Project Reset… When is it a good time to Reset your Project?

Occasionally you may feel that your project may be going off the rails. It could be for any number of reasons including, but not limited to: changing of the project team members, absence from the project, or drastic changes in the design or schedule.

You may need to take a step back and “Rest” the project.

Here are the 5 steps to resetting your project.

1: Review the Project Execution Plan

Review the Project Execution Plan with the project manager and update the PxP if needed (it probably is). By reviewing the PxP you can evaluate how far off the rails the project actually is. Often it’s just a case of reminding the team of the project goals, or their roles and responsibilities and bring everyone back together working as a team.

2: Come together

After reviewing the project goals and scope it’s time to bring together the current project team, and if possible include past team members as they will be valuable contributors to the conversation. Explain the situation to the team and ask for their input, including challenges and current obstacles. Make the project team aware that you are available "one on one" to discuss further as some team members may not be comfortable raising issues in a group setting.

If the issues are not just internal and include the wider project team it may be time to hold an “emergency” meeting. I typically schedule a face to face BIM Lead meeting at least every 6 months, even every three months if it’s a large complex project. Face to face meetings are crucial to developing relationships with the wider project team resulting in an increased willingness to work together and can quite often resolve simple misunderstandings. 

3: Make a list of the current issues

List the challenges staff are having, what the project challenges are, and the barriers to moving forward. From this list, you will be able to address these challenges that are preventing the project from moving forward, and find resolutions. This may require input from the managing principle as well.

Review the current status of the project, this may involve someone from outside the project to review the “quality” of the current state of the project and what's been developed so far. Having a discerning outside opinion of the project, someone who can identify current issues and potential future problems can help identify and avoid issues going forward.

4: Face the Music, to make Music

Doesn’t matter who is responsible for errors, the main thing is to address the issues. Draw upon your resources and delegate, bring in the big guns if necessary and work hard to resolve your team issues.

The harder you work with your team the harder they will work for you.

Address staff needs, if issues are caused by inexperience or workload or lack of management support take note and provide resources to address the project teams needs.

5: Learn lessons

Take note and learn from the experience. Was it a failure of executing a process, or is there an error in the process? Take steps to remedy the situation!

The ultimate goal is to bring the project back into being a successful profitable project. Projects that go off the rails are demoralizing for the project team and has an impact on the profitability of the project and ultimately of the firm. We are all responsible for the success of your project, and if you are in a position of leadership you are especially responsible for identifying projects that are starting to go off the rails.

It’s never too late and always worth the effort!

Update: 1/19/2018.
Interesting article for when to reset your company.
http://chiefmartec.com/2016/11/martecs-law-great-management-challenge-21st-century/

BIM Coordination Meetings

Do you have BIM Coordination Meetings at the start of a new project?

I just facilitated such a meeting for a large project we are working on here in Vancouver. I had to coordinate all the consulting parties involved including the construction company and have them commit to send their BIM lead or BIM captains to a two day meeting here in Vancouver. This meant most of the people had to fly in and stay a couple nights for this meeting which is an expense and time away from the office.

in this case having this face to face BIM lead meeting is soooo worth it... I cant emphasis enough the value of this type of meeting. I've facilitated a number of these types of meetings on a number of different projects all with the same results.

During these BIM Coordination Meetings we are able to achieve the following.

We go over the BIM Execution Plan so everyone clearly understands what is expected from them, we then go over what we expect to be modelled and usually there is a lengthy discussion on what should be modelled and what shouldn't. We talk about LOD and frequently make requests of the consultants on specific items we would like modelled depending upon the complexity of the project.

We discuss coordination strategies, establish a method for sharing each others models, clash detection schedule etc.... it's a very worthwhile meeting sorting out the ground rules for modelling and getting to know each of the consultants face to face. 

These meetings also serve the purpose of forming a team bond, if you personally know the consultant you're working with and understand some of the challenges they face on the project you'll be more inclined to be willing to work together when things get tough, and things will always get tough at some point. It's how you are able to deal with the issues and work as a team for the benefit of the project that counts.

Having a face to face meeting with your consultants to discuss these issues can set a prescience for communication which in turn will form a team approach on the project. A "win win" for everyone involved. 
We also had a "site" visit the next day so everyone can see the scope and conditions of the site giving everyone a much better understanding of the project and some of the challenges involved.  

So for your next project if you have not already scheduled a face to face coordination meeting think about scheduling one, the benefits are priceless.

For this current project I'm very fortunate that were working with a great team of consultants who are not only accommodating to our needs but are very competent modellers who are a pleasure to work with and who are willing and able to offer their skills to this project to make it a success.

Working on large projects with great consultants! What can be better?

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Managing a Revit Project the Do's: Part 2

Here is the final part of "What to watch out for when managing a Revit Project" a continuation of the last series of post's but now we'll look at the Do's.

Once again this was taken from a 2009 class called "Autodesk Revit for Project Managers" by James Balding and Scott Davis.

Get consultants, GC's and owners involved early and often: This is very important. The earlier the entire team is on board the most successful the project will be. It's easier to make design decisions early in the process and if everyone is on board decisions can be made together.

Model for change and VE: Swapping out objects in Revit for other objects is easy, as long as proper standards are followed.

Keep the design team close: As PM's, keep the team in close proximity to one another in the office. Revit facilitates communication and changes can happen quickly that impact the entire team. Keeping them close together allows for better communication faster.

Set Goals (by project): Goals in any process are important to measure success. Set the goals, reach for the goals and then be sure to determine if you met the goals. If not, find out why not and learn from your mistakes.

Use your reseller as a resource: Resellers have teams of people for training and support. Many of them have industry experience, use them for questions, support, advice etc. They are there to help you.

Understand constraints: Revit creates relationships between objects, users can add relationships to constraints. Understand what these constraints are and how they work.

Levels and Grids etc.: Know what levels and grids do, and how objects get constrained to them.

Support the best hardware: Revit needs power! Support Revit by feeding it processor speed and RAM. Don't expect a tool like this to run well on an old underpowered hardware.

Managing a Revit Project the Do's: Part 1

Here is a continuation of "What to watch out for when managing a Revit Project" a continuation of the last series of post's but now we'll look at the Do's.

Once again this was taken from a 2009 class called "Autodesk Revit for Project Managers" by James Balding and Scott Davis.

Relinquish upon STC: Be sure to always relinquish control of objects when you save to central. This allows others on the team to access them while you are out.

Have a Kickoff strategy session: You cannot plan enough. Be sure to kick off the project right. Use this meeting to set expectations and get the project heading in the right direction.

Focus on the deliverable: What do you need to get the project done? A well designed, well coordinated set of documents. Know what you need and focus on making it happen.

Be open minded: There will be times in a Revit project that things don't "work the way they did in CAD". Be open minded to change and realize that CD's don't have to be the same that they have for the last 25 years. change is good!

Expect training: Proper training and ongoing training are the most important aspect of a Revit project and implementation.

Detach from CENTRAL: Detaching a file from the Central file allows the PM to make any changes without affecting the Central file. Detaching from Central allows you to safely play with the model without affecting the rest of the teams work.

Have whole teams on the same build: Builds in Revit are "versions" in between the main releases. If the Architect is on Service Pack 2 then make sure the MEP and Structural consultants are also on Service Pack 2.

Use a "Sketch Project" to experiment: A sketch project is a new separate project, where you can cut and past back into the main model if you like.

What to watch out for when managing a Revit Project: Part 3

Here is the final post of the Dont's "What to watch out for when managing a Revit Project" a continuation of the last post.
Once again this was taken from a 2009 class called "Autodesk Revit for Project Managers" by James Balding and Scott Davis.

Expect it to be like CAD!:  This is not AutoCAD. There are no layers, and no command line. This is BIM and it is different to ACAD.

Drag elements (press and drag):  Dragging elements or dragging across elements can move them. This will affect the entire model and all views. Turn off Press and Drag if you tend to click and drag the cursor around the screen.
I always tell my users to Pin objects, especially when the basic design is done this will help eliminate those anomalies of moving walls etc...

Upgrade the model: There is no backwards compatibility in Revit. You cannot do a "Saveas" and save down in Revit. If a project team, including consultants, is using a specific version don't open the file and save it using a newer version.
When and if the entire team are ready to upgrade to a newer version do so but make sire everyone including the consultants are on board and are ready to do the upgrade. Some projects can go for years and often new releases have additional tools that can greatly assist production.

Move levels: Levels define Vertical space in Revit. Moving a Level can move walls, doors, windows, ceilings, floors roofs and more. Levels are set early in a project and usually do not need to be adjusted during a project. If they need adjusting allow an experienced team member to do it.

Get enamoured by 3D: Revit is a great 3D and at building models. Don't get too caught up in 3D so that you begin to over model or expect your project teams to model too much. A really great model of a 3D toilet might look good for a perspective view, but placing hundreds of them in a model unnecessarily in a project will just slow things down.
Actually I would prefer to place model WC components rather than 2D symbols... it's a real balancing act...

Expect to learn it overnight: Revit is a complex building modeling and documentation tool. It's very intuitive to learn but it will take some time to master it.

Explode anything!!: Just like in AutoCAD exploding is BAD! Dont do it!

What to watch out for when managing a Revit Project: Part 2

Here is part 2 of "What to watch out for when managing a Revit Project"  a continuation of the last post.

Once again this was taken from  a 2009 class called "Autodesk Revit for Project Managers" by James Balding and Scott Davis.

Do's and Dont's

The following list represents the do's and dont's for a Project Manager on any given project. These can vary greatly based on the level of experience a PM has with Revit and their roll as a "Technical" or "Managing" PM.

Oversell/promise the deliverable: Know your BIM limitations. Do not promise energy analysis on your Revit pilot projects if you don't know how to achieve results.

Open the file: This could go either way. If you are a Technical PM, then of course, open the file. If you are a Managing PM and don't know how Revit works, you could really mess things up if you open the file.
My personal thoughts on this comment: I will teach our managing PM's the basics of Revit so they can explore the model, seek information and print what they need using a Revit Viewer which doesn't allow them to save.

Open/Delete/Rename or Move the CENTRAL file: Central file are VERY important. Once they are created it's important that they remain exactly where they were created.

Force a Dimension: This innt AutoCAD, you cant for a dimension in REvit. If the dimension is wrong the model is wrong. Fix the model!!

Erase it if you don't know what it is: Lines in Revit views can represent any number of things and often are live 3D objects. Deleting a line could be the edge of a wall that hosts a door or window with dimensions and notes. If you delete it all that work in all the other views is gone!

Leave a file open: Leaving a file open means that others cannot access it, or in a workset environment, could mean they cant access objects you've checked out. Close the file when your done.

Over Model: Over modeling in unnecessary and will slow the model and the entire process. Only model what you can see. At smaller scales use detail components to describe the detail.
A good rule of thumb here is "Model what you would see if you were standing across the street".

What to watch out for when managing a Revit Project: Part 1

I recently found these great little "nuggets" of information while going through some old Autodesk University (AU) handouts.


By the way I do go through my old AU handouts often as they contain great information such as the following taken from a 2009 class called "Autodesk Revit for Project Managers" by James Balding and Scott Davis.


What to watch out for when Managing a Revit Project


The "Overmodeler": In Revit there is a saying that says "just because you can model it doesn't mean you have too". Be careful to watch out for those that want to model everything down to the smallest details. Think about what needs to be shown in a view at a particular scale and only model to that level of detail. Detail items should only be shown as 2D detail items. Unnecessary modeling makes the models large and will slow the project down.


Sloppy Modeling: There is a correct way to model in Revit, and a wrong way to model. Items should be drawn using the appropriate category. Do not use Massing in Revit to model items that are not massing. Do not try to "fake" things in Revit. you are building a virtual version of the building. Sloppy modeling leads to sloppy construction.


Atempts to tun Revit into AutoCAD: Revit is NOT AutoCAD. It's not based on AutoCAD and its functions are very different from AutoCAD. Do not attempt to compare the workflow in Revit to that of AutoCAD. For example, "In AutoCAD we would just do it like this...." Statements like this will just undermine your efforts. The sooner you can understand this, the more successful you will be in Revit.


Cutting Corners "to get the job out the door": Don't cut corners! Once again, the process in Revit is different, It my take a little longer initially to get a piece of the model designed but in the end, the process is faster.