Design manager: design management plan-performance review

Design Manager: Design Management Plan Performance Review is the tenth article of a series of articles about design management in architecture practice. I have discussed in the previous articles what is design management, who is the design manager in practice, what a project or firm design management plan, what are the key functions of the design management plan in practice, what needs to be managed in a firm in practice, and this article is the fifth article on building and writing a design management plan.

The design management plan includes performance reviews for all the employees in the architecture division of a firm. Performance review is a major activity conducted every year in the architecture firm for position upgrades and salary increments. It is also a major activity to gauge the firm yearly benefit from business operations.

Performance review includes these major work characteristics:

Quality of work, contribution to teamwork, contribution to firm profitability, staff development, staff grievances, and personal factors.

These are the major work characteristics that all professional boards and agencies communicate in their websites, publications, online courses, development programs, and accreditation and professional upgrades.

In reality and practice, there are major characteristics that are available in the firm work and environment that lead automatically to the achievement of other characteristics.

Firms around the world rely on the quality management system totally to conduct an audit and review every specific time yearly or half a year to check the company’s performance and employees and to get the ISO certificate. Now is the ISO quality management system applicable to architecture and urban design work? Is architecture like a car manufacture? Is architecture like Pepsi cola manufacture? Is the process of creation of architecture similar to these products?

Quality management systems and ISO certificates are concerned with seven principles whenever they are available the ISO certificate is awarded. These are customer focus, leadership, engagement of people, process approach, improvement, evidence-based decision-making, and relationship management. The ISO quality management system booklet is available here.

Architecture work is related to human activity and comfort whether it is physical or psychological. Architecture has the art, engineering, and science dimension serving the client’s requirements (Human). Now how does the design management plan check work performance and how to gauge the art, engineering, and science work? You can refer to my book on how to build an indicator in architecture research and work.  

Quality of work in an architecture firm is related to different factors from the design dimension such as client satisfaction, innovation, and creativity, work that exceeds standards to achieve project goals, compatibility with the structural system, compatibility with the mechanical system, architectural design adaptation to structural and mechanical systems change, and compatibility with a building envelop system and construction method.

From the draughting dimension such as drafting quality, use of the latest ICT in developing design drawings, following the internal system.

When the client is satisfied with the architecture submitted to him, he will be glad to pass more jobs and he will talk to other clients about this satisfaction that leads to more jobs, and it is marketing for the architecture firm without any effort and without paying money for marketing agency. Client satisfaction leads to obtaining design consultancy payments on time which provides cash flow for the firm to cover operations.

Innovation and creativity in architectural design are the keys to the firm success and satisfying the client and his goals from the project. Innovation in architecture has five primary elements in practice. what a building design means, and the thinking behind its creation thus it is informative. A building designed in a specific place in the world reflects its context and here it’s about personal or place identity. Firms do architecture design based on academic principles and many develop their approach to architectural design starting from the form or building function, here this represents the architectural design procedure. Architecture here registers the time when events happen in history like the introduction of the deconstruction movement. Social problems happened in the past like the austerity of the 1930s, deprivation of inner cities because of world wars, and bad living conditions because of poverty Leeds to new architecture as an improvement to the previous architecture like the international style to cover the failures of modern architecture. You can read my full article about measuring and gauging innovation in architecture here. See Figure 1, innovation in architecture.

Architecture developed since the old ages when there was no formal education to academic and professional education to establish standards based on the best work in practice and reality. The standards are those that all architecture firms follow, and many developed their standards that exceed the traditional standards. That includes in structural design where the firm exceeds the safety requirements of the building structure. In mechanical engineering exceeding the comfort zone requirements in cooling and heating, safety of fire systems, and drainage systems of the building.

Compatibility with structural systems like normal concrete structure systems or steel structure systems is the base to measure performance. Architecture like the one in Figure 1 that can fit any normal system will fall in the highest level of innovation and creativity. Other systems that fit with the architectural design like the mechanical system, firefighting system, and drainage system like any other architecture building.

Architectural design changes from the concept design, minor or major changes, and also the other way around when the other systems change, and the architecture adapts this change without making major changes is the top measure of best performance.

Finally, the architecture compatibility with the building envelope system whether it is curtain wall, aluminium cladding, concrete cladding, or paint and stone cladding. The ease of implementing the construction of the building envelope system is a measure of best performance. The architecture of the building considers the construction method after the concept design stage the more it is compatible the more it is considered at the topmost performance.

The design management plan in implementing client goals and satisfaction means the firm is operating in the uptrend of quality work and gaining optimum benefit. When the firm is providing innovative architecture that means all the firm including the employees are following the internal system and the quality standards. When the architecture presented to the client is compatible with all the systems that means there is high cooperation between all divisions and there is strong mutual relation. When the architecture presented adapts to change to other system requirements that means there is high cooperation, adaptability, adjustment, and understanding of employee responsibility to accomplish work to quality and beyond that brings benefit not only in terms of money but also reputation to the firm. Compatibility of architecture to the building envelop and construction method means high cooperation between the design and construction divisions, and cooperation between the employees in the two divisions to achieve quality standards in work, communication, development, transferring data and information, and turning the architecture into reality and achieving client goals and firm goals and benefit.

In the same way in the design management plan if the performance review concerns an employee, it should consider the same factors, elements, and measures to gauge the employee’s performance. That includes how much his work satisfied the client, what level of innovation his work is, how much his work is compatible and adjustable to the other employee’s work and environment, how much he is cooperating with higher management and employees and internal system and rules, how much his work is benefiting the company, how much the employee is adapting to change and development whether the company is providing development programs or he is funding his development to cope with firm work and requirements.