Jamie Covello in conversation with Kirsten Beck
I decided to do some interviews with people in my network who are thought-leaders in their field and share some pearls of wisdom. Today I’m meeting up with Kirsten Beck, Principle Project Management Avison Young.
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What do you think is the most important aspect of what you do for your clients.
You know I think a lot of people see project management as somewhat an administrative role you know managing meeting is doing minutes tracking the budget but really our job is to set expectations with our clients.
It’s very important for us to understand what their goals and objectives are and then to create a plan that meets those goals and objectives and to inform them along the way about the decisions that they’re making and how those decisions impact their goals and objectives.
One of the hallmarks of project management is what we call the triple constraint which is budget scope and schedule and it sounds corny but it’s like a three-legged stool you can’t just cut one of the legs shorter it falls over.
So if you need to adjust one of those things if budget is tight or if the schedule is short you need to adjust the other aspects of the project to meet that when do you think is the best time for you to get involved in the relocation process well.
I prefer to get involved as early as as possible I think clients often think oh we’ll engage a project manager when we’re ready to start construction but the reality is we have a lot of value in the beginning of the process in a perfect world I’m out with the client and their broker representative looking at space I can give them advice on one space over another based on construct ability and limitations what do you view as the greatest trends that are evolving today and what do you think will stick I think the thing is that trends are not for everyone I think it’s important to know what they are and to be kind of up on what’s happening but the most important thing is to know what your client needs and we put a lot of value in spending that time upfront with the client understanding what they do what their company does what their mission and objectives are and then what actual tasks their employees perform to meet those objectives and then creating an environment that supports those tasks that’s really the process it isn’t just applying a trend not everyone can work in a benching situation not everyone can work in an open office
[Music]
oh I’m supposed to breathe wait I have to sit up straight and breathe and smile
again this is all time
[Laughter]
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Jamie Covello in conversation with Kirsten Beck
