Matthias Kelly - Prompt 2

Part 1 Question: How do you build a practice that is adaptable to change?

Part 2 Question: How will YOU build a practice that stays on the cutting edge of technology in the profession?

Use your discussion with your mentor as the basis for developing your unique response to the question.

For this prompt, I had the opportunity to speak both with my mentor as well as another colleague. For part one, I chose the question regarding building a practice that is adaptable to change. We assessed all three questions, and decided this one would lead to the best discussion. Also, you can almost include questions one and two of part one into question three, by tying in change in people and change in the community.

Regarding the idea of “change”, my colleagues first brought up change in the market conditions. They emphasized how a good firm needs to be able to adapt to market conditions. Ten years ago, there was a considerable economic downturn, and firms everywhere had to reevaluate the way they were operating and what projects they were taking in. Firms across America began taking in more public sector work, as the government was footing the bill. During the recession, many small residential firms went down to one or two people. The way fees work changed a lot during the recession as well. A good firm needs to have a diverse workload that will enable it to adapt and survive when the market conditions take a turn for the worse.

Another type of change that we discussed was the change in technology over the past twenty years of the profession. It is paramount for firms to stay on the cutting edge of architecture software technology, or they will be constantly trying to make up ground on other firms with more advanced tools, and they will generally be less efficient. My colleague brought up the huge “paradigm shift” over the last twenty years, and the amount of change over those twenty years is greater than any change in the 200 years before it. The shift from paper to computers altered the landscape of the profession.

From my point of view, I would put a lot of emphasis on building a practice that stays on the cutting edge of BIM technologies. Every year there are new products coming out that help firms maximize their efficiency when conducting a project. Every year that a firm falls behind the forefront of BIM technology, their efficiency is decreasing. Architects are in the business of making money, and if you are taking 25% longer to do a project than a competing firm simply because you are lacking the proper software, you just aren’t going to be able to keep up with firms who are there on the cutting edge. For this reason I think it is paramount to educate young employees in a firm on how to efficiently use BIM technology, and to educate older employees on the benefits of investing in advanced BIM technology.