Letter from the Editor
By Donald Simpson, AIA, LEED® AP

This issue of the Practice Management Digest focuses on the issues of Integrated project delivery and Quality Management. Anyone who has worked in management for a number of years at an Architectural Firm is probably familiar with the frustration that comes from spending lots of time and money on a new technology only to find that it is not producing the productivity gains promised or expected...Continue Reading

Transforming Keys to Lowering Cost, Cutting Waste, and Driving Change in a Broken Industry – Key 5: “Big” BIM
By Rex Miller, Dean Strombom, Mark Iammarino, and Bill Black
From the book - The Commercial Real Estate Revolution – 2009, Wiley

In their powerful book “The Commercial Real Estate Revolution – Nine Transforming Keys to Lowering Cost, Cutting Waste, and Driving Change in a Broken Industry” (published by John Wiley & Sons), the authors outline a radical “mind-shift” that is needed to change the entire process of getting projects designed and built which would result in better quality, lower cost, and improved long term performance.  They define nine transformational Keys to making the process work.  Author Rex Miller graciously provided us with Chapter 10 of the book which outlines...Continue Reading

Engineering Company Spawns Integrated Intern Development Program
By JT Long

A successful shift to truly integrated project delivery requires starting at the beginning. That is why a pilot internship program launched last year by San Francisco-based structural engineering company Forell/Els esser Engineers required student-employees to spend time with the owner, architects, engineers and contractors, moving from company to company to get a well-rounded view of the goals and challenges of each project participant. "At industry events, we have been talking about this for a long time, but the academic curriculum is still silo-based," says Simin Naaseh, Forell/Elsesser president and CEO. "If anything, studies are getting more specialized and that doesn't help with the shared model we are trying to create in the field."... Continue Reading

Why We No Longer ‘Stamp’ Shop Drawings At Leo A Daly
By Dale L. Munhall, AIA

Yes, Leo A Daly has retired this venerable old artifact of our industry—even though architects have traditionally ‘stamped’ shop drawings for generations. But bear with me here. Let’s step outside the traditional box for a moment to ask ourselves why architects ever stamped contractors’ submittals in the first place—and, more importantly, ask ourselves why, in the modern world, would we keep on doing it? Shop drawings, as we all know, are NOT part of the Construction Contract Documents... Continue Reading


Preview of the American Society for Quality – World Conference on Quality and Improvement (ASQ WCQI)
May 24-26 St. Louis
By Cliff Moser, AIA, MSQA, LEED® AP

The American Society for Quality is organization which focuses on standards, certification, and knowledge transfer for Quality professionals within all industries. In addition to providing support to quality professionals in the manufacturing and automotive industries, ASQ supports Quality in professional service industries like design and construction...Continue Reading

Integrating the New Complexities of LEED® – Slicing and Dicing the Growing LEED Menu
By Brian Palmquist, MAIBC, MRAIC, BEP, CP, LEED® AP

Between 1993, when the LEED system was introduced by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), and 2004, when the Canadian LEED program was introduced by the Canadian Green Building Council (CaGBC), Canadian projects looking for LEED certification were registered with the USGBC, and Canadians studied the USGBC Reference Guide and wrote the USGBC exam. During this period ... Continue Reading

Health, Safety, and Welfare: The Social Responsibility of Construction Quality Assurance
By Danny L. Kahler, PE, PTOE

In some states, Architects and Engineers (A/E) are required by Statute to assume direct responsibility for the quality assurance of construction projects that are important to the public health, safety, and welfare (HSW). Usually these are public projects such as highways and schools, or private projects that the public will occupy, such as schools, hospitals, and sports complexes. The intent of these Statutes is usually that an Architect or Engineer, licensed in that State, will certify that the project was constructed according to the approved plans and specifications. In some states...Continue Reading

Is Lean the New Green?
By Cliff Moser, MSQA, AIA, LEED® AP

The business philosophy and processes known as Lean has evolved since being described in Jim Womack and Dan Jones’ books of the 1990s –The Machine the Changed the World, and Lean Thinking. For one thing, the mythic Lean originator and Goliath, Toyota (who built Lean into a global business paradigm shift through its Toyota Production System (TPS)), has stumbled. Beyond the schadenfreude that that has accompanied the world’s judgment of the great Lean leader’s misfortune, global business communities have demonstrated...Continue Reading


Upcoming Events

Reserve the Date! – November 2-5, 2010
AIA Practice management KC and AIA Minnesota combined Conference. More information will be provided as the details are finalized