The Bones of a Process
“Before we part,” said Stuart, returning from the bar with another round of drinks after their group resolution to co-design a scalable project management system, “We need to agree on the bones of a design process that will keep us on track throughout our adventure.”
“Oh-oh,” added Martin, “Asking six architects about design process could derail us for a year! We’ve got to keep it simple if we want to make progress.”
“Agreed,” said Lawrence. “I nominate the classic cycle articulated by Deming[1], Plan, Do, Check, Act.” Everyone groaned. Lawrence carried on anyway, “Seriously, Deming distilled the quality-based project management process into just those four key steps—how could it be any simpler.”
Martin interjected, “Lawrence, I’m familiar with Deming’s PDCA. For me, the problem with those words is they are too bland, too vanilla. Just like the Bible, entire books have been written about what each word means, and many debates have ensued. Also, Deming was trying to cover all processes in any industry. Can’t we think of anything closer to just what we do?”
A brief silence ensued while the group took this in. Mary picked up the thread. “I like the first word, Plan. That’s a key design and construction term we are all familiar with.”
“Agreed,” said Stuart, “But Plan also has a lot of baggage for us, like “Planning department”, “site plan”, etc. Plan may carry assumptions that we already have concepts to plan with. Our discussions about co-designing a project management process are starting at a more basic level. We’re still at the stage of preparing for our design.”
“I agree,” chimed in Sara, “We’re still just preparing for the co-design process. Instead of Plan, how about Prepare? It encompasses Plan without the design baggage.” There were no objections raised.
“Moving on,” continued Sara, “Once we reconvene in a week, each of us with some preparatory thoughts, we’ll need to start analyzing our thinking to see what we have and what we’re still missing.” There were nods around the table. “So, to keep it simple,” Sara concluded, “I propose we call our second process step Analyze.”
“But Analyze isn’t a “step,” it’s a continuous or at least a periodic process in what we do,” proposed Mary. “We analyze at the start of each of the traditional architectural processes—you know, concepts, schematics, design development, even construction documents.”
“Setting aside how some designers resist further analysis once they’ve identified their brilliant concept,” Martin continued, even as Mary scowled at him, “I agree Analyze is a continuous process—we’ll have to figure out how to make that happen. I like Analyze as a basic process because, frankly, we need the constant reminder so we don’t set it aside for convenience.”
“One annoying thing that I’ve experienced about our firm’s in-house process discussions,” Martin continued, “is how senior management identifies what they think is a great idea, technology, whatever, which is then dumped on us to implement, usually with minimal training and no explanation of how it fits into the bigger picture.” Again, there were several nods, and Lawrence added, “Lynda, remember how the so-called integrated project time management system was imposed? What a disaster!”
Lynda nodded, adding, “They really should have piloted it, or tried it out on a few projects before launching full scale.”
“So,” Martin mused, “Can we agree that we will need to Trial our project management solutions to test their value before we do a big rollout.” Heads nodded, Sara adding, “Way to bring the discussion back around, Martin.”
“Assuming we get so far as a rollout,” added Mary, “Thinking about design feedback, we will get lots of feedback from whatever we trial, so we’ll also need to identify a systematic process to refine and add to our project management systems.” Lawrence added, “And if we’re designing a project management system, it needs to include comprehensive but harmonious standard procedures for implementing and adding to the system, as well as refining it. If we want everyone to “sing off the same song sheet,” we need to set up systematic harmony to make it all work.”
The other five groaned at Lawrence’s forced metaphor, but nodded agreement with this direction. Stuart summarized, “So we have as a starting design process set:
Prepare with research and original thinking;
Analyze system requirements;
Trial resulting system designs to identify what works best; and
Harmonize resulting systems so they improve continuously.[2]
Which all sounds as good as any approach, I think.”
Mary had been making notes on her beer coaster, now looked up with a big smile: “What a great acronym—PATH. We should all get raises just for making it that simple and obvious!”
Lawrence looked serious: “Why do I think the acronym is the simplest part of what we’ve set out to do?”
Now Stuart chimed in, “I’m sure you’re right, Lawrence—but think about it. As we said somewhat earlier this evening, the best designs often have the simplest concepts. What could be simpler than PATH?” He continued: “Think about what’s happening in our digital world—what I like to call the “Age of Immediacy.” Apps that appear simple are the ones that are widely adopted. The users don’t care how complex the back-of-house details are, so long as their “user experience” is straightforward. It’s just like architecture—the folks who inhabit our buildings don’t care about the complexity we managed to complete a project, they just delight in the finished result!”
“Yes,” continued Sara, “and isn’t that exciting! Except in this case, the delighted users will be the folks using our project management systems rather than inhabiting our designs.”
Noticing the pub had largely emptied as closing time approached, Mary retrieved her PATH-marked coaster and pushed her chair back. “I think we’ve accomplished lots tonight. Let’s take this thinking back to our offices, let it percolate, and reconvene in a week to compare notes and decide how to move forward. Okay?”
The other five agreed. After the usual goodbyes, they went their separate ways, quieter than usual, deep in thought about the path forward.
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming
[2] Continuous improvement is, in fact, a cornerstone element of all quality-managed systems.