If you’re attending this event, please join Mike Phillips, Founder of DesignFacilitator, for his Thursday, September 29 2:00pm presentation: Using Strategic Feedback to Enhance Staff Performance and Retention.

For more information on the event visit http://www.zweigwhite.com/events/BestFirmsToWorkFor/index.asp.

 S   The wisdom of Solomon
 H   The strength of Hercules
 A   The stamina of Atlas
 Z   The power of Zeus
 A   The courage of Achilles
 M   The speed of Mercury

Now what does Shazam! have to do with project delivery?  Well, who wouldn’t want a little Shazam! in their projects?  Wisdom, strength, stamina, power, courage, and speed – what if we could purposefully and systematically introduce a little of these on every project we touched?

Don’t go into your next project scheduling meeting and shout Shazam! while wearing a cape (though if you do, please let me know how it goes).  Instead, learn what some thought leaders in the A/E/C industry have been doing to bring about real, meaningful, and valuable change to entrenched project delivery methods – with results that have Shazam! impacts for everyone involved.

In 2003 DesignFacilitator grew out of a small A/I firm looking for ways to do things better.  We developed a body of knowledge using client feedback to help project delivery firms continuously improve.  As we encountered more and more organizations who were looking for ways to do things better, with better results, and with better value for both clients and themselves, we began to find other thought leaders doing different, but equally amazing things.

One group leading the charge with a big dose of Shazam! is the Lean Construction Institute.  Don’t let the name fool you – they spend as much focus on the design and engineering processes as they do construction.   The lean movement takes the many lessons learned in manufacturing (as pioneered by Toyota) and other industries, and applies them to every day projects.  This amazingly innovative and yet necessarily practical group of people continue to discuss, promote, and operate design and construction processes that cut costs and schedule by huge margins, while increasing product quality and consistency.  And they do all this with a keen focus on maximizing value to the clients.

For the last year, DesignFacilitator has sponsored LCI and been actively involved in both their national Congress and many regional events.  If you are not yet aware of Lean Construction, or the ideas behind Continuous Improvement – I invite you to join us October 3-7th in Pasadena, CA at the 2011 LCI National Congress.   An introductory day outlines the key concepts of Lean, followed by two days of real-world case studies from architects, engineers,  contractors, and owners; followed by a fourth day of specialized break-out sessions.

DesignFacilitator and LCI co-sponsor Newforma will be hosting a 3-hour breakout session on Friday, October 7th to discuss real-world software tools that are helping firms around the world bring a little Shazam! to their projects.  You’ll hear from actual users and be able to participate in brainstorming sessions to help define a “state of the industry” approach for innovative project delivery.  We will demonstrate our Client Feedback Tool and how the process of Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM) helps everyone in your organization constantly adjust to meet client expectations.  Newforma will demonstrate their Project Center and highlight the value opportunities found in Project Information Management (PIM).

If you are able to join us, please register here - admission is free to Congress attendees (register separately for the Congress here).

Those who can’t make the trip can’t afford to miss this required reading, and learn how a little Shazam! can change your project delivery for the better.

• Client Feedback – The Power of Feedback
• Lean Construction Institute – A list of recommended introductory readings
• Newforma - PIM introduction

New features include:

• Simplified administration of security, users, groups, and permissions – especially for large organizations
• The term “Teams” has been replaced by the more accurate term “Project Groups.”  The functionality of these organizational units remains the same.
• Expanded support for foreign language surveys.  We now support all international character sets for all customizable parts of the invitation and survey taking process.
• Simpler registration process for new users

Stay tuned for more.  We have an exciting list of great new features coming in Q4, 2012!

• Reporting is 50% – 500% faster
• Schedule recurring surveys (monthly, quarterly, yearly)
• 33 customer-requested enhancements added
• Team creation / management redesigned to be easier
• 17 known defects repaired

We are eager to hear how well the performance enhancements work for you in real-world usage.  Please send your comments and feedback to support@designfacilitator.com and let us know!

We hope you can join us at LCI’s national event, the Lean Design Forum, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; June 9-10.

Here’s more from LCI Executive Director Dick Bayer:

Join us for 2 days of in-depth dialogue on Lean design and construction philosophy and methodologies. Hear from national leaders in design and construction who have been implementing lean thinking and integrated project delivery methods specifically related to design and the participation of designers throughout the life of a project. Meeting format will include both presentations, workshops and question + answer periods.

Presentations will include: Todd Henderson from Boulder Associates to reprise Romano Nickerson’s presentation to the Nor-Cal COP on integrating lean into a design practice; Stacey Root, also from Boulder Associates reprising her presentation in Cincinnati last year on the team approach they took on the Van Ness California Medical Office Building; Kevin Kerschbaum of HGA discussing contemporaneous modeling of post-op and emergency care for Affinity in Wisconsin.

We’ll be discussing the role of Lean principles in Design in the workshop on Friday.  The purpose is to begin a robust conversation in the community about design.  However, we need to tap into our resources on this subject from around the country so we won’t be developing a specific, adoptable document that defines or tries to define the role of lean principles in design. Structural engineers, mechanical system designers, architects, city planners – all are important to a great diversity of ideas on how the creative process we call design is informed by lean principles.

Registration details are at: http://lci-p2sl-design-06-2011.eventbrite.com 

• Schedule surveys for future delivery
• Survey queue manager (to manage scheduled surveys)
• Save a survey as draft before sending
• Enhanced Enterprise Integration Kit (EIK)
• Deltek Vision workflow integration
• New and improved alerts
• Added support for Project Manager alerts/notifications
• Enhanced Quadrants Report
• Enhanced importing / exporting

In the coming week, we will post additional details about some of these new features to describe them more completely.  Please check in soon.

• New, high-security encryption.  The Client Feedback Tool is now secured by 128-bit SSL (https); the same level of encryption used by online banks and merchants.
• All reports now include extensive filtering options (previously this was limited just to Advanced Reports).
• Project Manager Role has been added.  PM’s are added to individual projects, and can see all feedback for that project.  This allows much more granular sharing of feedback than the current Team Manager role.
• When viewing results from a survey, you may click on the name of the respondent to quickly see a summary of that respondent’s past feedback.
• Projects may now be assigned to more than one team.
• New report – Response Details.  View responses to many different surveys in one consolidated report.  Allows you to quickly see all the feedback from a selected person; for selected project(s); etc.
• Enhanced “Export to Excel” capability.
• Enhanced importing capabilities.
• Dozens of other minor tweaks, enhancements, and fixes

• Surveys may now include question categories other than the standard eight categories
• Managers may create customized email invitations for each survey template
• Surveys Templates are now easier to identify and select
• Options to help increase reporting data consistency
• Expanded capability when uploading external project and contact data
• Added additional security features
• Plus over 85 other enhancements, updates, and fixes

1. Performance enhancements on reports, up to 200% increase in speed
2. Create distribution groups when sending surveys
3. New on-page “Alerts” let you know when new/unread results have come in, and when low scores need attention
4. Track when results have been viewed
5. CC a co-worker that a survey has been sent, and/or when results are collected
6. Create a username, allowing for faster login
7. Alert new survey recipients automatically via Outlook, to minimize surveys going to junk folder
8. Upload project information from an external source
9. New report – “Last Survey Sent” – View the most recent survey sent to a recipient, client, project, or by sender
10. Over 50 other tweaks, improvements, and fixes

For training on these new features, contact support@designfacilitator.com.

• Simpler navigation and sharper screen graphics.

As soon as you log in you will notice how much easier it is to move about the new crisp screens. On the left side of the screen, clicking on a subject heading displays a list of sub-headings so you can quickly select the desired action or report without waiting for the screen to refresh. In the upper-right corner of the screen, we show you where you are on the site currently.

• A new ribbon-style toolbar with standardized actions. Found at the top of most screens, the toolbar offers

- A Filters tab where you can identify what you wish to see in the report (who, when, which project, and so on).

- An Options tab where you can control how to group and sort the information (by sender, project, team, average score, etc).

- A File tab that allows you to decide what to do with the information. You have the power to download it, print it as a pdf, send it to an email address, save the report settings as a favorite report. You can even schedule it for automatic recurring delivery to your email!

• Fewer screen post-backs.

Many subscribers previously expressed concern about the time required to post back the screen every time they changed a filter. Version 3 addresses that concern by incorporating an Update button on the ribbon. This allows you to select and change multiple filter settings without waiting for the screen to repost each time. Once you have made all your filter selections, simply click the Update button– we flash it to remind you– and all your changes are applied at once.

• Successes and challenges reports

These reports were designed to help identify areas of strength and those possibly requiring additional attention in your firm. You can tailor this report to show you which clients, projects, phases or firm members have the highest or lowest average scores, extremes, percentage of change, and so on . The Client Feedback Tool even includes several standard templates under the Options tab to help get you started.

• The Feedback Quotient® report is a Client Feedback Tool exclusive.

This report applies a proprietary formula to analyze numerous  metrics such as the number of surveys sent and received in a given period, reply rates, scores, score consistency, follow-up actions, and more. The result is a relative ranking of projects, project clients, and survey senders in your firm. You will know where feedback is being effectively used, and by whom.

Additional new functions of the Client Feedback Tool:

You can save and recall your favorite report configurations and settings.

You can create, save and send batch reports to yourself and others.

You can schedule your favorite reports for recurring delivery to your email… or others’.

You can send most reports as PDF files via email.

You can now view feedback on a mobile device.

Version 3 does not require any software changes on your part, as the Client Feedback Tool is a web-based service. Please let us know if you need help or want to schedule additional training for your team.

Please contact us if you have questions:
866-433-7322
919-573-1730
(M-F 9am – 6pm EST)
Or email answers@designfacilitator.com.