This issue of the Practice Management Digest focuses on the past
and future in presenting practice management ideas and tools.
Featuring ideas and tools from the past, we are presenting
select writings from presentations made this past May at the
National AIA Convention in Boston. With regard to the future, we
present ideas and knowledge to be elaborated on in future Practice
Management webinars.
Practice Management covers the practice of architecture from
Human Resources, to Business Development; from Concept Design to
Construction Administration. The selections in this issue
demonstrate the diversity of expertise required to manage an
architectural practice.
Jack Reigle, who ran a 4-hour Quality Management workshop with
John Broomfield and Cliff Moser, writes about "Measuring and Managing Quality and
Performance at the Firm Level: The Quest for Business
Intelligence."
Jennifer Masengarb writes about teaching high school students
about architecture in "Not Your Grandfather's Drafting Class:
Transforming High School Architectural Education."
Tim Hemsath writes about his experience in sustainability in "Multigenerational Leadership Roles for
Architects: Design, Sustainability and Leadership in Local and
Regional Communities."
Meg Brown and Cliff Moser write about four generations in the
workplace and the attendant challenges in "Tethered Millennials: Training the Net
Generation."
Yolanda Cole writes about design in her presentation, "The Value Proposition: Moving the Profession
from Best Value to Added Value."
Also included in this issue is the preface to The Power of Design, the
new book by Dr. Richard Farson. Dr. Farson operates the
Western Behavioral Sciences Institute, founded in 1958 as an
independent, nonprofit organization devoted to research, education
and advanced study in human affairs. He was the founding dean of
the School of Design at the California Institute of the Arts, and a
30-year member of the Board of Directors of the International
Design Conference in Aspen, of which he was president for seven
years. In 1999 he was elected as the one non-architect Public
Director to the national Board of Directors of the American
Institute of Architects.
For the future tools and ideas portion of this issue, we feature
articles written by authors who come from outside of the world of
architecture. Dr. Laurence Prusak is the founder and director
of the Institute for Knowledge Management, a global consortium of
business organizations engaged in advancing the practice of
knowledge management through action research.
Larry has been studying knowledge and learning in organizations
for the past two decades. He has extensive experience, both within
the U.S. and internationally, in helping organizations manage their
information and knowledge resources. He has written several books,
such as Working Knowledge and Information Ecology.
Larry's article is entitled "About Knowledge Management."
A catalyst with Profero, Inc., Tony Manos provides professional
consulting services to organizations focusing on implementing Lean
Enterprise. Tony is trained and certified by the National Institute
for Standards and Technology (NIST), U.S. Department of Commerce,
in all elements of Lean. Relying on his diverse knowledge of
business and creative techniques and applications, he assists
clients of all types and sizes in the implementation of Lean
Enterprise. His article in this issue is entitled "The Eight Wastes That Are Stealing Your Time,
Energy, Effort and Money."
Additionally, with this issue we present a new feature, the
Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) corner. This will be a featured
IPD article in each issue intended to help firms understand the
promise and challenge of Integrated Practice. This month's feature
is entitled "Integrated Project Delivery and the Fully
Engaged Emerging Professional," and is written by Zigmund
Rubel.
