Adventures in Modern Project Managing

Last month I was very lucky to be involved in a panel that featured 4 incredible glazing contractors from 4 of the best companies in our industry.  It was during that time that I learned even more about what the day-to-day adventures are for the glazing contractor in the fast paced world we currently live in.  That session really opened my eyes to challenges I did not know even existed.  So this week when I attended a webinar that featured the 37^th Annual Deltek Clarity A&E Industry Study I was more in-tune than I would’ve been before my session back in February.   The big takeaway I wanted to share from the study was a poll that ran down the “Top Project Management Challenges” and based on what I knew and recently learned, I don’t think anyone will be surprised. Here are some of the big ones.

• Competing priorities including project management, design, business etc.
• Inexperienced people up and down the chain
• Communication
• Schedule viability
• Poorly defined scope
• Accurate project cost and timeline forecasting

I would assume everyone who either manages projects right now or has a staff that does it are nodding their heads right now.  So it’s good we know about the issues, but what in the world can we do about them? That’s a session I’d love to attend if it ever happens!!

Elsewhere…

--  Time for the monthly review of Glass Magazine and this is an issue very close to my heart because at the core of my being, I am a fabricator and this is the annual “Top Glass Fabricator” edition.  Tremendous reading and resource overall and major kudos to everyone listed- so many great organizations doing significant things in our world.   Please take some time to check it out and a tip of the cap to Bethany Stough and the team that pulled this thing together.  That much info is NOT easy to make sense of and they really knocked it out of the park.  

--  Aside from the fabricator coverage there was also another article I want to point out.  The “Succession through Hardship” piece about the family business and the transfer that follows through death, illness etc.  Obviously this is another one that I get from a personal level as well.  Interesting and heart wrenching stories for me but also very inspirational on how people dealt with it and moved positively forward into the future.  

--  The ad of the month was a tough one- a lot of very good ones and many new entries thanks most likely to the fabricator heavy coverage.  Was great to see ads from people I had never seen previously like Woonsocket, GlassFab, Glass Vice and others.  But my winner for this month is SC Railing.  I think the pictures they chose made sense.  I also thought the extra white space worked and I am usually not a fan of that style but in this case it was a winning look.  Congrats SC Railing team…

--  There was an update this week on the joint meetings between the Glass Association of North America (GANA) and the National Glass Association (NGA) and basically things continue to head down an encouraging path.  That is great to see and the feedback I am getting continues to be extremely positive.  The desire for a streamlined, focused approach is something that we all need in our world right now.

--  Last this week…  GANA wrapped up their Annual Conference last week and announced their various members of the year and also the Greg Carney Member of the Year Award. 

From GANA: 

2017 Division Award Recipients were nominated by their peers based on leadership and volunteerism with regard to their activities within the respective Division in the past year.

• BEC Division: Jeff Haber – W&W Glass Company
• Decorative Division: Marc Deschamps – Walker Glass Co., Ltd.
• Energy Division: Sarah Sinusas – Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates
• Insulating Division: Jeff Haberer – Trulite Glass & Aluminum
• Laminating Division: Julia Schimmelpenningh – Eastman Chemical Company
• Tempering Division: Steve Marino – Vitro Architectural Glass
• C.G. Carney Member of the Year: Stanley Yee- Dow Corning Corporation

Everyone who was honored richly deserved the nods- great people who truly give of themselves as volunteers to the industry.  But I am so happy that Greg’s name continues to live on in the form of this award.  Such a great man that was taken from his family and us way too soon. 

LINKS of the WEEK

This story was an interesting one- lack of Uber and Lyft in Austin rankles the elite… and shows other issues.

THIS is a GREAT idea.. wow.

Is there a thing possible as a balanced media diet?  No way. 

VIDEO of the WEEK

AMAZING slo mo video of a train bursting through snow… not sure why the clueless people on the stage just waited there- they had to know the snow was going to somewhere….