Delivering profitable projects requires good project management. Consistent profitability, on the other hand, requires much more. Consistent and reliable profitability requires that firms have a symbiotic relationship between project managers and the firm’s operations team (administrators, finance, and leadership).
The problem is, most architecture and engineering firms unintentionally put firm operations and project delivery at odds. Each side speaks a different language – one side talks dollars and cents, while the other talks tasks and deliverables. One side is focused on revenue/billing projections while the other is scrambling to get drawings out the door. Any of this starting to sound familiar?
Both operations and project delivery are critical for profitable projects, so how then do you get everyone on the same page and be more consistent? It comes down to better understanding three key issues.
- Start speaking the same language
- Two groups walk into a room, one speaking English and the other speaking Chinese, will that be a productive meeting? Of course not. The same situation often applies to internal meetings at your firm, it’s just not as obvious. Firm operations come to the table speaking “revenue/billings, AR/WIP, and utilization.” On the other hand, project managers are fluent in “tasks, deliverables, and milestones.”
- Start by identifying one to two key metrics on each side of the table. A conversation around why metrics are important and how these metrics (whatever you choose) will help your PMs in their day-to-day can be very beneficial. Further, PMs need to help project accountants (or similar role) understand the pace of deadlines to create realistic expectations around when projections and plans will be updated
- Establish realistic expectations
- This is probably the most difficult of the bunch. Project managers are in that role because they are experienced and have a proven history of success. Therefore, they should be able to keep those darn staffing plans and projections up to date, right?!
- Well, it’s not that simple. More than ever, project managers are managing a web of overlapping and shifting deadlines. They also need to keep up to date on increasingly complex design software. Combine all of this with keeping projects on budget and clients happy, and there isn’t much time or head space left for anything else.
- Operations and PMs need to engage in a discussion around responsibilities and expectations. If that conversation happened two years ago, do it again. Your PMs may have too much on their plate or have tasks that could be done more effectively by an administrative assistant or project accountant. Lastly, if some PMs don’t want to take on these new expectations and responsibilities, don’t be afraid to discuss moving out of the PM role. If handled in the right way, it isn’t seen as a demotion and sets clear expectations for what it means to be a (capital PM) Project Manager at your firm.
- Technology is your friend
- On top of everything else, why are PMs learning new design software? The answer is simple – it’s what the client wants and it helps them be more productive. Once you set the expectation around profitability, projections, utilization, you name it – there are software tools to help your PMs beyond spreadsheets!
- Tools like Planifi’s Visual Planning software help PMs be more effective in their planning and staffing efforts. By establishing a single source of truth for staffing and projections, your firm can have more effective discussions around projects and firm-wide objectives. Lastly, rather than inundating your teams with irrelevant data, Visual Planning delivers the right data points when and where they’re relevant to help drive your firm towards consistent profitability.
About the Author: Jake Kempfer leads sales and marketing at Planifi. Planifi is the only solutions provider solely focused on A/E planning and staffing software.
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