Learning from Mistakes

Learning from Mistakes

Much of what we do as building professionals has to do with this month's ArchiTalk subject.  As a code/regulations and quality control person in the office, most of my personal experience as it relates to reviewing construction documents has to do with how I or someone I know may have been burned in the past.  But as an office, we have a collective experience that can surely help us make good projects even better in the future.

The Project Autopsy

Case in point, I had a meeting on my calendar today listed as "Lessons Learned on XYZ Project".  Again, this was a job that went pretty well.  But when was the last time you said, " the construction of that last job could not have gone ANY better"?  Of course you haven't.  Things can always be better.  This was a fairly small job, though complex.  It dealt with a lot of high profile areas at the main entry, and had to be completed during the summer - about two months.  So the schedule was aggressive. 

The meeting consisted of the quality control personnel, the construction administrator, the design team (project architect, interior designer and Revit drafter), interiors partner and the specifications writer.  A total of eight people in a room discussed what could have been done differently to have been more successful than the project already had been.  That is a fair investment of staff hours on a pretty small job that for the most part went pretty well.

Some of the topics discussed included:

• Long Lead Items on Short Schedules
• Specific Details on One of a Kind Details
• Demolition Notes
• Existing Conditions
• Door Hardware on Aluminum Storefront
• Utilizing Technical Representatives from Manufacturers
• Specifying Finishes in Publicly Bid Work

Some of these topics are so specific, that they may never be applicable to any other job we do.  However, a few of the items will go on the Quality Control Checklist that we maintain.  There are a few items that are already on the checklist that will be repeated for the benefit of the staff's memory.

Regardless of the size of one's practice, having a procedure to do a postmortem on even successful jobs is a great way to strive for improvement for your next challenge.  While most projects are unique, there are often opportunists to apply what you've learned to other situations.

This post is part of the ArchiTalks series where a group of us (architects who also blog) all post on the same day and promote each other’s blogs. This month’s theme is "Learning from Mistakes" and was led by Steve Ramos.  A lot of other talented writers who also are architects are listed below and are worth checking out:

Lee Calisti, AIA - Think Architect (@LeeCalisti)
some kind of mistake
Lora Teagarden - L² Design, LLC (@L2DesignLLC)
Learning from mistakes in architecture
Eric T. Faulkner - Rock Talk (@wishingrockhome)
Archi-scar - That Will Leave a Mark!
Michele Grace Hottel - Michele Grace Hottel, Architect (@mghottel)
"Learning from Mistakes..."
Brian Paletz - The Emerging Architect (@bpaletz)
Forgotten Mistakes
Jeffrey Pelletier - Board & Vellum (@boardandvellum)
Are Architects Experts?
Keith Palma - Architect's Trace (@cogitatedesign)
A, B, C, D, E...
Mark Stephens - Mark Stephens Architects (@architectmark)
Learning from mistakes
Steve Mouzon - The Original Green Blog (@stevemouzon)
How Living Traditions Learn From Mistakes

Fresh Eyes

The start of school, the approach of Fall, that says one thing to me.

I help review drawings before they go out for pricing, bidding or permitting.  I like the fact that I get to contribute to nearly all of our work in this way.  It does come with its challenges though.  While I ordinarily look at parts of the projects in the early stages, I don’t always have a full understanding of all the projects until I see them in their almost 100% complete form.  I have, depending on project size, only a day or up to a few days to really learn all I can about the project.  It is a challenge, but I look at it as a dry run for the permitting process, where a plan reviewer only has a limited amount of time to understand the entire building prior to issuing a building permit.  Things that may be taken for granted by the design team may not be clear to someone looking at it "with fresh eyes".  Sometimes you can look at certain things for so long, you don't take notice of them any longer.

I invariably uncover some things that might be able to be shown a little clearer for the contractor or the plan reviewer.  I am a firm believer that if you are intending to use an exception in the Code, write it down.  Not only does it clear any questions up for the next set of eyes to look at the job, but it becomes a record for the design team to remind them of the conditions of the exception.  Other times, I uncover a mystery that not even the design team picked up.  Recently I was reviewing a large set of drawings, nearly 300 pages, soup to nuts.  I had been through all of the architectural, food service, structural, mechanical and plumbing drawings already.  After three days of nearly constant review, I had gotten to the electrical apartment unit plans, nearly the last things I would see.  All of a sudden, I looked up and said, “Ooohhh, are all these apartment unit plans named after apples?”

 

Name that apple!

The design team working on this project happened to be sitting right where I was reviewing the drawings.  They all looked up and cocked their heads, as if they were trying to do long division in their heads.  After months of working on these apartments, it had never dawned on them.  Granted, they are not all traditional names we may think of for apple varieties, but some are.  At first the names made me think more about New York, although the project is located in Virginia, which I didn’t think was known for growing apples.

Empire, Rome, Cortland, Braeburn, Cameo...  I think many of us have heard of these.  Baldwin, Breeze, Liberty...  these were varieties I was not previously aware of.

I saw this one at a local farmer's stand.  I want to live in the Rambo apartment!

Sometimes it just takes a fresh pair of eyes.