Mobile devices provided

Zweig Group’s 2015 Principals, Partners & Owners Survey finds that firms provide many principals with mobile devices.

Sixty-seven percent of principals report their firm provides them with an iPhone, while 19 percent have another cellphone. This year, only 1 percent of principals surveyed have a firm-provided Blackberry, whereas 33 percent are supplied with an iPad.

– Leah Santos, research analyst assistant

T R E N D L I N E S

MORE COLUMNS

F I R M I N D E X

A p r i l 2 7, 2 0 1 5 , I s s u e 11 0 1

w w w . t h e z w e i g l e t t e r . c o m

Page 11

xz GUEST SPEAKER: A pursuit is as real as a project. Page 3

Project Management 2.0

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Cannon Moss Brygger Architects ....................... 5CB&I .................................................................... 4Coastal Risk Consulting, LLC ............................... 2Davis Bews Design Group, Inc. ........................... 11Finley Engineering Group, Inc. ............................ 4Greeley and Hansen ............................................ 4GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. ............................... 4JDB Engineering .................................................. 7Kiewit .................................................................. 4Little Diversified Architectural Consulting ........ 11Nutec Group ........................................................ 7Primoris James Construction Group ................... 2Primoris Services Corp. ....................................... 2Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction Co., LLC ...... 12RTM ................................................................... 11Schemmer Associates Inc. .................................. 5Sterling Construction Co., Inc. .......................... 12Tetra Tech, Inc. .................................................. 12The Timmons Group .......................................... 12Tutor Perini Building Corp. ................................ 12Tutor Perini Corp. ............................................... 12Urban Engineers .................................................. 8Widseth Smith Nolting ....................................... 4WoodWorks ........................................................ 2See MARK ZWEIG, page 2

Mark Zweig

Managing the challenges Page 5

The PM conundrumFlaws in current system can be overcome through strategic adjustments.

“Project management,

as we know it, is a flawed

discipline. But that doesn’t

mean we can give up on the idea of doing it

better!”

Being a project manager in the typical A/E/P or environmental firm is rarely

easy. Think about it: In most firms in this business, it is a role that gets assigned to someone in addition to all of their “normal” responsibilities as an engineer, architect, department manager, principal, or something else. And then, on top of it, the majority of PMs have little or no staff reporting directly to them. They have to negotiate with technical department heads and office managers, who control the actual human resources they need to fulfill their responsibilities to their clients. It’s really a pretty bad deal, and one we don’t often talk about. 

The fact that PMs rarely have the staff they need to do jobs directly reporting to them is a real conundrum. It’s the fundamental reason why we don’t blame PMs for poor project performance, too. If you agree with me that this is a problem, let me give you some ways to cope with it:

1) Have less PMs. Not everyone is good at proj-ect management and getting the most out of people who don’t actually work for them. Those who have proven to be effective PMs should get more projects to manage. Those who have proven ineffective PMs should not be managing jobs. Most companies could reduce the number of PMs by about half and improve their overall PM performance. 

2) Get the RIGHT people in your PM roles. This isn’t necessarily the best technical person

PLUSxz SPECIAL CENTERFOLD: Spotlight on training. Pages 6, 7

xz MORE ON TRAINING: Focusing on fundamentals. Page 9

PROJECTMANAGEMENT

© Copyright 2015. Zweig Group.

All rights reserved. THE ZWEIG LETTER APRIL 27, 2015, ISSUE 1101

2

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or designer nor the most senior em-ployee. It is someone who knows how to deal with people inside and outside of the firm, someone who knows how to treat a client, someone who can jug-gle a lot of stuff at once, and someone who can overcome obstacles. These aren’t the skills most companies even consider the first time they assign someone to a PM role; they’re inclined to worry more about degrees and reg-istrations and years of experience than anything else. 

3) Consider changing your organiza-tional structure. You don’t HAVE to accept the matrix as a way of life. There are other structures – standing teams, studios, market-sector based groups – that minimize work across departments and give PMs direct control of more resources than other

structures. You’ll never have enough people who are just good PMs in spite of a structure that minimizes their power. Fix it. 

4) Publish PM performance metrics and share them firm-wide. If you do nothing else, doing just this will im-prove your PM effectiveness. Budgets to actual variance. Client service rat-ings. Average collection periods. WIP write offs. Total volume of work man-aged. Effective multipliers. There are MANY different metrics you can set goals for. Track how you’re doing and share with everyone in the firm. Do it. 

Yes – project management, as we know it, is a flawed discipline. But that doesn’t mean we can give up on the idea of doing it better! 

MARK ZWEIG is president and CEO of Zweig Group. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.

MARK ZWEIG, from page 1

BUSINESS NEWS

Several articles in this edition of THE ZWEIG LETTER address the challenges of project management in A/E/P and environmental firms and how to improve the system.

z PAGE 3: Guest speaker Bernie Siben shares how having a go/no-go process in place makes pursuing strategic projects easier and how to manage a pursuit like a project. A strategic go/no-go system is a crucial first step for firms and project managers, because PMs should not be tasked with managing projects that are not beneficial to the company.

z PAGE 6: The forthcoming second edition of Successful Project Management for A/E/P and Environmental Firms features resources, such as case studies and usable forms, to help PMs overcome organizational and project challenges. The last chapter of Successful Project Management focuses on maintaining relationships with clients to ensure future work and makes suggestions for improving the field overall.

z PAGE 7: Nutec Group creates an innovative Assistant Project Manager program to alleviate the workload of overwhelmed PMs. It ends up becoming a successful training platform, and several APMs have stayed on and advanced within the firm.

z PAGE 9: For new and aspiring PMs whose firms don’t offer APM programs, there’s Zweig Group’s Becoming a Better Project Manager seminar, led by industry authority Howard Birnberg.

z PAGE 10: Technological advancements offer firms new tools for tackling the challenges of project management.

PRIMORIS SERVICES ANNOUNCES AWARDS VALUED AT $60 MILLION Primoris Services Corp. (Dallas, TX), a provider of construction, fabrication, maintenance, replacement, water and wastewater, and engineering services, has announced that its subsidiary Primoris James Construction Group was awarded two heavy civil contracts totaling $60 million.

The projects were awarded by the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department and are located in St. Francis County, Ark. Both awards are similar in size and scope and involve roadway construction along Interstate 40.

WOODWORKS PARTNERS WITH PROGRAMS FOR INNOVATIVE WOOD TECHNOLOGIES Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced funding for projects in 23 states under the USDA Forest Service 2015 Wood Innovations Program, one of which is led by WoodWorks – Wood Products Council, an association that provides free project assistance, education, and resources related to code-compliant design for the engineering and construction of non-residential and multifamily wooden buildings, and several that will leverage WoodWorks’ technical and market expertise.

The WoodWorks-led project, Blast-Resistant Testing for Massive Timber Exterior Wall, will provide test data to determine the inelastic and ultimate properties of cross-laminated timber for blast resistance and progressive collapse design.

WoodWorks will also provide partnership support for the following funded projects:

z Utilization of Low-Value Lumber from Small-Diameter Logs Harvested in Pacific Northwest Forest Restoration Programs in Hybrid Cross Laminated Timber Core Layers – University of Oregon

z Expanding the Use of Wood Building Products in South Carolina – Clemson University

z Montana’s Building More with Wood Program – Montana Department of Natural Resources & Conservation

z A Cross Laminated Timber Education Building and Awareness Building Campaign – Utah State University

COASTAL RISK CONSULTING RECOGNIZED FOR ITS SERVICE TO COASTAL COMMUNITIES Coastal Risk Consulting, LLC (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), an organization that aims to help individuals, communities, businesses and governments become climate ready and storm safe, has been named a finalist for the 2015 Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge for startup companies. The Business Plan Challenge award recognizes the value that CRC”s services provide property owners and communities. CRC was also selected as one of five startups to present it business plan at the upcoming Smart City Startups Festival in Miami.

More BUSINESS NEWS, pages 4 and 12

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THE ZWEIG LETTER APRIL 27, 2015, ISSUE 1101

Hopefully, your firm has a strategic plan. Hopefully, that plan identifies projects, project types, and clients you want to pursue. Hopefully, that plan also identifies

project types and clients you don’t want to pursue – for technical, profitability, liability, experience, or other reasons.

O P I N I O N

A pursuit is as real as a projectFirms should use their strategic plans to guide go/no-go decisions related to clients and projects, and ‘go’s’ deserve serious dedication.

See BERNIE SIBEN, page 4

BernieSiben

Knowing in advance which clients and project types to pursue and which to pass-up saves a lot of time, effort, and cost in making pursuit decisions.

Of course, this knowledge assumes an understand-ing that not every owner or project – regardless of who they are and what type of projects they do – is a potential client for your firm.

My personal experience tells me that AEC firms need to have a go/no-go process to identify and weed-out inappropriate targets before even look-ing at RFQs and RFPs for individual projects (I have written about this in my blog and other AEC industry publications).

So, let’s assume that you have a client go/no-go process. Hopefully, it asks questions like:

z Do we have good history with this company?

z Do they have multiple projects coming up?

z Do they have projects we want to be associated with?

z Can they articulate their goals/needs?

z Do they understand and value our services?

z Do they recommend us to other targets?

z Do they pay invoices timely?

z Are they “clean” with the Better Business Bureau and our network?

z Can we visit them without expensive plane tickets and hotels?

z Do we understand their selection process?

z Would we enjoy working with them?

z Would we be proud to claim them as a client?

If the answers to these questions are “yes,” you should be looking at that client’s RFQs and RFPs, as well as following them in the general and busi-ness press and on a variety of online platforms. Your strategic plan informs the client go/no-go evaluation, and both inform the project go/no-go evaluation.

The project go/no-go evaluation helps you deter-mine if a specific project really “has your name written all over it” or if it’s a vanity decision and your submittal would be considered a non-respon-sive waste of the client’s time. If your evaluation reaches a “go” decision – supportable by evidence (i.e. reached for sound reasons) – you should treat the pursuit like a project, with a marketing staff member as proposal/project manager.

z Identify the pursuit team. Meet with the relevant principal to identify the pursuit team. Assembling a great pursuit team could be the single most impor-tant part of a win. As James Collins says in Good to Great, get the right people on the bus and in the right seats.

z Kick-off meeting. Get the pursuit team in one room. Ensure a common project understanding.

“My personal experience tells me that A/E/C firms need to have a go/no-go process to identify and weed-out inappropriate targets before even looking at RFQs and RFPs for individual projects.”

Bernie Siben has recently released an e-book, “Go/No Go”: The Hardest Decision of All, and will send a free copy to TZL readers who email him a request.

“Pursuit activities are an overhead expense. And, because firms are so driven by the billable hour, the technical folks tend to leave overhead tasks until there is no more billable (‘real’) work on their desks.”

© Copyright 2015. Zweig Group.

All rights reserved. THE ZWEIG LETTER APRIL 27, 2015, ISSUE 1101

4

Develop the winning theme and strategy. Storyboard to de-termine the story you need to tell and the most compelling way to tell it. Identify projects and individuals that check every box in the RFQ or RFP. Identify needed subconsultants and services. Draft the organizational chart. Develop the pro-posal schedule. Make writing and graphic design assignments, with deadlines.

z Follow-up with team members about assignments. Offer help where needed to ensure deadlines are met. Keep team members focused on their own assignments. Don’t let the person writing the project approach waste time redesigning the page layout (I’ve seen this happen!).

z Deal with required forms. Locate and complete the forms and get them signed and scanned to import into the docu-ment. One missing or unsigned form can make your proposal non-responsive.

z Print, assemble, spot-check and package documents. Make sure there are no missing, backward, or upside-down pages; forms are in the right place; and the package is cor-rectly addressed and labeled.

z Deliver appropriately. Deliver to the correct address. Your contact’s office might not be the delivery location given in the RFQ or RFP. Don’t use FedEx or UPS to deliver to the

U.S. Postal Service.

z Internal debrief. Have a quick internal debriefing to identify what was great and what was deficient in your process. Save both as “lessons learned” in a place accessible to all.

z Client debrief. Whether selected or not, request a debriefing to identify what the client liked (you should do more of) and what the client didn’t like (you should avoid in the future), as well as to reinforce your commitment to that client.

Throughout the AEC industry, we know that pursuit activi-ties are an overhead expense. And, because firms are so driven by the billable hour, the technical folks tend to leave overhead tasks until there is no more billable (“real”) work on their desks.

However, just because the hours spent on a pursuit are not billable is no reason to treat them any less seriously than the hours spent on a contracted project. In fact, if you don’t treat them seriously and commit to the effort re-quired for a proposal win, you may not have a new project to bill your time to next week.

BERNIE SIBEN, CPSM, is owner/principal consultant of The Siben Consult, LLC, in Austin, Texas, providing strategic and marketing services to AEC and environmental firms nationwide. Contact him at 559-901-9596 or bernie@sibenconsult.com.

BERNIE SIBEN, from page 3

ON THE MOVEFINLEY BRIDGE DESIGN ENGINEER EARNS PROFESSIONAL LICENSE IN FLORIDA Jindrich Potucek an engineer at Finley Engineering Group, Inc. (Tallahassee, FL), an engineering and consulting firm with more than 25 employees, recently earned his professional engineer’s license in Florida. He has five years’ experience in complex bridge design and construction engineering for bridge types such as cable-stayed and segmental.

Potucek is also listed as one of C+S Engineer’s 2015 Rising Stars, an award recognizing exceptional professionals 40 years old or younger. More information: cenews.com.

GREELEY AND HANSEN PRESIDENT APPOINTED TO ETTAC John Robak, president and COO of Greeley and Hansen (Chicago, IL), a global civil and environmental consulting engineering and architecture firm, has been appointed to serve on the International Trade Commission’s Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.

ETTAC, an advisory committee to the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee, was established to provide actionable recommendation and consensus advice on the development and administration of environmental trade policies and programs to increase the export of U.S. environmental technologies, goods, services, and products. On the ETTAC,

Robak will represent the consulting and engineering segment of the U.S. engineering segment of the U.S. environmental and technology sector.

WIDSETH SMITH NOLTING HIRES MECHANICAL ENGINEER Widseth Smith Nolting (Brainerd, ND), an engineering, architecture, land surveying, and environmental services firm with more than 170 employees, has hired mechanical engineer Shaun Rogers, who will be responsible for project coordination, design, and specifications for mechanical and plumbing systems for various buildings. Rogers has 14 years of engineering experience and has worked with commercial, industrial, and large-scale residential HVAC design.

GZA GEOENVIRONMENTAL NAMES SENIOR CONSULTANT GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. (Norwood, MA), an environmental and geotechnical consulting firm, has announced Rodney Van Deusen as a senior consultant in its Fairfield, Conn., office. Van Deusen has 32 years of construction management and structural design experience, specializing in waterfront projects. Before joining GZA, he was a senior project manager with ARGE Consulting LLC.

AT GZA, Van Deusen will provide support to architects, contractors, developers, and other professionals to develop solutions to upgrade and redevelop coastlines along the Long Island Sound and the rivers that discharge into it.

BUSINESS NEWSCB&I RECEIVES 2015 GREEN CROSS FOR SAFETY MEDAL The National Safety Council presented CB&I (The Hague, Netherlands), a 54,000-employee firm focused on energy infrastructure, with its Green Cross for Safety medal at an awards dinner on April 9. The ceremony recognized CB&I for its achievement in workplace safety and community leadership.

“Receiving the Green Cross for Safety medal is an honor, as we make a daily commitment to be relentless in our efforts to keep our works safe – they are what makes our company great,” said CB&I President and CEO Philip Asherman. “AT CB&I, we believe, if we get safety right that everything will fall into place, which is why safety is at the forefront of everything we do.”

KIEWIT RECOGNIZED AS BEST WORKPLACE IN CANADA For the fifth consecutive year, Kiewit (Toronto, BC), a construction, mining, and engineering firm with more than 25,700 employees, has been recognized as one of the Best Workplaces in Canada by Great Place to Work Institute Canada. The Best Workplaces in Canada list provides insight relative to five dimensions of a great workplace: credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie.

“This is, most importantly, recognition of our people and their efforts to make Kiewit a place we can all be proud to work,” said Bruce Grewcock, chairman and CEO of parent company Kiewit Corp.

More BUSINESS NEWS, pages 2 and 12

TALK TO US Send your press releases to Andrea Bennett at abennett@zweiggroup.com.

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THE ZWEIG LETTER APRIL 27, 2015, ISSUE 1101

By LIISA ANDREASSENCorrespondent

All project managers face problems at one time or another. Some problems may be small and

some may be big, but the bottom line is, they will happen; what matters most is how those problems are dealt with.

MAINTAIN ALIGNMENT. Shane Larsen, senior project manager, Schemmer Associates Inc. (Omaha, NE), a 100-person architecture and engineering firm, says that the greatest challenge for a project man-ager is to effectively establish specific milestones for a project that react to the needs of the client, budget, and design team and then to execute. 

“Many times, it’s necessary for some disciplines to work ahead to establish the design intent for oth-er team members,” he says. “The trick is to man-age this process so that progress is as linear as possible. Any project will experience revisions dur-ing the design process as it develops, but the most successful projects can do this without negatively affecting the schedule or budget for all.”

Larsen says that in simple terms, project managers are hired to solve problems, and the path to that solution is never the same. 

“The unique challenge project managers face is in

directing the entire team down this specific path. They must be careful not to go too fast or slow. In my opinion, the solution to any challenge is trans-parent communication between all parties. No one person will have all the answers, so gathering in-formation from many people will often produce the appropriate solution,” he says.

GO WITH THE FLOW. At Cannon Moss Brygger Archi-tects (Sioux City, IA), a 47-person firm, Courtney

Managing the challengesPMs report establishing milestones and overseeing projects’ scope and contracts are among the greatest issues in their field.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

See CHALLENGES, page 8

Shane Larsen, Senior Project Manager, Schemmer Associates, Inc.

P R A C T I C E

IS YOUR CHALLENGE ON THE LIST?

Business Improvement Architects, a Canada-based consulting firm, reports that compiled data reveals these top project management woes:

z Shifting organizational priorities. The ever-changing nature of economies and organizations creates uncertainty. One of the most frustrating experiences for a PM is managing within this environment. This is referred to as strategically driven scope creep.

z Lack of clarity in project scope. Project success is measured by the ability to achieve all the requirements outlined in the scope statement, with approved project change requests.

z Mismanaged project changes. Scope changes often require adjustments to cost, time, quality, risk, or other deliverables. These changes must be put back through the planning process, updating plans as needed and notifying stakeholders as appropriate. Corrective action is needed to bring expected future project performance into line with the project plan.

z Lack of project management skills. Many organizations have training and development departments that manage training of all staff levels. Project management training may be coordinated with them or managed through a project management office directly.

z Training project sponsors. Training project sponsors on their role in ensuring project success helps the project manager and increases the likelihood of project excellence. Training provides sponsors with an understanding of what the expectation is, on their part, to help manage project issues, approve project scope, and provide timely approvals.

“The unique challenge project managers face is in directing the entire team down this specific path. They must be careful not to go too fast or slow. In my opinion, the solution to any challenge is transparent communication between all parties. No one person will have all the answers, so gathering information from many people will often produce the appropriate solution.”Courtney Koch,

Associate Principal, Cannon Moss Brygger Architects.

Gerald O’Neill, Senior VP and General Manager, Urban Engineers.

THE ZWEIG LETTER APRIL 27, 2015, ISSUE 1101

6

SPO TL IGHT ON: Training PMsA client-centered approachSuccessful Project Management for A/E/P and Environmental Firms, 2nd edition covers projects from inception to completion and beyond.

By ANDREA BENNETTManaging Editor

On April 30, Zweig Group will release the sec-ond edition of its 2011 publication Successful

Project Management for A/E/P and Environmental Consulting Firms. Revised by the original publication’s author, Ernest Burden, Assoc. AIA and principal at AEC Advisors, the book presents an overview of the entire marketing and project-delivery process – cover-ing topics related to how to win jobs to how to make sure they are successfully completed to how to obtain references and future work from clients, once the proj-ect is over – from a project manager’s perspective.

“Successful Project Management begins with the proj-ect manager’s involvement in the proposal process, be-coming the star of the client interview, and having the client’s ear throughout the project and beyond,” Bur-den says. “It outlines all of the tools and techniques necessary to carry out a project assignment, while keeping a finger on the pulse of the client and project through continuous feedback. Finally, it is the project manager’s job to secure future work and/or referrals from the client. This book covers it all.”

The first edition of Successful Project Management re-lied heavily on the 2011 Zweig Group Survey of Proj-ect Managers in A/E/P and Environmental Firms. Data from the study was referenced throughout the book and was used to substantiate claims made in the text about common aspects of project management. The re-vised second edition also includes Zweig Group data from project management surveys, but it has been completely updated, and a chapter outlining building information modeling (BIM) and integrated project delivery (IPD) technology has been added.

“The second edition of Successful Project Management has a completely revised look and format from cover-to-cover, making for more educational reading,” Bur-den says. “Case studies have been made more promi-nent, and they include new photographs. Several new

useful diagrams have been added, and photographs were added to the chapter openers to enhance the publication’s visual appeal.”

Among the features that set the second edition of Successful Project Management apart from the pleth-ora of publications available on the topic is its case studies, which few technical publications have, and its emphasis on clients’ perspectives, Burden says. Additionally, Successful Project Management is de-signed to cover a project from cradle to cradle, to use a BIM metaphor; therefore, this single book cov-ers many topics that are normally dispersed among several publications.

“My past experience with project management – which includes a career in architecture, for which I attended numerous seminars, workshops, and training sessions with leading project management instructors – was altered severely when I became a consultant tasked with implementing image, satisfaction, and feedback surveys on behalf of AEC firms nationwide,” Burden says. “I discovered that clients had a totally different viewpoint on firms’ performance on a project than what the firms typically believed that their clients thought. I developed a client’s attitude in my approach, and many of their comments appear in the book verba-tim from audio and videotape recordings.”

Zweig Group’s 2014 Study of Project Managers identi-fies managing client expectations (43 percent), the project manager’s time management (32 percent), the management of project team members (30 percent), and staying within the project budget (23 percent) as the four main challenges facing project managers.

See CLIENT-CENTERED, page 8

SUCCESSFUL PROJECT MANAGEMENTFOR A/E/P AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTING FIRMS

2ND EDITION

ERNEST BURDEN

“I developed a client’s attitude in my approach, and many of their comments appear in the book verbatim from audio and videotape recordings.”

Ernest Burden, Author, Successful Project Management for A/E/P and Environmental Firms.

© Copyright 2015. Zweig Group.

All rights reserved.

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THE ZWEIG LETTER APRIL 27, 2015, ISSUE 1101

Zweig Group is social and posting every day!C O N N E C T W I T H U S

facebook.com/ZweigGroup

twitter.com/ZweigGroup

linkedin.com/company/ZweigWhite blog. ZweigGroup.com vimeo.com/

ZweigGroupSPO TL IGHT ON: Training PMs

By LIISA ANDREASSENCorrespondent

Project workload. Does your heart race at the thought of it? You’re not alone.

Many staff members struggle to juggle multiple tasks and yearn for more time to complete everything that has to be done. For Nutec Group (York, PA), an integrat-ed provider of planning, architecture, in-terior design, engineering, facilities man-agement, and construction services, the solution was to develop a robust Assistant Project Manager program.

The APM program is presented in the second edition of Ernest Burden’s Suc-cessful Project Management for A/E/P and

Environmental Consulting Firms as an ex-ample of innovations that companies have implemented to counteract the com-plaint that project managers are thrust from jobs that center on their technical proficiencies into management positions without much training. Several of Nutec Group’s APMs have advanced within their organizations.

Timothy A. Warren, president of JDB Engineering, a MEP firm that is part of Nutec Group says, “When I look at the se-nior staff members of our firm today, I think back to when the APM program was launched years ago. The firm leaders today were learning the ropes as assistant proj-ect managers back then.”

Case Study: Nutec Group’s APM programFirm takes innovative approach to relieve burden on overwhelmed PMs, ends up establishing a successful training program that alleviates common transition concerns.

See APM, page 8

TRAINING PROJECT MANAGERS

Respondents to Zweig Group’s 2014 Project Management Study of Architectural, Engineering, Planning & Environmental Consulting Firms reported that their firms provided PMs with specific training related to:*

z Preparing project budgets: 73 percent

z Preparing fee estimates: 73 percent

z Preparing project schedules: 72 percent

z Opening job numbers: 69 percent

z Policies on charging time to projects: 66 percent

z Invoicing procedures: 64 percent

z Communications: 59 percent

z Methods for processing projects: 58 percent

z Using appropriate contract forms: 58 percent

z Contracting authority within the firm: 57 percent

z Project filing procedures: 57 percent

z Project close-out procedures: 57 percent

z Reporting structure: 51 percent

z Other: 11 percent

z Unspecified: 5 percent

*Totals equate to more than 100 because more than one answer could be selected.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Sarah Gaenzle, Marketing Manager, Nutec Group.

A CONVERSATION WITH SARAH GAENZLE, MARKETING MANAGER, NUTEC GROUP

THE ZWEIG LETTER: When was the APM program originally set up and why?

Sarah Gaenzle: It was launched more than a decade ago and has since been a successful tool. It was originally designed to alleviate staff with too many responsibilities and not enough time to fulfill them.

TZL: How has it evolved since its inception? What changes have been made and why?

SG: Although the original intent of the program was to fulfill a critical need to alleviate some of the workload of the project managers, it ended up becoming a successful staff development tool to engage younger staff members, train them to even-tually become project managers, and even provide a morale boost by allowing them to advance in the organization at a younger age.

TZL: Who teaches the program?

SG: The program faculty includes firm executives, project managers, and even the firm’s marketing director for presentation skills.

TZL: How many people have moved from APMs to PMs?

SG: Eighteen employees have gone through the APM program. Once an employee transi-tions from an assistant project manager to a project manager, new employees or junior staff members enter the program.

TZL: What takes place during the APM program?

SG: The program has morphed into a continual training program with assistant project

© Copyright 2015. Zweig Group.

All rights reserved. THE ZWEIG LETTER APRIL 27, 2015, ISSUE 1101

8

Koch, associate principal, says that one of her top management challenges is to manage scope-creep – drawing the line between what is part of her services and what constitutes a change in scope. 

Her personal greatest challenge has to do with work flow, she says. For example, during the construction administration phase, a challenge Koch faces from project to project is to make sure all contractors, subcontractors, and other team members know how to follow the chain-of-command when submitting RFIs, shop drawings, etc.

CREATIVE CONTRACTS. Gerald O’Neill, senior vice president and general manager for Urban Engineers (Philadelphia, PA), a 450-person firm, says that one of his greatest project man-agement challenges happens while providing construction management services when contractors get creative with their contract.   Much like Larsen, O’Neill believes that project managers will get the best results in resolving these challenges by keeping the lines of communication open with all players in a project, in-cluding the owner and designer, the contractor, and third-party players such as utility companies. 

“Resolving challenges always starts with communication,” he says.

CHALLENGES, from page 5

APM, from page 7

“The first three items are covered in extensive detail in this book,” Burden says. “The fourth item is conditional and will come about if the first three are met.”

Though Successful Project Management covers the basics of project management, it is neither tailored nor only applicable to new and aspir-ing PMs. Several members of a firm, including owners and marketers, can benefit from the book’s content.

“First-time project managers will get a valuable overview of the entire integrated process in the book, not just a one-sided technical view-point,” Burden says. “They will see the benefits in getting involved early in the marketing pro-cess. They will benefit from an understanding of the client’s end-goal and will see that their job is to help them accomplish that with as few problems as possible.

“Veteran project managers, who already know what they are doing but may not know – at least for certain – what the client is doing, will ben-efit from the chapters on negotiation and cli-ent feedback. And, finally, marketing folks may find some new revelations in the client quotes regarding proposals and presentations.”

The second edition of Successful Project Man-agement for A/E/P and Environmental Firms is available for purchase now at zweiggroup.com/books.php. For more information, please email info@zweiggroup.com.

CLIENT-CENTERED, from page 6

BY THE NUMBERS

Respondents to Zweig Group’s 2014 Project Management Study of Architectural, Engineering, Planning & Environmental Consulting Firms addressed the topics identified as challenging for these industry professionals.

On project timeline: 15 percent reported finishing projects early, on average; 69 percent reported finishing projects on time, on average; and 16 percent reported finishing projects late, on average.

On project scope: 48 percent reported always participating in writing and/or designing the project scope; 38 percent reported sometimes participating in writing and/or designing the project scope; 5 percent reported rarely participating in writing and/or designing the project scope; and 9 percent did not specify.

On project team management: 21 percent reported conducting performance reviews at the close of all projects; 26 percent reported conducting performance reviews at the close of specific projects; and 53 percent reported never conducting performance reviews at the close of projects.

On contracts: 21 percent reported unlimited contracting authority; 18 percent reported limited contracting authority; 49 percent reported no contracting authority; and 12 percent did not specify.

Early On time Late

Always Sometimes Rarely Never Unspecified

For all projects For specific projects Never

Unlimited contracting authority Limited contracting authority

No contracting authority Unspecified

WHAT DO APM GRADUATES SAY?

“It would be pretty overwhelming for someone to say, ‘Hey next week we are turning the reigns over to you on the XYZ expansion project.’ (The program) allowed me to work side-by-side with an established project manager and to develop into the role at a pace that allowed for continual personal and professional growth without feeling that I was in over my head.” – Timothy Bieber, civil engineer

“The mentoring process provided a great opportunity to observe how client relationships are built during a project. Each client has certain strengths and needs during the process and the ability to recognize these areas benefits the working relationship.” – David Atkins, structural engineer

manager candidates cycling through once they’ve completed the training curriculum. The original training framework included:

z Week 1: Introduction to project management, including traits of success-ful PMs, definitions and roles, position description, types of professional agreements, standard contracts, and developing scopes of work.

z Week 2: Financial aspects including how to estimate project fees, quantify deliverables, and develop labor-hour budgets.

z Week 3: Controlling risk, liability issues, and insurance requirements.

z Week 4: Standard project management tools including go/no-go forms, database input procedures, team organizational charts, quality audit proce-dures and checklists, change order processes and forms, meeting agendas and minutes, memos and field reports, and more.

z Week 5: Overview of typical bidding requirements, contract forms, general conditions, specifications, contract documents, and the project manager’s role in ensuring the correct documents and forms are completed on every project.

z Week 6: Marketing, including a focus on presentation skills, both to win projects and to present concepts to clients and end-users.

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By ANDREA BENNETTManaging Editor

On May 5, Zweig Group will present its inaugu-ral Becoming a Better Project Manager semi-

nar in Miami. Led by Howard Birnberg, the exec-utive director of the Association for Project Man-agers and president of Birnberg & Associates, the one-day course is designed to equip new and aspir-ing project managers in architectural, engineering, planning, and environmental consulting firms with a fundamental understanding and specific tools they can use to be successful.

A single day is not a lot of time to train people on skills that many professionals spend their entire careers developing. So, Birnberg says he has de-signed the program to focus on the essentials.

“The greatest challenge to new and aspiring proj-ect managers today is really developing a concrete understanding of what they’re supposed to be do-ing, how they are supposed to do it, and the tools and resources available to them to accomplish their job,” he says. “The intent of Becoming a Better Proj-ect Manager is really to give attendees background on what a project manager should be doing in a de-sign or facilities management firm. The program has a really strong focus on foundations and what the job is about.”

What, exactly, is the job about?

“Throughout the program, I must say ‘communica-tions’ about 1,000 times,” Birnberg says. “Commu-nication is the most important part of project man-agement.”

Communication, he says, is the underlying element to the other “soft skills” associated with project management and the basis for success in the tasks of the job, including delegation, time management, and facilitating meetings. Communication also in-cludes the all-important skills of effective writing and public speaking. Even the tools that attendees are provided with are related to communication.

“In the program, I talk about a variety of tools, in-cluding project management manuals and change-order tools, which are not just for documentation and record-keeping, but also for communications because they let other people know what’s going on,” Birnberg says.

Attendees also receive a bibliography of resourc-es they can access for additional information – the same bibliography that Birnberg includes in his forthcoming publication, Project Management for Designers and Facilities Managers, fourth edition.

The impetus for Becoming a Successful Project Manager is two-fold. First, the defacto means by

Focusing on fundamentalsBecoming a Better Project Manager aims to provide new, aspiring PMs with a knowledge base and toolbox to be successful in design, facilities management firms.

Howard Birnberg

U P C O M I N G E V E N T S

See FUNDAMENTALS, page 10

WHO IS HOWARD BIRNBERG?

Howard Birnberg is president of Birnberg & Associates, a management consulting and association management firm. He is an instructor in project management at the University of California-Berkeley Extension and Embry-Riddle (Worldwide) University. For six years, he served as an instructor on project management in the Office of Executive Education at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and as an adjunct assistant professor at Michigan State University’s College of Human Ecology. Birnberg served as a lecturer on project management for the University of Wisconsin’s Department of Engineering Professional Development for nearly 20 years and has lectured at the University of Illinois-Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Texas-El Paso, University of Kansas, and Andrews University.

Birnberg is the author of Project Management for Building Designers and Owners (CRC Press, 1998) and Project Management for Small Design Firms (McGraw-Hill, 1992) and has served as general editor of New Directions in Architectural and Engineering Practice (McGraw-Hill, 1992). His research and articles regularly appear in professional journals, and he currently serves as a columnist for Civil + Structural Engineer magazine.

Birnberg’s fourth edition of Project Management for Designers and Facilities Managers is available for pre-order from J. Ross Publishing at jrosspub.com/project-management-for-designers-and-facilities-managers-221.html. The site contains a Notify Me link to recieve an update when the book is released. When you follow the link and ask to be notified, the publisher will also send you a discount code for extra savings on the publication.

“Throughout the program, I must say ‘communications’ about 1,000 times. Communication is the most important part of project management.”

© Copyright 2015. Zweig Group.

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10

which most technical professionals become project man-agers in A/E/P and environmental firms doesn’t lend it-self to much training, and, secondly, most programs – even those offered at universities and other institutions – tend to focus on technical, rather than management, skills.

“People don’t become engineers, architects, or facilities managers to become project managers,” Birnberg says. “A lot of times, they’re in an organization and, if they have any kind of aptitude for management skills, all of a sudden they find themselves doing more project management and less of the technical jobs they started out doing.”

“There are a lot of resources and ways for people to learn project management skills,” he says. “Most end up learn-ing on the job, or, if they’re fortunate, they’re mentored by someone more experienced in their organization. And then some people have an innate aptitude for the communication and people skills necessary to be successful project managers.”

“I commend Zweig Group for taking this series on,” Birn-berg says. “A lot of programs out there really don’t focus on project management, and I think there’s a real need for it.”

Registration is still open for the May 5 Becoming a Better Project Manager seminar in Miami. Additional courses will be held on May 7 in Dallas, May 19 in Philadelphia, May 20 in Chicago, June 9 in Los Angeles, and June 16 in San Francisco. For more information, visit zweiggroup.com/seminars/better_pm.

FUNDAMENTALS, from page 9

RESOURCES

Project managers give resounding support to Birnberg’s assessment of communication as a PM’s greatest skill and the solution to most challenges encountered on projects.

Page 5 outlines how professional project managers use communication every day, several chapters in the second edition of Successful Project Management (page 6) address communication, and some firms are experimenting with new technology that makes communicating with team members and clients easier (page 11).

IMPROVING PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Zweig Group’s 2014 Project Management Study of Architectural, Engineering, Planning & Environmental Consulting Firms shows:

36 percent of project manager respondents believe that solidifying/tightening up the project manager’s functions internally is the most important thing their firms could do to improve PM.

23 percent of firm-wide respondents believe that providing project management training and/or mentoring is the most important thing their firms could do to improve PM.

MAY 2015 JUNE 2015//BEYOND READING05/05, 05/07, & 05/20: BECOMING A BETTER PROJECT MANAGERSeminar for those moving beyond technical work to PM.

New and aspiring project managers in A/E/P and environmental consulting firms get little or no training in project management and are drafted into PM unequipped. This is the first seminar tailored to new and aspiring PMs and will provide attendees with informationand tools to effective PMs. Applicable for 6 AIA CEUs.

Miami, Dallas, Chicago, LosAngeles, San Francisco ZweigGroup.com/seminars

06/09 & 06/16: BECOMING A BETTER PM

05/27-29: EVM WORLD 2015Conference showcases project performance techniques and earned value management.

Three days of sessions offered to provide professionals with a betterunderstanding of the fundamentals of earned value managementand its application and benefits. Schedule includes keynotes andspeakers, training sessions and workshops, and exhibitions.

New Orleans | EVMworld.org

07/20-23: MEGA SEMINARSWORLD 2015Small classes led by real-world project managers vary in lengthfrom one to four days. Orlando, Fla. | learning.PMI.org

10/11-13: PMI GLOBAL CONGRESS 2015Three-day conference offers opportunities to learn from and network with project, program, and portfolio management professionals from more than 60 countries. Orlando, Fla. learning.PMI.org

11/8-11: PMO SYMPOSIUMAttendees receive insights from global industry leaders throughpresentations, interactive sessions, and excursions. The eventalso unviels the results of the Project Management Institute’s ongoing PMO research and presents the PMO of the Year Award. Phoenix | copevents.PMI.org

Successful Project Management for A/E/P and Environmental Firms, 2nd ed.ISBN: 978-0-9961647-1-9 ZweigGroup.com/books

Project Management for Designers and Facilities Managers, 4th ed.ISBN: 978-1-60427-120-1JRosspub.com

2014 Project Management Study ofArchitecture, Engineering, Planning & Environmental Consulting FirmsISBN: 978-1-60950-072-1ZweigGroup.com/survey

Emotional Intelligence for ProjectManagers, 2nd. ed.ISBN: 978-0-8144327-8-5AmacomBooks.org

Communicating ProjectsISBN: 978-1-4724083-2-7Ashgate.com

Excellence in Engineering Program Management reportsPMI.org/Business-Solutions/EngineeringExcellence.aspx

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By LIISA ANDREASSENCorrespondent

Recent advancements in Silicon Valley are not limited to smartphone apps and social

networking. Several new software programs and pieces of technology tout benefits for A/E/P and environmental firms looking to increase efficiency and accuracy and decrease cost on projects. Though some organizations have opted to stick with tried and true methods – if it ain’t broke, why fix it? – others are experimenting with BIM, IPD, and Li-DAR, among other tools.

TRIED AND TRUE. Amanda Mulhearn, special projects manager, Davis Bews Design Group, Inc. (Olds-mar, FL), a 30-person firm, says that for the past year-and-a-half or so, the company has had a few clients request that it explore options outside of AutoCAD, its most heavily used software.

“We were happy to test the viability of others, but in the end, those clients found only incremental value increases in the software, and we are able to use AutoCAD much more efficiently and cost- effectively,” she says.

ELIMINATING BOUNDARIES. John Komisin, president and COO,  Little Diversified Architectural Con-sulting  (Durham, NC), a 330-person firm,  says that technology is allowing collaboration without boundaries so that teams can be geographically dispersed, yet connected and working on projects together in real-time.

“That dynamic requires that project managers learn how to organize and lead in new ways,” he says.

Komisin says that the firm has a series of strategic initiatives and several center on technology.

“We’ve invested in 15 new software and technolo-gy applications, several of which are focused on in-creasing our efficiency throughout the design and construction process. As our early adopters vali-date the appropriateness and value, we are work-ing to integrate them across our multi-office plat-form,” he says.

Little Diversified was a beta tester for Revit, so it has been pushing boundaries for almost 15 years.

“Our collaboration with contractors in an integrat-ed environment continues to grow exponentially, whether the contractual project delivery method is officially IPD or not,” Komisin says. “Early integra-tion with as many stakeholders as possible is maxi-mizing value and reducing risk for owners.”

CREATING NEW OPPORTUNITIES. At RTM, (South Bar-rington, IL), an 80-person engineering consulting firm, Tony Mirchandani, CEO, says that BIM and other PM software programs, are changing the way traditional project management is conducted.

“The increase in technology has made it easier for constant and instantaneous communication among the various design and construction team members and has created new opportunities that were not present in the past,” he says.

For instance, RTM would typically not be engaged in the project management process. However, be-cause technology such as BIM has evolved to gen-erate detailed 3D models of buildings, the firm is now engaged not only as a traditional design firm using BIM, but also to work alongside the general contractor during the building phase.

“Today’s BIM models are complex enough and, if used properly, extremely powerful. Having an MEP engineer who possesses BIM expertise work with

Project management 2.0

Amanda Mulhearn, Special Projects Manager, Davis Bews Design Group Inc.

T O O L S O F T H E T R A D E

See PM 2.0, page 12

Firms experiment with new technology to assess benefits in scope, communication, budget, and safety.

“Our collaboration with contractors in an integrated environment continues to grow exponentially, whether the contractual project delivery method is officially IPD or not. Early integration with as many stakeholders as possible is maximizing value and reducing risk for owners.”

“The increase in technology has made it easier for constant and instantaneous communication among the various design and construction team members and has created new opportunities that were not present in the past.”

John Komisin, President and COO, Little Diversified Architectural Consulting.

Tony Mirchandani, CEO, RTM.

© Copyright 2015. Zweig Group.

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the general contractor expedites the construction process,” Mirchandani says.

RTM is serving as a liaison between the general contractor and the MEP subcontractors for a construction proj-ect on a higher education campus.

“As an engineering-based project man-ager, we are working under the gener-al contractor’s umbrella and are pro-viding BIM management on-site,” he says. “Our scope of work entails ana-lyzing the model to determine which MEP components are going to work and which are not, in terms of con-structability, and providing conflict resolution to solve any issues. We will speed up the construction process by being able to make the changes in re-al-time and improving coordination among disciplines.”

RTM has become familiar with sharing and managing data using the e-Build-er platform. The program provides a centralized location to store and share large project documents. Email notifi-cations are sent to various team mem-bers when tasks are assigned and com-pleted. The program organizes and re-cords all project information and cor-respondence in one database. RTM has also worked on projects that use New-forma and Microsoft Project – software programs that offer similar advantages in sharing and managing data.

“The user-friendly software fosters col-laboration among team members by managing communications and infor-mation in one centralized database,” Mirchandani says. “The complete vis-

ibility and interactive environment cuts down on paperwork, provides a record of all transactions, and speeds up the design and construction pro-cesses. The end result is a successful project that saves time and money.”

LASER FOCUS. At The Timmons Group (Richmond, VA), a 330-person multi-disciplined engineering and technology firm, Leslee Oliver, marketing coordinator, says that the company is delving into 3D laser scanning, sometimes referred to as high definition surveying or ground-based LiDAR.

This alternative method to tradition-al survey techniques is used to ac-quire data in the form of a 3D cloud of points. The resulting point-cloud might contain millions of points col-lected at such a high resolution that shapes of complex objects can be measured with great detail.

Timmons Group uses a Leica ScanSta-tion P20, known for its ultra-fast scan speeds and high data quality. This new versatile scanning system is capable of collecting up to 1 million data points per second, with accura-cies measured in millimeters, from a remote and safe location.

“This makes our system very benefi-cial for surveying and mapping dan-gerous work zones like busy road-ways, tunnels, power plants, and quarries and complex structures such as bridges, buildings, mechanical rooms and towers,” Oliver says. “Us-ing the Leica ScanStation P20 is also beneficial because it allows for fewer set-ups and less scanning time, which directly results in cost savings.”

PM 2.0, from page 11 A/E/P TECHNOLOGY IN THE NEWS*...

z Autodesk moving to Boston (Architectural Record, March 30): Silicon Valley giant Autodesk is moving to Boston and will open its new Seaport District office to startups and researchers focusing on the construction industry’s innovation needs.

z Building information modeling: How the construction industry is getting ‘smart’ (Popular Science, April 5): We are at the brink of a time in which an entire project can be designed, managed, and executed all in one location, on a single file. This process is called building information modeling (BIM), and it’s bringing the construction industry into the 21st Century.

z Autodesk invests $10 million in Carbon3D’s advanced 3D printing technology (Architect, April 13): In March, Carbon3D dropped jaws in the design, manufacturing, and scientific communities when it debuted its continuous liquid interface production machine on the TED 2015 stage and the journal Science. Last week, the Redwood, Calif.-based company got another vote of confidence in the form of a $10 million investment by software juggernaut Autodesk.

z Testing of new technology for construction is critical step to implementation (Engineering News-Record, April 14): When Suffolk Construction tests a technology, the pilot lead manages its cost with oversight from the firm’s CIO. Oversight is essential because someone must be responsible for reporting results to determine whether the investment is worthwhile.

*Content edited.

TUTOR PERINI AWARDED $117 MILLION REDEVELOPMENT PHASE 1 Tutor Perini Corp. (Sylmar, CA), a civil and building construction company, has announced that the Philadelphia office of its subsidiary Tutor Perini Building Corp. has been awarded a contract to build the first phase of the East Market redevelopment project by National Real Estate Development. The initial contract, which includes demolition and abatement, is valued at about $5.5 million and is currently under way. The construction phase that will follow is valued at about $112 million.

TETRA TECH WINS $35 MILLION SEDIMENT REMEDIATION CONTRACT Tetra Tech, Inc. (Pasadena, CA), a 13,000-person provider of consulting, engineering, program management, and construction management services, has been awarded the District of Columbia Department of the Environment’s $35 million general environmental services contract, which includes technical support services related to the assessment and remediation of contaminated sediments in

the tidal portion of the Anacostia River. Restoration activities will be implemented at sites throughout the watershed as part of large-scale efforts initiated by the D.C. government to revitalize the river and surrounding communities.

STERLING CONSTRUCTION SELECTED AS MAJOR SUBCONTRACTOR FOR DENVER BRIDGE PROJECT Sterling Construction Co., Inc. (The Woodlands, TX), a heavy civil construction company that specializes in the building and reconstruction of transportation and water infrastructure projects, announced that its subsidiary, Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction Co., LLC, has been selected as a major subcontractor for a joint-venture between Balfour Beatty and Graham Contracting on construction of the Skyway Bridge for North Metro Rail in Denver. Construction of the 9,800-foot bridge will begin in May and is expected to take two years to complete. RLW’s portion of the project is valued at about $29 million.

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