedule or budget. Unless controlled properly, they will result in a reduction to project profitability.

  • Managed Expectations = Success

    Essential to project management is establishing clear expectations, recognizing that expectations will need to change, and having a system in place to actively manage them.

  • The Power of Being Heard

    The Importance of Asking the Right Question Questions serve many purposes, but for the sake of this post I focus on asking questions with the goal of understanding a situation and the needs and wants of the people within it. For the purpose of a concrete example, let’s say we’re tasked with understanding people’s thoughts on the development of a…

  • How to Build Mutual Accountability

    The only real accountability is that which we enforce on ourselves. In order to internalize accountability, we have to be a meaningful part of the process.

  • Understanding the Secret Value of Value

    When we are subconsultants, we are aware of our place within the world. Site design and landscape often aren’t the highest focus of attention within a project. We’ve developed approaches and skills where we try our best to deliver high value, even in the face of a lack of engagement or sub-optimal processes. We operate at…