Project Management for Small Design Firms


Book Description

Shows how to adapt project management techniques used by large design companies to companies with limited staff, time, and money. Includes the training and qualities of a good project manager, selecting the right contract for the project, using the latest computer resources, and other advice. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




Project Management for Small Business


Book Description

Project management can help companies become more efficient and profitable. But classic project management models often prove too cumbersome for smaller businesses with limited staff resources, tight budgets, and next to no time to devote to learning complex methodologies. These smaller enterprises need the core principles and techniques of project management in a streamlined package. Project Management for Small Business offers simple, repeatable practices for planning, executing, and controlling projects in smaller environments in which one team member may wear multiple hats. Readers will learn how to: ò Define project requirements and scope ò Create a project schedule based on resource availability ò Estimate, budget, and control project costs ò Identify and minimize project risks ò Manage workflow ò Communicate effectively ò Control project change ò And more. Grounded in real-world experience, this practical guide skips the complicated theory and goes straight to the heart of what it really takes to make a project a success.




Management for the Small Design Firm


Book Description

In an easy, conversational style, Morgan acts as your "friend in the business," helping even the most inexperienced design practitioner make sense of contracts and budgets, capital formation and debt, insurance and retirement benefits, indispensable electronic media, incorporation versus partnerships, writing a business plan, meeting tax obligations, and perhaps most important, marketing your services.




Total Quality Project Management for the Design Firm


Book Description

Staying Small Successfully A Guide for Architects, Engineers, and Design Professionals Frank A. Stasiowski Today's design professional with entrepreneurial ambitions often has in mind a small firm. Written by a veteran architect and consultant, here is a clear, detailed road map to setting up a small business or guiding an existing one to success. Using miniprofiles of several small successful design firms, the author pinpoints exactly what's made them flourish. In a step-by-step format, he describes the six elements of the strategic planning process, tips on doubling average profit levels, building a loyal clientele, making your company a magnet for top talent, as well as measuring the financial health of your firm. This all-in-one seminar includes numerous checklists and flowcharts, a list of design firm management consultants, a typical marketing plan, and a survey of typical marketing costs. 1991 (0-471-50652-4) 297 pp. Value Pricing for the Design Firm Frank A. Stasiowski Essential to the design firm negotiating tough economic times, here is a handbook to garnering the most effective price for your services. Making the traditional cost-per-hour approach obsolete, the book teaches you how to price services based on their value to your client. Full of tactics that can be applied immediately, the book outlines the different methods of value pricing, ways to create value, a format for charging minimum fees, and a formula for price contracts. Other practical pricing tips include mini-scoping your services, charging for reimbursables, pricing change orders, as well as advice on negotiating a better contract. Complete with sample forms and lists, the book is a practical, easy-to-implement recession survival kit for the design firm. 1993 (0-471-57933-5) 240 pp. Cash Management for the Design Firm Frank A. Stasiowski While excellence in design and engineering may generate clients, monitoring and planning the movement of cash is central to a company's survival. This practical guide outlines a det!ailed cash management plan that makes continued financial health possible even during lean economic times. Using a clear, easy-to-implement approach, the book describes: cash management techniques, project budgeting, profitable project pricing structures, controlling project and overhead costs, getting paid, and planning and monitoring performance. The book also includes valuable advice on negotiating a contract, the most profitable contract types, the purchasing process, acquiring capital equipment, and internal financial controls. Numerous checklists and exercises as well as sample reports and financial documents are included. 1993 (0-471-59711-2) 324 pp.




Project Management for Building Designers and Owners, Second Edition


Book Description

Project Management for Building Designers and Owners presents the concepts, tools, and ideas to help design firms and owner/client project managers to better communicate and perform their jobs. Topics include: Streamlining the complexity and costs of current building design and construction Integrating the often-fragmented nature of the team in designing and constructing buildings Assessing the reengineering trend of reducing in-house facilities and staff in planning, coordinating, and managing a project Outsourcing responsibilities to traditional engineering, architectural, and facilities firms as well as program and project management firms Comparing traditional design firms and specialty firms - in terms of finding and keeping capable staffs, project scope management, fee and time pressures, and a myriad of other issues Communicating effectively within this highly fragmented, specialized, and complex arena This edition comprehensively outlines the fundamental means to effectively manage and control a project's scope, schedule, and budget.




Project Management for Design Professionals


Book Description

In the fast-paced, big-stakes design industry, schedules are accelerated and client expectations are high. Literally, time is money and the responsibility for project success or failure rests squarely on the shoulders of one individual: the project manager. Since design professionals rarely receive formal training on project management, the complex discipline can be a sink or swim proposition. For the first time, veteran architect William G. Ramroth, Jr., taps the resources of his 30-plus years of project management experience to offer practical advice, instructions, and techniques to help you think strategically, plan carefully, and troubleshoot problems. Project Management for Design Professionals is written for architects, designers, landscape architects, urban planners, interior designers, engineers and others looking to plan and complete multidisciplinary projects successfully.




The Architect's Guide to Small Firm Management


Book Description

The definitive guide to management success for sole practitioners and leaders of small design firms Owning and operating a small architectural design firm can be challenging, with tight project deadlines, on-the-fly meetings, rush proposals, and fluctuating workloads as part of the firm’s day-to-day activities. To help small firm owners cope with the chaos and prepare for the unexpected, here is The Architect’s Guide to Small Firm Management, a no-nonsense guide to repurposing daily demands into workable, goal-directed solutions. Crucial topics such as self-aware leadership, people management, technology, financial health, scenario planning, sustainable practice, and future trends are examined using real-life case studies and business model paradigms. This definitive text explores the whole system experience of a small firm practice to deliver organizational strategies proven to keep a firm’s creative mission on a steady, productive path. The Architect’s Guide to Small Firm Management addresses how small firm owners can: Deal effectively with unexpected circumstances and shifting work requirements Meet the demands of the marketplace while creating a satisfying workplace Set and achieve goals in an environment of constant change This book is a must-have for those facing the often harsh reality of managing small design firms in a difficult and changing economy. Entrepreneurial architects and designers will discover how to define their own personal and professional meanings of success, as well as how to refocus their business approach to replace long, unrewarding hours with manageable, satisfying ones.







Designing Commercial Interiors


Book Description

A practical, comprehensive resource for commercial interior design Designing Commercial Interiors is the industry standard reference, now fully revised and expanded to reflect the latest developments in commercial interior design. This book guides you through the entire design process, from planning to execution, to teach you the vital considerations that will make your project a success. This new third edition includes new: Sustainability concepts for a variety of commercial spaces Coverage of accessibility, security, safety, and codes—and how these factors influence commercial design Chapters on design research, project process, and project management Drawings and photographs of design applications Supplemental instructor's resources Commercial interior design entails a much more complex set of design factors than residential design, and many of these considerations are matters of safety and law. This book walks you through the process to give you a solid understanding of the myriad factors in play throughout any commercial project, including how the global marketplace shapes designers' business activities. Whether it's a restaurant, office, lodging, retail, healthcare, or other facility, the interior designer's job is much more complicated when the project is commercial. Designing Commercial Interiors is an exhaustive collection of commercial design skills, methods, and critical factors for professionals, instructors, and those preparing for the NCIDQ exam.




Bull's-Eye! The Ultimate How-To Marketing and Sales Guide for CPAs


Book Description

Sponsored by PCPS and the Association for Accounting Marketing Whether your firm is getting back into the full swing of marketing and you are looking for some new ideas to jumpstart your sales efforts, or you are getting serious about business development for the first time, this book is designed for you. Its purpose is to inspire, teach, and provide you with practical insight to help build results-oriented marketing and sales programs in your organization. Bull’s-Eye is a collaboration of 37 of the industry’s most successful marketing and sales minds. Collectively these gifted professionals have served as pioneering practitioners inside the profession, and as outside advisors and thought leaders for hundreds, even thousands of CPAs and their firms. They give you an insider’s view of what it takes to build marketing initiatives that produce results. Through the principles, best practices and case studies shared in the book, you can see success doesn’t happen by chance, but through careful planning, development, and implementation of well-designed processes, systems, and tools. This compendium of marketing know-how shows you how to build your marketing team, implement marketing techniques that get you noticed, connect the dots between marketing and sales, measure results, and much, much more.