How much is lost each time someone leaves your firm?
This post is part of our Principal’s Corner series.
How much does it cost your firm each time someone with valuable experience leaves the firm? How much time is lost when colleagues are walking through the office seeking information on design or product data that is not readily accessible? Is the cost computable in terms of time? Money? Or have you ever contemplated the cost to your firm when faced with the prospect of the loss of valuable knowledge that is central to the design work you are known for?
One of the primary benefits of cloud computing is redundancy — backups and distributed storage mean a failure of one piece of hardware or one network connection won’t prevent timely access to crucial data. This concept is the backbone of most the modern web and the most well-managed firms. Most websites host their web app and data in the cloud to ensure that critical data can never be lost nor downtime be experienced.
This same concept of distributed, backed up data is woefully absent in the knowledge management of most architecture, engineering and design firms. The concept that must be clearly understood by principals and employees alike — and at the heart of the smooth flow of the design/construction process — is that crucial intellectual property and know-how is most often concentrated in the minds of a few individuals in your firm. This opens the firm to significant loss of collective knowledge if one of these key individuals leaves. This potential loss of documented experiences critical to the smooth flow of information needed by every firm must be acknowledged, assessed and managed as an important risk if a firm wishes to avoid, wasting valuable time and limited fee dollars in order to relearn or even re-allocate the critical knowledge a departed colleague possessed.
Most professional firms are likely busier now than at any time since 2007. But consider the risk a firm takes if it fails to make valuable design and product information accessible to all team members at every moment. Failing to implement a software system that seamlessly distributes proper knowledge sharing and product retention to all design team staff leaves the firm one mistake or unexpected departure away from serious delays. The loss of hard-won knowledge and tons of rework and re-learning is the true cost of failing to plan for an unavoidable catastrophe!
How quickly could your firm recover if, the “go to” principal in charge of final decisions on product information or your senior spec writer unexpectedly left the firm? How many extra hours would the design teams have to spend to find and understand all the information that just left your office, never to return? What would it mean for your firm to have to turn all preparation of product spec writing over to an outside consultant?
How quickly could your firm recover if, say, your senior spec writer unexpectedly left the firm? How many extra hours would you have to work to find and understand all the information that just left?
Your firm’s most important knowledge should not be limited to a few over-worked principals or employees. Further, open access to information and collaboration fostered by available digital tools should be your strategic objective. Firms that fail in this regard take a tangible risk since the availability of modern digital tools should be the norm adopted by their employers and employees alike.
It’s not hard to do. Each firm today needs to put the tools and plans in place to help the design process get smarter and to aid teams to work more productively while, at the same time, reducing a recognizable risk that could place your firm’s future in jeopardy.
Barry LePatner, Hon. AIA, has worked with Architects, Engineers and Designers to make their businesses smarter and more efficient for four decades. Barry is the Co-Founder and President of Arazoo.
