| My Design/Build Coach Articles for Remodleing and Design/Build Professionals | |||
Record, Measure, Transfer These basic communication tools are an integral part of business communications. Have you ever had to change your cellular phone service? First you have to figure out if you have any time left on your contract with your existing carrier. If so, you pay a whopping fee to cancel the contract. Then, you must choose a telephone that is compatible with the new carrier. If you want a picture phone or PDA, you better be prepared to spend long hours acquainting yourself with the new technology. At least now we can keep our old cellular telephone numbers and avoid having to reprint business cards, signage, letterhead, etc. Like most professional design/builders, your cell phone is the lifeline to your business. It is one of the vital tools used in the transfer of project information. But is merely transferring information enough? Actually, there are three basic communication requirements that are integral to successful business operations: recording, measuring and transferring. Recording entails collecting data. Measuring that data requires an analysis on the part of the person who recorded it. Transferring is the act of sending the information to the appropriate recipient(s). Our communications toolbox consists of different products that allow us to “talk” to the design/build team. That toolbox could include cellular phones, pagers, PDAs, digital cameras, laptop computers with Internet access or plain old land-line telephones. Some of those tools can perform all three actions needed for information transmittal. For example, a PDA that has a camera could take a photograph of a detail (record). Then you could make notes about what treatment that detail requires (measure). Finally, you could e-mail that photograph and your comments to the project manager (transfer). In this case, the transaction that occurred is completed through the use of one tool. But not all tools have these capabilities. The problem we design/builders run into is that we may do one or two of the required activities for successful communication. However, if we miss that third step we muddy the waters or worse. Let’s say I’m out in the field and I see a detail that needs clarification before construction. If I just pick up my cell phone and call the project manager about my thoughts, I may leave gaping holes in the proper treatment of that detail. I have not recorded the condition. I may have measured it and transferred that data to the project manager, but there is no record of the transaction. These are the types of problems that come back to bite us in the end (pun intended). You probably have an inventory of your tools that are assigned to your carpenters. We just need to expand the inventory to include those communication tools that are vital to the success of our business. Think about which communication tool is best suited to your purposes. Just as you wouldn’t use a framing hammer for demolition, you wouldn’t have a pocket PC in your tool belt. One of the major obstacles we face when using technology is getting everyone up to speed on that technology. I hate to beat a dead horse, but training is the key to success. Most vendors that sell those communication tools offer training in the form of manuals, online or CD tutorials, or actual remote seminars on their products. I may be the preacher, but I also am one of the sinners. Just this week I tried to upgrade my cellular phone/PDA. I was ready to retreat to my old phone and was justifying in my mind that the new PDA was not worth the aggravation I would have to endure in order to learn it. Then my 6-year-old son saw my new “toy” and asked if he could look at it. Within five minutes he had found the games section on the PDA and was madly clicking away. I sat dumbstruck and realized that this old man better keep one step ahead of his child or I’m in big trouble. I kept the new PDA. ? |
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Record, Measure, Transfer By Joseph Dellanno October 10, 2004 Reprinted from Residential Design & Build Magazine www.dbmagazine.com |
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