Highlights of Project Management
One of the most important persons in an A/E organization is the PM. There may be one or many, but they are the lifeblood of the firm. How are PMs trained, or are they? What directions...
Total Quality Management (TQM)
The PM's first responsibility is quality. This means quality of the final product along with quality and management throughout the project. The PM may belong to an organization...
Marketing
For the purpose of this guide, let's assume that the PM will not be an active marketing person. However, he or she will need to be involved in a number of activities that...
Project Agreements
Project agreements and early project planning should be accomplished at the same time. However, it seems that project agreements are often developed prior to any definitive project work...
Project Planning
Good project management is based on good project planning. A project work plan, structured from a good process, is a statement of what is to be done, who is responsible for each task,...
Starting a Project
Project start-up marks the end of the planning activities and the beginning of the project. The PM must take the steps necessary to set up job numbers, job data sheets, assemble data needed...
Management
Project team is a broad term. In general, it encompasses all the people and organizations working on the project�architect, engineer, consultants, client, client's consultants,...
Project Quality
Quality means that you must listen to the client. You are not the last word, especially when it comes to the budget, the design fee, and the parameters of the project on which you are...
Project Control
The project work plan, as originally written and modified during the course of projects, sets up specific schedule and budget yardsticks; each project task is to be completed in a specific...
Project Completion
The project closeout or completion period is one of extreme importance. This is the time for final review of the plans and specifications and probable construction cost. All last-minute...
Managing Projects for Profit
The section on Project Quality described the necessary steps that must be taken to ensure quality. Namely, ensuring that the project be completed within budget, on time, and that it meet...
Hawaii's Interbase Interstate
Connecting two major military installations, Hawaii's third Interstate highway (H-3) is the largest ($1 billion) HDOT project to date as well as the longest in time (planning...
Rocky Mountain HOV
In 1988, Colorado DOT and the firm of Daniel, Mann, Johnson, & Mendenhall, Denver, the oversight consultant on the project, set out to bring the highway up-to-date and promote...
Making the Trains Run On Time
The Skokie, Ill. rail shops were constructed in 1928 and all cars in the Chicago Rapid Transit system are repaired and maintained at this yard. But as the cars have become more sophisticated...
Base Isolation Gets Its Day in Court
After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the 1905 U.S. Court of Appeals and Post Office Building in San Francisco was closed. The owner, General Services Administration Pacific Rim Region,...
Down-to-Earth Terminal Design
From New England to the Pacific Northwest, airport terminals in the 1990s are being designed and built to meet foreseeable demand--with very little uncommitted space. The speculative nature...
Selecting Tower Cranes
Looming over the skyline like steel dinosaurs, tower cranes can look deceptively similar. But these beasts of burden are not a homogenous species, and selecting and positioning the right...
Bridge Repair on the Fast Track
For repair with tight deadlines, conventional approaches to inspection and repair might not be fast enough. Where the concept of design-build leaves off, the contractual solution of inspect-repair...
Soft Ground Not Easy Ground for TBM
The King County Department of Metropolitan Services (formerly called Metro), faced with the need to transfer wastewater from the West Seattle drainage basin to a secondary treatment plant...
Prelude to a Demolition
Building demolition conjures up images of explosives detonating or a wrecking ball haphazardly slamming into the side of a structure until it's reduced to a pile of rubble....
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