Ramroth Flashcards

1
Q

Two common deal-breaker clauses that owners like to insert in contracts

A
  1. Indemnity clauses to defend client against all claims
  2. Guarantees/Warranties/Certification clauses of things or work beyond firm’s control
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2
Q

Five Most Common Fee Structures

A
  1. Lump Sum/Fixed Price
  2. Time and Materials (T&M)
  3. Time and Materials with a Maximum-Not-To-Exceed
  4. Cost Plus Fixed Fee
  5. Cost Plus Fixed Fee with a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP)
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3
Q

Three Resolution Techniques commonly used in design contracts

A

Partnering
Mediation
Arbitration

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4
Q

Five Phases of Project Management

A
  1. Start - the project begins
  2. Planning - figuring out how to perform the work
  3. Design - the project’s overall design is worked out
  4. Production - preparation of construction documents and/or other deliverables based on the overall design
  5. Closeout - the project work is completed
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5
Q

Six Activities of Project Management

A
  1. Defining
  2. Planning
  3. Directing
  4. Coordinating
  5. Monitoring
  6. Learning
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6
Q

Six Goals of Project Management

A

To reach the end…
1. Of the project
2. On budget
3. On time
4. Safely
5. As error-free as possible
6. Meeting everyone’s expectations

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7
Q

Four basic organizational structures for design firms

A
  1. Sole proprietorship
  2. Design studios
  3. Multiple design studio organizations
  4. Matrix organizations
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8
Q

Main Must-Haves of a Good Project Manager

A
  • High motivation to manage
  • Ethical and professional behavior
  • Technical and legal competency
  • Pragmatic decision-making skills
  • Ability to make decisions with incomplete information
  • A generalist’s experience, education, and attitude
  • Good communication skills
  • Ability to empower a design team
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9
Q

Highly motivated managers share …

A
  • Favorable attitude toward authority
  • Desire to compete
  • Desire to exercise power
  • Desire for a distinctive position
  • A sense of responsibility
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10
Q

Code of Ethics for Project Managers

A
  • general public is ultimate client. Hold their health, safety, and welfare in the highest regard
  • PMs must know their personal strengths are areas of competency. Know firm’s areas of expertise and only provide services within expertise and competency
  • Always behave in a way that honors dignity of design professions
  • Never allow themselves or firms to become entangled with other persons or businesses that are engaged in deceitful or fraudulent practices
  • Only stamp and sign drawings, specifications, reports, or other documents that were prepared under their direct supervision
  • Frontline representatives to their firm. They must act faithful, trustworthy, and honest agents of their firms.
  • Constantly strive to improve their professional skills and better their profession
  • Must not accept commissions, monies, perks, or favors from contractors or other parties that have dealings with mutual clients
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11
Q

When to Use or Not Use Email

A

Use Email:
- Confirm recent discussion or decision that took place orally between PM and receiver. In email, PM requests confirmation from receiver.
- Communicate simple, clear-cut factual information that requires no feedback from receiver to understand message.
- Transmit lengthy documents as attachments to the email (reports, drawings, memos, RFPs, etc.)

Do Not Use:
- In lieu of decision-making and/or brainstorming meetings that require direct interaction and simultaneous participation by many individuals
- To share important, complicated information that may require follow-up questions before the receiver fully understands the message

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12
Q

Six Objectives of the Project Work Plan

A
  1. Definition of the project objectives
  2. Identification of the project team
  3. Breakdown of the project into task budgets
  4. Development of the project schedule
  5. Establishment of the project quality-control program
  6. Identification of other project-specific procedures and standards
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13
Q

Three Elements of a Task

A
  1. An objective (measurable outcome)
  2. A duration (time budgeted)
  3. A level of effort (hours budgeted)
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14
Q

Characteristics of good Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

A
  • Developed iteratively, starting with whole and getting more detailed with each pass. Hierarchical - component parts relate to each other in terms of importance
  • Right amount of detail
  • Tasks defined by objective, duration, and level of effort. Based on relevant project experience in project management and design.
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15
Q

Strategies to Control Risk

A
  • Prevention - reduce # of uncertainties/threats
  • Transference - make other party responsible of threats
  • Mitigation - lessen impact of threats should they occur
  • Contingency planning - Plan in advance for coping with threats should they happen
  • Assumption - identify the uncertainties or threats and accept their potential impact on project because of cost of prevention/mitigation/transference/contingency planning are greater than possible impact
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16
Q

Risk Management Strategies

A
  1. Use standardized contract forms whenever possible
  2. Understand the provisions of the contract
  3. Avoid contract language that increases risk
  4. Avoid unacceptable risks
  5. Use fee types appropriate for services provided
  6. Provide more comprehensive services
  7. Identify excluded as well as included services
  8. Specify how disputes will be resolved

Non-contract related:
9. Inform client of potential risks
10. Choose consultants carefully
11. Do not start production of contract documents until the design is well defined and approved by the client.
12. Avoid running projects without budget and schedule contingencies

17
Q

Contract Words To Avoid Because They Increase Risk

A

Certify, ensure, guarantee, insure, maximize, optimize, and supervise

18
Q

Deal-Breaker Clauses

A
  • Indemnity clauses that require the design firm to indemnify (assure, underwrite, hold harmless) and defend the owner against all claims, not just those caused by the design firm’s negligence
  • Guarantees, warranties, or certification clauses that require the design firm to guarantee, warrant, or certify things and work that are beyond the firm’s control
19
Q

Lump Sum (Fixed Price)

A
20
Q

CPM
Critical Path Method

A

The method of project scheduling that graphically shows dependent, interconnected, and related activities or tasks including the critical sequence of tasks, called the critical path, that must take place on schedule if the overall project is to stay on schedule.

21
Q

PERT
Program Evaluation and Review Technique

A

A work diagramming system that uses statistics to determine the probabilities of task durations.

22
Q

WBS
Work Breakdown Structure

A

A project planning tool that divides a project into hierarchical tasks. The highest level or most broad based tasks are identified first. Each of these broad-bases tasks is then further broken down into more specific tasks. Each of these more specific tasks is then broken down until the level of detail necessary to properly control the work is achieved.

23
Q

VE
Value Engineering

A

A review and analysis of the design of an architectural, engineering, or planning project by a third-party team of experts with the mission of improving the design’s performance, reliability, quality, safety, and life cycle costs

24
Q

T&M
Time and Materials

A

A type of contract with which the design firm is paid for its labor (time) costs and its other direct costs (materials). T&M contracts do not have maximum dollar amounts.

25
Q

LS
Lump Sum

A

A type of contract with which the design fee is a specified fixed amount that the design firm receives for its services regardless of how much money it actually spends to provide the services.

26
Q

GMP
Guaranteed Maximum Price

A

A type of contract with which the design firm invoices on a cost basis up to a stipulated maximum dollar amount that cannot be exceeded.

27
Q

Five basic steps in the process of designing any structure or building project

A
  1. Identify the need
  2. Develop a detailed program statement for the project.
  3. Explore alternatives that satisfy the program statement.
  4. Execute the project based on the selected alternative that best satisfies the program statement.
  5. Learn from the completed project. What went right and what went wrong?
28
Q

Four basic principles of work tasks

A
  1. Base work methods on the scientific study of tasks
  2. Train workers to perform the tasks rather than hope they will “catch on” by themselves.
  3. Manage and monitor workers to make sure that the scientifically developed tasks are performed properly.
  4. Spend as much time planning the work as performing the work.
29
Q

Gantt chart/bar chart

A

A chart or graph with the horizontal axis representing a timescale.
The vertical axis lists the work tasks.
Bars are used to represent the durations of the tasks plotted on the timescale.

Useful production control and scheduling tools.
Allow managers to visually sequence and study the duration of work tasks in relationship to time and to each other.

Project milestones can be shown so that a project’s progress can be monitored, measured, and graphically compared to key target dates and milestones.

30
Q

14 principles essential to proper management

A
  1. Division of work
  2. Clear lines of authority
  3. Discipline
  4. Unity of command
  5. Unity of direction
  6. Subordination of individual interest
  7. Renumeration (fair compensation for work performed)
  8. Centralization
  9. Scalar chain (hierarchical ladder)
  10. Order
  11. Equity
  12. Stability of tenure
  13. Initiative
  14. Esprit de corps (sense of pride for the organization)
31
Q

Person responsible for management must perform five basic functions:

A
  1. Planning
  2. Organizing
  3. Commanding
  4. Coordinating
  5. Controlling
32
Q

Project manager (PM)

A

The single individual who is responsible for performing all functions of project management

33
Q

Project management process groups

A
  1. Initiating processes
  2. Planning processes
  3. Executing processes
  4. Monitoring and controlling processes
  5. Closing processes
34
Q

Seven most important factors that affect the perceived success of a project

A
  1. Coordination and human relations
  2. Budget, schedule, and technical performance
  3. Project conceptual difficulties
  4. Project organizational structure and management controls
  5. Project budgetary constraints
  6. Project importance and public exposure
  7. Team capabilities
35
Q

Project Work Plan

A

Step-by-step method for accomplishing the work.
Is the process of planning ahead, thinking about what the overall project objectives are, and then defining the incremental steps needed to accomplish them
Purposed is to flesh out the scope of work as define in the agreement and to clarify it in enough detail so that a team of design professionals can effectively work on it.
Divides the project into logical tasks for performance and monitoring purposes.
Establishes team member responsibilities, the project’s reporting structure, and project-specific procedures such as safety procedures, cad standards, and quality-control procedures.
Provides necessary info to accounting dept to project job costs can be properly categorized and invoiced
Provides project info to the firm’s upper management so it has confidence that the project has been properly planned

Should identify the project’s quality control manager and explain the project-quality control procedures that are to be followed

36
Q

Project Organization Chart

A

Graphically shows the disciplines required to do the work and the reporting structure for the project.
Can also show which disciplines are in-house and which are consultants.
Should include names and project titles of key team members.
Should always include the quality-asssurance/quality-control manager, project principal, and CAD manager. Should include project controller if one.

37
Q

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

A
  • developed iteratively, starting with the whole and getting more and more detailed with each subsequent pass.
  • hierarchical, component parts relate to each other in terms of importance
  • has the right amount of detail, no more and certainly no less
  • tasks are defined by objective, duration, and level of effort. Based on relevant past experience in both project management and design
  • can take the form of lists or tree structures
  • used to judge a project’s performance
38
Q

Project work plan document

A

Provides the basic project information and describes the planning activities and procedures necessary for the team members to affective do their work