Category: Staff Memos
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The Beauty of Status Updates
At scale, efficient systems of communication and coordination are required in order to efficiently prosecute projects. These systems will likely be of immense value to yourself, and your clients. Consider the following example: Our critical path sits within the ABCD building, I have run a target date commencing 29/6/22. Is this possible for the ABCD…
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Memo #9 – Justify Variation Hours to Clients
If you have 20 hours worth of variations: do you think your client will rejoice? Typically, no! Clients demand transparency! They have every right to know: (i) why you are charging them, and (ii) what they will get in return. It will not do to simply say: variation: 20 hours. Why not? Clients will assume…
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Memo #8 – Don’t use private emails/channels etc for firm correspondence
This will probably apply wherever you work: don’t send project and firm related correspondence on your private whatsapp chats, or on your private emails etc. Why not? It’s very hard to track. We have no record. Nothing can be verified. Protect yourself, your careers, your firm, and your clients: it’s pretty simple: avoid using private…
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Memo #7 – How to on Statuses, ETAs must be accurate
When traveling overseas, especially India, I often hear the following: “Where are you? “I’m almost there” “When will you arrive?” “Five minutes!” They always say: “five minutes”. Once, I remember waiting, for at least 45 minutes. Not sure if this is a cultural thing. I’ve heard Indians say: “Oh, that’s IST – Indian Standard Timing”.…
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Memo #6 – Drawings not to be issued “IFC” markings without approvals
Here is a memo we received from one of our clients. Such memos are not infrequent: I am pushing for stamped drawings, however from the IFAs issued there should be no changes made. I need to begin the steel ordering process tomorrow. There is a lead time on the ordering of the steel, and by…
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Steel Detailing Primers and Processes
The following codifies our processes. It is made for the following reasons: (i) to educate our own staff, about what they need to know and secondly, (ii) to make transparent to our clients, how we operate. We are essentially inviting you into our kitchen, so you can see for yourselves how we cook, and to…
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AWS VPN to Tekla License Server
Documentation on how to do it, for all Tek1 Staff Only. Rules (1) DO NOT HAVE PIRATE LICENSES ON YOUR COMPUTER. Please contact me if you have any questions. No pirate licenses. This means genuine Windows, MS Office, and genuine Tekla licenses. In this organisation we pay developers/companies for their labour and services. We don’t…
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How to do material take offs cheaply
Take offs needn’t be expensive. If you want accurate reports and a good IFC model you can spin around, you can get it done easily, with some custom software. Now you can get your take-offs done cheaply, and with the quality being just as good. Check out this video, which explains it all: How…
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How to fill out your timesheet
Please see a generic time sheet solution below which I’ve developed – please use it for the time being before I develop a more robust solution. Please fill this out honestly – 1 hour is one diligent hour of hard work. If you work slowly and take two hours – you can only write one…
