Project Management from Afar
Thoughts & writings
Project Management from Afar
One of ThoughtCraft’s leaders, Chris Johns, spoke at a conference session through BuildingEnergy Boston 2021. Joined by the session’s collaborators, Tia Garcia, Matt Genaze, Meghan Hawkins, and Seanna Walsh, they hosted Project Management from Afar. As a group they discussed strategies, pitfalls, and tools to help aid someone tackling distanced management for the first time.
The Rising Trend of Remote Management
Project management from a remote location would have been an unfamiliar concept to many prior to the onset of COVID-19 in March of 2020. “Afar” can have different definitions, with some projects involving a client we have never met in person and a site we will never set foot on. Distanced management can be across oceans, or an hour drive away with the same principles and practices applied.
The concept of remote management is familiar to us as a means of completing projects. From our Boston office, we have completed projects in San Diego, CA, Nashville, TN, Folly Beach, SC, and Ontario. This past year has accelerated the industry’s reliance on remote management out of necessity and this approach provides some significant benefits. For instance, potential clients and projects that were previously not served are more possible now, the overhead of a project can be reduced to make the fees more possible, and clients that request minimal Construction Phase services can still execute projects.
Necessity for Change
The state of the industry has been slow to innovate in several aspects of operations. Sustainability, BIM, and alternative building assemblies and materials have been met with slow adoption rates into the AEC processes. Meanwhile, all have provided immense opportunities for increased innovation or productivity. It is our responsibility as an industry to innovate and provide additional value to our clients and project teams- at home and from afar.
Furthermore as we strive to minimize our impact on the planet, managing projects from a distance can greatly limit the travel to and from projects both domestically and internationally. This can significantly reduce a project’s carbon footprint throughout the execution of design and construction.
The Challenges
Executing project management from afar presents its own challenges not unlike those that arise throughout the traditional approach. Most problems can be attributed to poor communication, poor organization, and poor preparation. The additional issues stem from the new systems that will need to be established: implementing new technology, building in systems of accountability and communication, and how a project is documented and tracked during construction. Depending on the scale and sector your project fits in, these approaches will need to adjust accordingly.
Finding (Early) Success
Finding success in the construction administration phase of a project is largely dependent on the work you do well before the project breaks ground, even as early as the pre-design phase. The project should make sense for your firm to take on, both from a project typology standpoint and if you believe the client would be a good fit for your firm and team. Determine what their expectations are and try to gain mutual trust and rapport. At this stage, it is best to establish a communication method with them that will persist throughout the project’s lifespan.
Once the project is determined to be feasible, setting up a project tracking process is crucial. Build in time for setbacks or unforeseen miscommunication that will inevitably arise and sometimes be magnified through the process of remote management. Setting expectations and identifying key moments throughout the process should mitigate most surprises. Establishing new forms of technology and platforms for communication early on in the process should allow all team members to familiarize themselves with the tools for effective dialogues later on.
Beyond the communication tools you need to implement, form a team that has experience with remote management or has uniquely considered methods of project management beyond a typical in-person project. Their approach to remote project management should be similar to your own. Are they comfortable with limited site visits, has their fee adapted to a remote project management style, do their technological capabilities sync up with yours? At this point, you should determine if a local representative should be an active participant in the project for more frequent site visits.
Design for the Site
Depending on the location and budget of the project, make the effort to visit the site in person at least once. This experience could be extremely valuable depending on the project type and site, although any project would benefit. Designing a project for a different location relies on the climate and construction methods and processes of the local region. Researching the climate considerations and taking your time to understand how the site differs from your typical projects is crucial. Establishing a local connection through the building department, contractor or local professional can save you time and help you navigate the local practices.
The main thing to consider is the region you are designing in. Similar to a project near you, the project design should be responsive to the context of the region it belongs to. With distance, and lack of understanding, it can be easy to create generic architecture that does not have a sense of place.
Design is Communication
As previously mentioned, communication is key for finding success through remote project management. Establishing a weekly Monday morning email with the completed project scope from the previous week as well as outlining the projected work for the week ahead can minimize extraneous communication. Indicating line items that need client input clearly establishes what they need to keep top of mind. With managing clients, it is best to set clear expectations and continually educate them on the process. Walking clients through previous projects managed from afar or setting them up with past clients can help orient them to the process.
Communication transcends just client understanding. Coordinating with your contractor, consultants and internal team needs to be well established too. With a remote management style things can easily get overlooked. Reviewing critical design elements either through a recorded meeting session, physical models or doing live walk throughs can save time and money later on. The digital communication platform can make the process feel distant for clients and team members. Using digital drawing tools to either sketch ideas or mark over drawing sets can mimic the experience of visiting an architecture office. Using virtual walkthroughs or choreographing videos through the house can connect clients to the reality of their undertaking.
The Technical Considerations
Visual communication through a well-documented construction drawing set is just as important as verbal communication. Working with new contractors requires more detailed drawings and explicit notations for critical design elements. Getting creative with the means in which the design is presented can also be helpful. Modeling 3-D views or taking screen grabs from a modeling tool can help convey assemblies that would be more difficult to explain on site or through digital communication tools.
Prefabrication can be a good method for construction in this format of management both for small and large scale projects. Planning can occur ahead of time and executed from any location. Prefab can limit the construction time and number of trades involved which equates to less site observation time. Careful consideration into the local conditions, and distance from the prefab manufacturer should influence this decision.
The Construction Process and Beyond
Although more commonplace in large projects, a Kick-Off Meeting should occur for any project managed from afar. Weekly held meetings should also be implemented to maintain consistent communication across teams. The OAC (Owner-Architect-Contractor) meetings can occur for smaller projects too, depending on the level of involvement the client requests.
Another helpful tool throughout this process is a CA plan- a document used in lieu of consistent site visits. The outline indicates critical project milestones with checkpoints for the general contractor to complete. The outlined list of items that need to be documented and sent over to the architect in the form of photos and videos awaits final approval before the GC can proceed with the work. Using several documentation methods aids in the management and understanding of a project. Drones, scanning services, and time-lapse cameras are all ways in which the ‘distance’ to a project can be minimized.