I have studied time management a lot over my career. I needed to. I can slack off with best of them. I’m a natural.

So every idea that came along was put to the test. Most didn’t change my results, but these few are the ones I got some value from. I still rely on them when things seem to be ‘drifting’.
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One of the ways in which we attempted to distinguish ourselves from other firms was by taking care of our client’s money questions. In my opinion, and in my experience, too, money is usually the main thing that will undermine a project. 
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I don’t want to have the money conversations after it has become an explosive topic. So right from the beginning we attempted to help our clients set up a sound budget.
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​Over the years we have bid a lot of projects both privately and publicly. We have also documented our process to avoid 'reinventing the wheel'. The following describes the steps in our process. Several of the documents or forms that we use are downloadable by clicking their name. Perhaps this will be helpful to you. 

​This might be controversial.  

I think architects should round-up their time. 

I also think that you should complete and submit your timesheet daily.  If you aren’t completing your timesheet daily, then this idea won't interest you because you are already fudging your time entries. 
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This is why rounding-up isn’t fudging.

Flat roofs have a bad reputation for leaks, but I don’t think flat roofs leak. My experience is that any leaks aren’t due to poor roofing or poor roof materials. The leaks are due to the flatness of the roof, which encourages use of the roof for HVAC equipment. 

Here is why that is a leak-producing situation, and what you can do about it. 
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The ‘Standard Details’ concept is deceptively simple. “An easily accessed library of building details that describe how you like to do things.” Everybody gets that. 

Have you ever tried to do it?

Successfully?

I found success elusive. But it is worth a try. Here is why ...
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MyCorbu just got closer to the vision of offering a real solution to the small firm’s need for architectural bookkeeping. All that’s missing is an invoicing solution. (That’s next.)

Architectural Bookkeeping has come to MyCorbu BOOKS, the renamed, paid version of the MyCorbu timekeeping app. 

A year after I started my own firm, I was invited to design a hangar for my Dad's golfing buddy, who happened to have started an airline that was growing by leaps and bounds. We designed projects for his airline for about twenty years until they were bought out by one of the major airlines. One of the main skills that allowed us to keep up with their growth was my knowledge of project delivery methods - mostly book-learning, driven by interest.

​Small firms don’t need accounting.
Your accountant doesn’t agree with me.
He’s wrong unless your firm has over 20 members.

The problem with accounting is that it requires brain-surgery-precision for a task that doesn’t much matter. When you stop to think about the time, effort, and aggravation that accounting requires; and what benefit you receive in return; something is fundamentally wrong. Basically you can’t afford to do accounting until you are large enough and complex enough to afford a bookkeeping employee. 

I know this because my six-person firm used accounting for most of our existence and got almost no benefit from the tens of thousands of dollars per year that we spent on accounting. Why did we do it?
Ignorance.    I thought I had to.    I mistook AIA publications as applying to me. They don't. They apply to much larger firms than I ever had.

About 93% of architectural firms are smaller than 20 people. They can't afford accounting. They can only afford bookkeeping.

So what is the difference?

Architekwiki is five and a half years old. It's about time that I ask whether I am on the right track. This quick survey has just five questions and will take you less than one minute to complete. Your feedback will really help me.

When I started my firm, I didn't have much experience with business. In particular I felt unsure about money matters. Luckily I stumbled upon a business attitude that partly made up for my lack of experience.
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I discovered how to apply certitude (real or feigned) to replace uncertainty. 

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The Financial Model of an Architect’s Office is a well-kept secret. I have never seen it mentioned anywhere. But there are several things that need to be in balance to get positive financial results. The resources available from the AIA are only useful if you already have an MBA-like understanding of finances. 

A Financial Model entails more than “Income minus Expenses should be a positive number.” Negative numbers equal poison. You can’t survive much poison.

I have to mention Page Highfill here. He is the architect who told me about the
​financial model that architects need to know about. ​

What’s Vero

The short answer. A benign version of Facebook. 

Do you remember when Facebook first come out. You saw your friends posts and they saw yours. My account has evolved into something I am not interested in any longer. My News Feed seems to be 50% showing off what you just did, and 50% people’s opinions about politics and other stuff that I am supposed to do something about if I agree.

​Oh, and ads.
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​Developing and documenting your processes is the most important thing you can do whenever you ‘WORK ON’ your firm.

Why?

​Because this one tactic will make your firm better, more effective, and more efficient.

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I have an addition to my suggested Office Reading List. It is a book titled REWORK by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson, the founders of 37signals (now Basecamp). 

The book is a list of business and work concepts that they consider bullshit. They also offer the antidotes. I agree with the book because I did most of these things myself. They are correct. They don’t work. 
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These are my ideas on how an architect should be selected. I am not a fan of the usual competitions, RFQs, RFPs, and presentations that are used most of the time. I think these methods distract from what is important - the criteria for quality, schedule, and budget.

You might find a use for this article in your work. Feel free to copy and modify it to suit your needs.
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The Kolbe System is a very useful tool that gives you an insight into another dimension of your colleagues - how they prefer to take action. This is something you should be aware of sooner rather than later. It is especially helpful when hiring.

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Unique Methods are just your personal way of tackling a task. This presupposes that you have given this  task some thought and you are happy with the procedure you have developed. For this procedure to be a Unique Method you must write it down. 

Why? ...