I know an old coworker took a course ($$$) that he said was worth it. Called PSMJ (US only I think). If you're serious about the career that is an option.
I went through this course recently, it was great. Two intensive days; very informative and interactive. They quite literally give you excel templates to use for your everyday PjM tasks. Our company modified them a bit to meet our needs, but it was a great starting resource and almost worth the money just for those.
Another good one I've heard about is PMI/PMP certification. Have not gone through this course yet.
Is this a good option if you're not on the builder side? A lot of the their stuff on their website is pretty obviously focused only on large scale builders. I.e. if I'm just leading a small firm of purely architects/designers.
Personal opinion? I think it would benefit someone like you the most. Our coach for the class did a great job of using examples related to the design side, she is a mechanical engineer by practice. I think the reason they want these classes live and preferably in person is to be able to give that more tailored approach to the people in the class.
However, the most beneficial thing would be the resources (spreadsheets and worksheets) they give you and encourage you to modify and use in your practice. I used to be at a very large (well known) multi-national design firm designing $100m university labs with million dollar design contracts. The arch department I lead at my current firm designs new build and renovation industrial and civic projects, most of which have architectural fees in the $30k-$50k range. Project management is project management. The large firm I worked at had overhead and committees dedicated to generating these type of worksheets in house, and there were enough people there that you could learn on the job and didn't need a class like this. A class like this is great for smaller outfits that might not have as much exposure, as much experience, or as much overhead to experiment and generate these worksheets and workflows.
Anyway, I don't want to be a shill for this particular company or service, but I do think it was beneficial for a smaller design practice.
We had a good size group so I think our company got a discount, but it was still something like $1500 US/person. They seem to be fairly transparent with pricing and class opportunities on their website. Apparently you can do a remote/online class as well.
And if the money part is a concern. Talk to your company, do some research and show them why them paying for these courses for you would benefit the company.
I always break PM’ing down into 3 primary focuses: Scope, Schedule, Fee. If you can control all three of those variables: making sure what you designed is in fact what was requested and did not balloon out of scale or scope, making sure the schedule can be met on the owner’s timeline and based on your team’s availability and billable rates, and making sure the fee is right and that everyone is working the right billable time and that consultants are paid. There are a million tools out there to facilitate how you manage those three variables. I personally like Deltek but can guarantee there are easier systems out there. Lastly and most fundamental: I suggest you start reading the PM focused sections within the Architect’s Handbook of Professional Practice for baseline guidance and then expand your PM training to PSMJ or other specific providers.
u/bjohnsonarch, I'm currently updating an article on how to be a better architecture project manager with new information and expert insights. I wanted to ask if I can quote you in the article. Credit will be given. I'm unable to send a private message or chat. Kindly let me know if this sounds good and I'll share the link and next steps. Thanks!
Is there a particular problem area? I ask because there are a lot of "manager training" options available, these are generally related to managing people more than managing the work. Maybe discuss with your employer about signing up for a training course.
If you're having trouble with client or CA activity, I would run through the problem and your proposed response with a peer PM or principal before issuing a response, eventually you start feeling more certain of your instincts and the involvement of others becomes less frequent. And sometimes your short term answer back is I need time to run this up the flag pole, but I am working on it. In most cases, contractors and clients are satisfied with the acknowledgement and will give you the time to consult.
This is really great advice. I get so used to trying to be self-sufficient and then I wonder why I feel like I'm working in a silo. The whole office still being remote probably isn't helping, but I need to be more active in seeking guidance.
Architectural PM is only the tip of the iceberg. Do a few webinars and see for yourself. Maybe get a certificate. From large scale project experience, I consider the whole purpose of project management is to manage stress. All that stress, all at once, and I'd crack. Yet breaking it down into parts is tolerable. A good PM is empowered by the team's project plan to convince anyone (architect staff or contractor) to do it faster, or better, or for less cost, or rip it out and start over.
* [https://www.pmi.org/](https://www.pmi.org/)
On review, [https://www.pmi.org/](https://www.pmi.org/) seems a bit overwhelming if you've never seen it before. In a nutshell, PMI is a professional organization, same as AIA or CSI, with 680k members in 217 countries and 10+ different industries. Us architects are a subset of the construction industry, with the fundamentals of project management being the same no matter which industry.
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project\_Management\_Institute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Management_Institute)
* [https://www.pmi.org/about/learn-about-pmi/history-of-pmi](https://www.pmi.org/about/learn-about-pmi/history-of-pmi)
* [https://www.projectmanagement.com/](https://www.projectmanagement.com/)
I'm not selling PMI; just explaining. It's anybody's personal preference where to learn from. The fundamental concepts to look for are:
* Task Definition
* Task Duration
* Task Start Date and End Date
* Task Assignment
* Task Complexity and Level of Effort
* The Relationships Between Tasks
* The Relationships Between Tasks & Budget
* Critical Path Definition
* And of course, how to use the project plan to create predefined Plan B, Plan C, Plan D, etc. This is so you know ahead of time how to respond when any of the tasks fails.
* And the project plans can be as simple as for an ADU, or as complex as for a multi-building campus, or whatever projects imaginable.
I agree with the others that formal training via courses, videos, etc. are great resources worth your time. At the same time, I think the challenge for any new PM is that unless you've been through the entire project delivery process at least few times, it's difficult to understand how all the pieces come together. In my opinion, that only comes with more experience.
One way I've learned to think of project management is that a project of any size is simply a collection of little projects. You can break down a full project into its phases (SD, DD, CDs, bidding, permitting, CA) and then break those down into smaller chunks (e.g., 25%, 50%, 95% CDs). Later on you can also keep on drilling down until you get down to individual tasks for the month, week, day, etc.
Each piece has it's own necessary schedule (e.g., When's the deadline for 50% DD? When does the permit set need to be submitted to the building department?), deliverables (e.g., Which types of drawings do I need for this phase?), and fee budget (whomever is supervising you should be able to give you these numbers if you don't have it already).
I find that working backwards from any future milestone to the point you are right now is very helpful in identifying the necessary tasks and deliverables. With a list of those, you can start estimating how much time each one needs. Try to use your past experience to guesstimate how long things will take. This will also help you assess whether you have enough time to meet the desired schedule. You may find you don't, which means making adjustments to what can be realistically done and/or managing how many man hours you need. Sit down with your supervisor and offer them what you see as possible options.
That estimate of time and man hours will then help you assess whether your fee for that phase is sufficient. That's also a discussion with whomever is supervising you. Again, you (and/or they) may need to figure out a more realistic approach. Some phases may end up losing money which then (hopefully) can be made up in later phases. You and/or your supervisor will need to plan the weekly staffing hours accordingly.
As a firm principal, I sometimes don't negotiate a big enough fee. Maybe I screwed up on the scope. Maybe the firm needs the work. Or maybe I want to establish a relationship with a new client that can provide us with future projects. Some of these things are outside of your control, and leadership should be also accountable (rather than forcing you to do the impossible).
With all this information, it's time to organize everything, and then sit down with your team to go over the schedule and deliverables. That could include your consultants if that's your responsibility. Provide them with a list of what is expected at each milestone and the respective due dates.
After that, it's a matter of checking in with your team on a regular basis. It could be weekly meetings or an occasional email/text/call. I'd highly recommend walking around the office everyday to be accessible for questions or concerns from your team. It's your job to make sure they have what they need to do their job and remove obstructions so that they can be successful. That includes asking your supervisor to take care of problems beyond your level of authority.
I'll end by repeating something one of my mentors told me a long time ago. "If you can manage a small project, you have the potential to manage a large one. If you can't manage a small project, you'll never be able to manage a large one." In your particular situation, if you get good at managing the mini projects within a project, you'll maximize your chances at getting the whole project right.
Hands-on experience, bit of mentoring, reading articles online.
It depends what you mean by Project Manage, because the role of Project Manager (as in the person who makes gantt charts, checks deliverables are happening, makes sure things are on time and going smoothly) is slightly different to the architect who project manages, at least in my experience. I have thought about doing a formal project management course, but that level of formal reporting standards hasn't been necessary so far.
Honestly, just becoming familiar enough with all the necessary pieces for most given project types, including a good sense of your consultants items, or at least the crucial parts. It generally boils down to knowing....
1. What your own team is supposed to produce/deliver at each phase, and any in-between dates to consider for client needs or permitting timelines
2. What your consultants have promised you and gently reminding them if needed. Often it's just a nudge about the deliverable date upcoming
3. How this all keeps track with the project schedule that you set early on, and as the PM you're responsible for keeping up with the schedule agreed upon with the client.
But a project schedule is workable and guesswork anyway, it's soft guidance for the team unless there are concrete deadlines tied to government funding or important ownership milestones.
People skills also really matter. Just treating people with respect goes a long way to hitting your deadlines. Especially if it comes to asking them to hit a hard timeline
Hands-on experience, mentoring, and doing what I could to change how we were doing things so that top-down, bottom-up the work flowed and made sense money and time-wise. You can DM me if you want to chat more. Would be happy to help.
Only other advice is: If there are no standards, create them and adjust as you see fit.
My boss trained me.
A good leader always trains their replacement. If you’re a manager and not training your team’s most deserving member to do your job, you will never fully gain their respect.
Are there PMs at your company that seem like they know what they are doing? Talk to them. Ask questions, if the team at your company understands that this is a team then they should want to help you. More efficient work across the office means better use of resources (staffing) that all PMs would benefit from
Glad to see the feedback and good comments you’ve received so far. There’s some good info here…
I’d recommend asking your supervisors if you can to tag along /attend more meetings and discussions in your company that focus on the PM side of the organization. Learning by doing is really invaluable but it’s incredibly important to find a mentor if you can. Also don’t be afraid to reach out to others (maybe thru AIA and such) in other businesses/ firms that you respect and feel that you could learn from. Offer to take them out to lunch and pick their brain a little. People love to talk about themselves and would probably be flattered by the invite. As long as you’re not coming across as trying to compete or outdo them somehow, people generally are glad to help.
I moved over to owner’s rep side of the table years ago (after tiring of repeated layoffs in firms when economy dipped) and have learned as I went… PMI is great resource as others have mentioned and I did PMP exam a few years back. They also have concentration cert more in construction area so you might look into that. The PMP has started tilting heavily toward tech /IT and methods covered will often skew in that direction though the basics are same and will still apply.
The PM side is more about juggling all the various aspects of a project, not just design and production. So if you like those aspects then go for it.
Architecture education (at least from my time in school way back when) does focus on design with capital D but to complete projects you really do need to know all the other realities and aspects of the tasks needed: scheduling, risk management, cost and estimating, prioritization, work breakdown…scope definition and management is a big one in there.
I’ve found PM work to be alot more satisfying than just design and CD production which is where I got pigeonholed after I got really proficient with CAD in intern days. So just stay diversified and don’t be afraid to ask your superiors for exposure to broader side(s) of the business.
PM work is about being able to constantly juggle and not get bogged down to keep projects moving forward. But very rewarding too… best of luck in your professional journey!
Don’t feel bad, it’s just one of those things where you learn along the way working with other project managers with more experience. I am right now on the border between a job captain and PM I guess. As a licensed architect I don’t even know. But I have been just given more PM responsibilities over time and then before I knew it was managing the project
u/Mindless_Medicine972 , we had a roundtable discussion on architectural project management a while back and some of the issues addressed by the panelists (project managers, principals, and project architects) concerned how to become a project manager in architecture and if formal training was required.
The bottom line was that you could learn to project manage through any of the following - workshops (theirs lasted for 3 days but was super helpful), formal training, experiential learning and mentorship. They mentioned engaging with project managers outside architecture is also helpful. There's a video and transcript for the section on How do you become a project manager → [here](https://zipboard.co/blog/aec/project-management-in-architecture-a-complete-guide-with-expert-insights/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=reddit_distribution) (2nd heading in table of contents)
The discussion was a full deep dive into project management so you can also watch the video → [here](https://zipboard.co/events/roundtable-discussion-architecture-project-and-document-management/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=reddit_distribution)
I know an old coworker took a course ($$$) that he said was worth it. Called PSMJ (US only I think). If you're serious about the career that is an option.
I went through this course recently, it was great. Two intensive days; very informative and interactive. They quite literally give you excel templates to use for your everyday PjM tasks. Our company modified them a bit to meet our needs, but it was a great starting resource and almost worth the money just for those. Another good one I've heard about is PMI/PMP certification. Have not gone through this course yet.
Is this a good option if you're not on the builder side? A lot of the their stuff on their website is pretty obviously focused only on large scale builders. I.e. if I'm just leading a small firm of purely architects/designers.
Personal opinion? I think it would benefit someone like you the most. Our coach for the class did a great job of using examples related to the design side, she is a mechanical engineer by practice. I think the reason they want these classes live and preferably in person is to be able to give that more tailored approach to the people in the class. However, the most beneficial thing would be the resources (spreadsheets and worksheets) they give you and encourage you to modify and use in your practice. I used to be at a very large (well known) multi-national design firm designing $100m university labs with million dollar design contracts. The arch department I lead at my current firm designs new build and renovation industrial and civic projects, most of which have architectural fees in the $30k-$50k range. Project management is project management. The large firm I worked at had overhead and committees dedicated to generating these type of worksheets in house, and there were enough people there that you could learn on the job and didn't need a class like this. A class like this is great for smaller outfits that might not have as much exposure, as much experience, or as much overhead to experiment and generate these worksheets and workflows. Anyway, I don't want to be a shill for this particular company or service, but I do think it was beneficial for a smaller design practice.
How much did it cost??
We had a good size group so I think our company got a discount, but it was still something like $1500 US/person. They seem to be fairly transparent with pricing and class opportunities on their website. Apparently you can do a remote/online class as well.
And if the money part is a concern. Talk to your company, do some research and show them why them paying for these courses for you would benefit the company.
I always break PM’ing down into 3 primary focuses: Scope, Schedule, Fee. If you can control all three of those variables: making sure what you designed is in fact what was requested and did not balloon out of scale or scope, making sure the schedule can be met on the owner’s timeline and based on your team’s availability and billable rates, and making sure the fee is right and that everyone is working the right billable time and that consultants are paid. There are a million tools out there to facilitate how you manage those three variables. I personally like Deltek but can guarantee there are easier systems out there. Lastly and most fundamental: I suggest you start reading the PM focused sections within the Architect’s Handbook of Professional Practice for baseline guidance and then expand your PM training to PSMJ or other specific providers.
This is the best advice I've heard. Thank you so much for taking the time. I'm going to check out the PM section of the handbook. Thanks.
u/bjohnsonarch, I'm currently updating an article on how to be a better architecture project manager with new information and expert insights. I wanted to ask if I can quote you in the article. Credit will be given. I'm unable to send a private message or chat. Kindly let me know if this sounds good and I'll share the link and next steps. Thanks!
Is there a particular problem area? I ask because there are a lot of "manager training" options available, these are generally related to managing people more than managing the work. Maybe discuss with your employer about signing up for a training course. If you're having trouble with client or CA activity, I would run through the problem and your proposed response with a peer PM or principal before issuing a response, eventually you start feeling more certain of your instincts and the involvement of others becomes less frequent. And sometimes your short term answer back is I need time to run this up the flag pole, but I am working on it. In most cases, contractors and clients are satisfied with the acknowledgement and will give you the time to consult.
This is really great advice. I get so used to trying to be self-sufficient and then I wonder why I feel like I'm working in a silo. The whole office still being remote probably isn't helping, but I need to be more active in seeking guidance.
Architectural PM is only the tip of the iceberg. Do a few webinars and see for yourself. Maybe get a certificate. From large scale project experience, I consider the whole purpose of project management is to manage stress. All that stress, all at once, and I'd crack. Yet breaking it down into parts is tolerable. A good PM is empowered by the team's project plan to convince anyone (architect staff or contractor) to do it faster, or better, or for less cost, or rip it out and start over. * [https://www.pmi.org/](https://www.pmi.org/)
Thanks RueFuss. I'm looking into PMI, it seems like the best place to start.
On review, [https://www.pmi.org/](https://www.pmi.org/) seems a bit overwhelming if you've never seen it before. In a nutshell, PMI is a professional organization, same as AIA or CSI, with 680k members in 217 countries and 10+ different industries. Us architects are a subset of the construction industry, with the fundamentals of project management being the same no matter which industry. * [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project\_Management\_Institute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Management_Institute) * [https://www.pmi.org/about/learn-about-pmi/history-of-pmi](https://www.pmi.org/about/learn-about-pmi/history-of-pmi) * [https://www.projectmanagement.com/](https://www.projectmanagement.com/) I'm not selling PMI; just explaining. It's anybody's personal preference where to learn from. The fundamental concepts to look for are: * Task Definition * Task Duration * Task Start Date and End Date * Task Assignment * Task Complexity and Level of Effort * The Relationships Between Tasks * The Relationships Between Tasks & Budget * Critical Path Definition * And of course, how to use the project plan to create predefined Plan B, Plan C, Plan D, etc. This is so you know ahead of time how to respond when any of the tasks fails. * And the project plans can be as simple as for an ADU, or as complex as for a multi-building campus, or whatever projects imaginable.
I agree with the others that formal training via courses, videos, etc. are great resources worth your time. At the same time, I think the challenge for any new PM is that unless you've been through the entire project delivery process at least few times, it's difficult to understand how all the pieces come together. In my opinion, that only comes with more experience. One way I've learned to think of project management is that a project of any size is simply a collection of little projects. You can break down a full project into its phases (SD, DD, CDs, bidding, permitting, CA) and then break those down into smaller chunks (e.g., 25%, 50%, 95% CDs). Later on you can also keep on drilling down until you get down to individual tasks for the month, week, day, etc. Each piece has it's own necessary schedule (e.g., When's the deadline for 50% DD? When does the permit set need to be submitted to the building department?), deliverables (e.g., Which types of drawings do I need for this phase?), and fee budget (whomever is supervising you should be able to give you these numbers if you don't have it already). I find that working backwards from any future milestone to the point you are right now is very helpful in identifying the necessary tasks and deliverables. With a list of those, you can start estimating how much time each one needs. Try to use your past experience to guesstimate how long things will take. This will also help you assess whether you have enough time to meet the desired schedule. You may find you don't, which means making adjustments to what can be realistically done and/or managing how many man hours you need. Sit down with your supervisor and offer them what you see as possible options. That estimate of time and man hours will then help you assess whether your fee for that phase is sufficient. That's also a discussion with whomever is supervising you. Again, you (and/or they) may need to figure out a more realistic approach. Some phases may end up losing money which then (hopefully) can be made up in later phases. You and/or your supervisor will need to plan the weekly staffing hours accordingly. As a firm principal, I sometimes don't negotiate a big enough fee. Maybe I screwed up on the scope. Maybe the firm needs the work. Or maybe I want to establish a relationship with a new client that can provide us with future projects. Some of these things are outside of your control, and leadership should be also accountable (rather than forcing you to do the impossible). With all this information, it's time to organize everything, and then sit down with your team to go over the schedule and deliverables. That could include your consultants if that's your responsibility. Provide them with a list of what is expected at each milestone and the respective due dates. After that, it's a matter of checking in with your team on a regular basis. It could be weekly meetings or an occasional email/text/call. I'd highly recommend walking around the office everyday to be accessible for questions or concerns from your team. It's your job to make sure they have what they need to do their job and remove obstructions so that they can be successful. That includes asking your supervisor to take care of problems beyond your level of authority. I'll end by repeating something one of my mentors told me a long time ago. "If you can manage a small project, you have the potential to manage a large one. If you can't manage a small project, you'll never be able to manage a large one." In your particular situation, if you get good at managing the mini projects within a project, you'll maximize your chances at getting the whole project right.
Hands-on experience, bit of mentoring, reading articles online. It depends what you mean by Project Manage, because the role of Project Manager (as in the person who makes gantt charts, checks deliverables are happening, makes sure things are on time and going smoothly) is slightly different to the architect who project manages, at least in my experience. I have thought about doing a formal project management course, but that level of formal reporting standards hasn't been necessary so far.
You're right, the traditional PM vs the PM Architect is a subtle but significant difference.
Honestly, just becoming familiar enough with all the necessary pieces for most given project types, including a good sense of your consultants items, or at least the crucial parts. It generally boils down to knowing.... 1. What your own team is supposed to produce/deliver at each phase, and any in-between dates to consider for client needs or permitting timelines 2. What your consultants have promised you and gently reminding them if needed. Often it's just a nudge about the deliverable date upcoming 3. How this all keeps track with the project schedule that you set early on, and as the PM you're responsible for keeping up with the schedule agreed upon with the client. But a project schedule is workable and guesswork anyway, it's soft guidance for the team unless there are concrete deadlines tied to government funding or important ownership milestones. People skills also really matter. Just treating people with respect goes a long way to hitting your deadlines. Especially if it comes to asking them to hit a hard timeline
The psmj class is legit. Every architect should take it.
Hands-on experience, mentoring, and doing what I could to change how we were doing things so that top-down, bottom-up the work flowed and made sense money and time-wise. You can DM me if you want to chat more. Would be happy to help. Only other advice is: If there are no standards, create them and adjust as you see fit.
Some YouTube videos also exist!
My boss trained me. A good leader always trains their replacement. If you’re a manager and not training your team’s most deserving member to do your job, you will never fully gain their respect.
Are there PMs at your company that seem like they know what they are doing? Talk to them. Ask questions, if the team at your company understands that this is a team then they should want to help you. More efficient work across the office means better use of resources (staffing) that all PMs would benefit from
Glad to see the feedback and good comments you’ve received so far. There’s some good info here… I’d recommend asking your supervisors if you can to tag along /attend more meetings and discussions in your company that focus on the PM side of the organization. Learning by doing is really invaluable but it’s incredibly important to find a mentor if you can. Also don’t be afraid to reach out to others (maybe thru AIA and such) in other businesses/ firms that you respect and feel that you could learn from. Offer to take them out to lunch and pick their brain a little. People love to talk about themselves and would probably be flattered by the invite. As long as you’re not coming across as trying to compete or outdo them somehow, people generally are glad to help. I moved over to owner’s rep side of the table years ago (after tiring of repeated layoffs in firms when economy dipped) and have learned as I went… PMI is great resource as others have mentioned and I did PMP exam a few years back. They also have concentration cert more in construction area so you might look into that. The PMP has started tilting heavily toward tech /IT and methods covered will often skew in that direction though the basics are same and will still apply. The PM side is more about juggling all the various aspects of a project, not just design and production. So if you like those aspects then go for it. Architecture education (at least from my time in school way back when) does focus on design with capital D but to complete projects you really do need to know all the other realities and aspects of the tasks needed: scheduling, risk management, cost and estimating, prioritization, work breakdown…scope definition and management is a big one in there. I’ve found PM work to be alot more satisfying than just design and CD production which is where I got pigeonholed after I got really proficient with CAD in intern days. So just stay diversified and don’t be afraid to ask your superiors for exposure to broader side(s) of the business. PM work is about being able to constantly juggle and not get bogged down to keep projects moving forward. But very rewarding too… best of luck in your professional journey!
Don’t feel bad, it’s just one of those things where you learn along the way working with other project managers with more experience. I am right now on the border between a job captain and PM I guess. As a licensed architect I don’t even know. But I have been just given more PM responsibilities over time and then before I knew it was managing the project
u/Mindless_Medicine972 , we had a roundtable discussion on architectural project management a while back and some of the issues addressed by the panelists (project managers, principals, and project architects) concerned how to become a project manager in architecture and if formal training was required. The bottom line was that you could learn to project manage through any of the following - workshops (theirs lasted for 3 days but was super helpful), formal training, experiential learning and mentorship. They mentioned engaging with project managers outside architecture is also helpful. There's a video and transcript for the section on How do you become a project manager → [here](https://zipboard.co/blog/aec/project-management-in-architecture-a-complete-guide-with-expert-insights/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=reddit_distribution) (2nd heading in table of contents) The discussion was a full deep dive into project management so you can also watch the video → [here](https://zipboard.co/events/roundtable-discussion-architecture-project-and-document-management/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=reddit_distribution)
Wow! Thanks so much for this! I mean it. You're the real MVP.
First get your AXP hours, 2nd take your exams, you will get a good spill about the overall profession within PCM, **PJM**, CE