This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Practice Management Member Conversations and Center for Integrated Practice .
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We had a wonderful discussion today facilitated by AIA National. The questions were all pertinent to the current status of the profession. The title was "Change or Die." I was particularly interested in the topic as it reminded me of one of the DI delegate's take-away comments from the DFC Leadership Summit this past January, who said: "Become relevant now."
Here are the over-arching themes that I took away from the #aiachat today:
- That architects are not unified on how our profession and/or education processes need to change
- That we all agree that the best ways to change are through leadership, innovation and embracing change
- That architects, while claiming to be innovative, are in truth, sometimes very resistant to change
- That architects lack business management skills; but we were divided on how best to attain them: hire an expert? Learn this in grad school? Or just forget about it while in school as doing so would detract from our focus on theory and design?
- That cost matters to clients and therefore should be what we address first in our designs
- That working in collaboration with the contractor early on is a best practice on any definite project
- That the field of architecture would either be unrecognizable by the year 2025 or would change in tools, but not in process...very divided on this issue
- That we all acknowledge what needs to be done- the end result- but we're not at all clear as to how to get there
If you want to join in on the fun, the next #aiachat is scheduled for the first Tuesday in April.
I hope to see you there...
And, if any of you were there, I look forward to reading your perspective on what you thought the main themes were.
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Tara Imani AIA
Principal
Tara Imani Designs, LLC
Houston TX
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