Project Retrospective; Part 4

Continuation of Project Retrospective: Part 3

After Project Retrospective Review

After the Project Retrospective the facilitator shall compile their notes in a clear and concise summary of their findings. 

Share this preliminary summary with the project team for review and correction. Include in the summary actions items and recommendations that will improve future projects. Identify tasks and topics requiring leadership attention.

Organize a meeting where you can summarize these findings with the entire company so everyone can see the benefits of these retrospectives.

this is the final posting in the Project Retrospective series.

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Project Retrospective: Part 3

Continuation of Project Retrospective: Part 2

Discussion techniques may include:

• Asking each participant to identify their own issues and discuss their impact and what solution they see would resolve the issue
• Drilling further into the process or resources behind each event.
• Simply ask “what went well and what didn’t”.
• Ask what had the greatest impact on the success of the project.
• Ask participants to be specific about topics and avoid generalization.
• Focus on solutions.

Suggested Project Retrospective Questions:

• Did we have the right team?
• Did the team work well together?
• Were the external consultants/client cooperative?
• Were there clear and measurable project milestones/goals that everyone understood and worked towards?
• Was the appropriate technology used on this project? Outside resources such as point cloud, civil survey, photography etc.
• Ask the “What” questions:
• What can be improved and how?
• What could we have done better?
• What would you do differently next time?

It is important that the participants focus on what information can be utilized from the recent project process with the intent in making the process better for the next project, hence full participation by all team members is encouraged.

The facilitator should review with the team their notes at the end of the session where corrections can be made and to verify that the notes are correct.

Part 4: After Project Review

RTC NA

I received my acceptance as a speaker at Revit Technology Conference yesterday! Woo hoo.
I'm always excited to be accepted as a speaker... at any event! But especially RTC.

For me RTC is where I can connect with the top people in my industry (AEC) and specifically, but not limited too, Revit. I see more and more the blend between software products, hardware (check out IrisVR) as well as processes, specifically BIM and IPD. 

My session will be about being a BIM Manager, tips on how to manage projects and the people working on those projects, it will also include a interactive round table discussion after my presentation which is always a great opportunity to hear what challenges other people are having and the solutions that arise from the discussion. Round table sessions are always lively and fun. 

If you have attended my session last year at RTC or at AU, this will be different format, content, information etc...

I'll be posting more about my session as the time gets closer. In the mean time registration will open soon for RTCNA, I believe some time in March.

I've also been working on my presentation skills.... probably something you don't often hear people say eh! I'm fortunate that the company I work for (CEI Architecture) encourages presenting and we recently held an "in office" speaker workshop run by Robert Murray who worked with each of us on fine tuning our presentation skills.

So, if your able to attend RTC North America I hope to see you there, once again, if you follow my blog come and say hi.

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Cant Select Links

Ever run across the issue where you cant select your Linked files?

Since Revit 2014 there is a icon on the bottom right tray that controls what you can select, there is a "select links" tool

Pulled this from the Autodesk Revit Help.

Click an icon in the lower right corner of the status bar.

 Select Links

Enable the Select Links option when you want to be able to select linked files and individual elements in the links.

Linked files can include the following:

Revit models

CAD files

Point clouds

Saved me from having to Re-install Revit!

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Project Retrospective: Part 2

Continuation from previous posting Project Retrospective Part 1:

Conducting a Project Retrospective Meeting

The task of the facilitator is to guide the team through the review of the project.

• Conduct the meeting if possible in person rather than by teleconference.
• Encourage participation by all team members.
• Use the Project Retrospective guide at the back of this document to facilitate the meeting.
• Select a facilitator. An outside facilitator is recommended as they are less likely to get caught up in the content of the conversation and can encourage participation by all team members. If the BIM manager is not available to facilitate ask the Office Manager to facilitate the meeting.

Plan ahead your discussion points according to the phases of the project. If there are known issues include this in your planned discussion point, cover all discussion points in chronological order of events.

Facilitator approach:

At the start of the meeting the facilitator should start by reminding the team of the purpose of the meeting including:

• The goal is to guide and improve the process and project strategies for a successful project for future project teams.
• Always start with the good points. Begin by asking what went well, what were the successes of the project and why. Identify strategies to ensure successful practises are built into processes and future projects.
• The purpose of the Project Retrospective is not to grade success or failure.
• There are always ways to improve a projects delivery and we all can learn from one another’s experience.
• Participants should share honest observations; everyone has something valuable to contribute.
• Create an atmosphere of openness and ease of voicing their input into the session.
• Go around the room to give everyone the opportunity to speak, prompt quieter members for their input and comments.

The facilitator should employ a variety of discussion techniques to fully explore the discussion topics and to facilitate honest accurate conversation between team members.

Part 3:

Facilitators Approach cont.

Discussion techniques may include...

Suggested Project Retrospective questions.....

More AR

I've been playing with the AR app I've downloaded from AUGMENT

The opportunities to use this tool are endless!

Here's a mini 14 storey tower on my desk which you can hold in your hand, move it around and even see inside the building...

New Customer Experience = Change

As of March 13th 2015 Autodesk are changing how we access the Subscription Center.
The current Sub center will be retiring and you'll be redirected to a "new customer experience"... I just got use to the old one...

However, this is a good thing,  Autodesk are centralizing the subscription services, products (cloud access products such as BPA) and benefits, so it'll be easier to access and more central.

Access your account now by going to: www.autodesk.com/account

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Project Retrospectives: Part 1

After every project we try to have a project retrospective meeting to ask ourselves what went well and what can we improve upon.

Here are some tips for developing your own Project Retrospective Guide which can help review the successes and failures of a project so you can learn from your efforts. 

Sharing your results from the project retrospective with your team can help future teams learn from the successful strategies and avoid the pitfalls you may have overcome, I thoroughly recommend that if you are not currently reviewing your projects upon completion that you do so, it will help you not to repeat past mistakes and allow you to take away lessons learnt from each project. 

The following blog postings are a series on how to run a Project Retrospective meeting.

Who should use the Project Retrospective?

This process is recommended for Project Managers. It is recommended that all members of the team participate in the Project Retrospective and include the Partner in charge of the project as well as your BIM Manager and/or Production Manager.

When should we use the Project Retrospective?

It is recommended that the Project Retrospective be undertaken at the end of a project and include all stages from conceptual design to contract administration, it is crucial that all participants can have input of their experience. A Project Retrospective may be undertaken at any time during the project as a tool to check the current status of a project and to identify possible issues and develop solutions to keep the project profitable. Periodic Project Retrospectives may be completed at project milestones and summarized at the end of project Retrospective meeting.

A Project Retrospective should only take about a hour and can offer insight into project participation and provide a guide for future teams. Using this approach frequently will contribute to a culture of continually improving project delivery and profitability by understanding and solving issues that may arise during a project.

Part 2:

Conducting a Project Retrospective Meeting. The task of the facilitator is to guide the team through the review of the project.

Facilitator approach. At the start of the meeting the facilitator should start by reminding the team of the purpose of the meeting......

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Where Virtual Reality is taking Architectural Design

Imagine designing a building in a virtual environment, similar to what we saw in the movie "Minority Report".

Project Anywhere takes virtual reality gaming to new level, Constantinos Miltiadis, of ETH Zurich, has created Project Anywhere, a real time augmented reality environment where your own body is a digital avatar.

The centrepiece of his proof-of-concept kit are these lightweight Inteligloves that 

Constantinos has developed.

"This is an elastic PLA material that you can 3D print on a home 3D printer. These are flex sensors, we have a wireless module. This is a nine degree of freedom…inertia measuring unit, so it has an accelerometer, gyroscope, and digital compass." 

Using a smart phone which is fitted to a simple 3D-printed headset, users become fully immersed in the VR environment. Eventually (with further development) multiple people could occupy the same virtual space. 

Check out the video care of Reuters Video. 

And, thanks Andrea (from my office) for sending me the link :-).

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Oh, and check these out from Sony

Sony's Morpheus virtual reality helmet set