The Concept of Organizing the Design Process. Methodology. Management. - Conceptul de organizare a procesului de proiectare. Metodologie. Management.

Description

Abstract

UNIVERSITY OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN PLANNING "ION MINCU" – BUCHAREST
The Doctoral Study Programme in Architecture
VIRGIL PROFEANU
SUMMARY – THESIS RESEARCH
The concept of organizing the design process. Methodology. Management.
Scientific coordinator,
Prof. Em. Dr. Arch. Emil Barbu POPESCU
Bucharest, 2021
SUMMARY THESIS RESEARCH

SUMMARY
#architecture; #defining; #evolution; #methodology; #human; #project; #universe;
 The universe is constantly altered by the action of man.1
The actions of man are the consequence of fulfilling his needs. Human constraints, beliefs and aspirations leads to the development of projects which, once implemented (materialized), contribute to the permanent change of the Universe.
Fig. 1.1 HUMAN – UNIVERSE2
The new Universe (the Universe modified by the implementation of projects) creates new constraints, new aspirations, that trigger the creative act of man. There is thus a perpetual mechanism, a continuous exchange of creative energy between man and Universe, resulting in a permanent [re]birth / [re]definition / [R]evolution of the man-UNIVERSE couple. [Humankind acces to natural resources has become quite limited in the last few decades.]3 "In nature, nothing is lost, nothing is gained, everything is changing."4 Thus, natural resources have to be exploited in a responsible manner. The creative act is set in motion by humankind`s yearning/ambition/aspirations towards beauty and benevolence . In one of Platon`s dialogues, „Hippias Maior”, he subjects to debate the thesis of beauty as the architect of benevolence/righteousness (the causality principle)5, revealing the mechanisms behind the action – outcome principle. The Roman author, Vitruvius, builds on the notion of the creation act and formulates the trinomial concept of „durability, utility and beauty”6, the three principles of good architecture. Taking both of these notions/concepts into consideration, we arive to the conclusion that added value isn’t attained accidentally very often. The giant leap from "accidental modelling" of the Universe to "controlled modelling", was made with the emergence of architecture. Time has shown that architecture (supported and completed by engineering) is the only viable [re]source for the creation of durable, functional, beautiful (trinom).
[Time is the only resource attained by use and forfeit by disuse/nonuse].7 The realization of a complex project without a clear design flow, without procedures and without methodology is, often, doomed to failure. Only the existence of a verified methodology, backed up by standardized procedures and assumed production flows can lead to the realization of a satisfactory project. The more ambitious the initiative to change the Universe, the more complex the architecture project. The more complex the project, the more numerous the teams needed to prepare the project. As teams become more numerous and specializations diversify, time depletion intervenes as a side effect, time management gets out of control and so, inherently, the necesity arises for the use of management and project management skills. [Any part of the designing process that involves human resources can be catalogued as an algorithm, which leads to the elimination of errors and dead time.]8 This compendium/suite of factors and conditions constitutes the precursor to the method and methodology, the SELF methodology developed in this paper employs the use of algorithms as the base model of the process.
[Information/inteligence/knowledge is the only resource accumulated/multiplied/developed by making use of it and not lost/forfeited/wasted by sharing].9 This work is structured as a guide for the application of management science [and Project management science] in implementing hybrid methodologies in order to achieve, within architecture companies (design), flows and processes designed to provide the necessary framework for the development of complex projects.
 The major objectives are achieved in a planned way, by using the projects realized by architects and engineers.
5 Platon,: Platon. Opere complete, Hippias Maior I, Humanitas, București, 2001, pag. 297
6 Vitruviu, P. : Despre Arhitectura, Editura Academiei Populare Române, 1964
7 AXIOM II of the thesis.
8 THEORY I of the thesis (Processes by algorithm).
9 AXIOM III of the thesis.

Using the model of architectural design as a starting point, where any major objective has a complex design project at its base, we can assert that hypothetically, in a similar way, creating and developing a designing process is accomplished based on a project. Developing methodologies and models becomes a necessity dictated by the unprecedented technological evolution we have witnessed in the past few decades and by the prevailing role humanity is filling in its clash/confrontation with nature. Climate changes, due to human intervention, began to occur mainly after the first industrial revolution. Over the past 50 years, issues of sustainability and how people affect the environment have begun to be debated.10
In 2005, the question was whether the huge 42 billion-tonne dam built in China would influence Earth’s rotation.11 Even if the dam’s influence on Earth’s rotation period is by the order of hundredths of microseconds, considering the oberver’s concept, related in chapter 3 of this paper, this kind of possibly damaging influence can be easily transposed on a perceptible/discernible/noticeable scale.

 By using hybrid methodologies, we have developed IT tools and procedures based on ULP concept (planning units and sub-units).
In subsidiary, this thesis follows the development of VEGO13, an architectural design company founded [at the turn of the century] in the year 2000. With the increase of the number of projects implemented simultaneously (over 100 today) and the number of designers (architects, urban planners, engineers and programmers) coordinated simultaneously (around 200 people today), the company makes use of specific methods and intruments for analyzing and planning. By employing the WBS (Work
Note. 1972 Stockholm Conference - the first international meeting to discuss environmental issues related to pollution and climate stability.

Breakdown Structure) in conncection with the observer’s concept, by using the Zoom In <-> Zoom Out method we developed the ULP concept – a logical structure, capable of organizing/classifying/categorizing idea materialization/ideas coming into being/the coming into being of ideas. All these innovations are combined step by step, during the thesis in SELF METHODOLOGY, the methodology proposed being detailed in the chapter “INCREASING CONCEPTS, METHODOLOGY, METHODS, INSTRUMENTS, PROCESSES” In order to efficiently conjugate human action, using ULP, we ranked different levels of observation and coordination of actions. These are: the action - the task, the deliverable, the phase, the project, the objective, the development area and the entity. For each of these levels, we have created programmatic documents, and the way in which they are interrelated can be found in the figure below, following the terms used to be explained in the DEFINITIONS chapter.

Starting from the concrete needs of project realization, we have structured and divided the design process into several distinct stages called design phases.15
14 © Virgil Profeanu
15 OFFER, PRELIMINARY CONCEPT, PLANNING PERMIT, STUDIES, DETAILED CONCEPT, PERMITS&APPROVALS, TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION FOR BUILDING PERMIT, CONSULTANCY DOCUMENTATION, TECHNICAL PROJECT, EXECUTION DETAILS, TECHNICAL SITE ASSISTANCE, AS BUILT, RECEPTION, OPERATING AUTHORIZATION, POSTEXECUTION MONITORING.

 This scientific work is a guide.
[Organic matter constitutes/represents the supreme/main/perfect model for matter organisation/organizing matter. Making use of biological principles and algorithms in architectural design leads to procces automatization and better/raised/improved system efficiency.]17 This work is an invitation to multidisciplinary teams to get involved/ to involve themselves in exceding/overcoming the boundaries of architecture, management, project management, biology, psychology, sociology and software development in the hopes of/with the scope of developing this concept of organizing and designing using innovative methodologies and hybrid management, developed in a solid methodology, tested, scaled and verified in practice.
Structured on 8 chapters (introduction and 7 main chapters) and a annexes, the book analysis in chapter 2 the current stage of design methodology, design management, making a brief transition to the history of architecture and construction, all viewed from the perspective of process organization design and coordination of multidisciplinary teams. The third chapter is the essence of the work and has as its desideratum, the explanation of the importance of innovation in the practice of architecture science. Innovation has consisted in developing tools and methods for planning, structuring information, guiding the creative process and consolidating ideas. Then are mentioned the principles governing design activity, its organization, the application of Project Management, special features of communication in design teams, the importance of evaluation and continuous training of designers, essential elements in the process of selling design services, but also adaptation solutions to overcome global crises.
 Process automation.
[Software applications and artificial intelligence leads to the amplification of the creative force of the architects and it ensures proper quality of the architectural designs.]18 A suite of interrelated software solutions, employing the principles and methods of this paper as a base, for streamlining the design and management of the design company, (a number of approximately 40 applications, of which 30are registered at ORDA and another 10 are under development) are exposed in the self-machine chapter. In fact, the self-machine is a platform for design augmentation through software applications, algorithms, software robots and artificial intelligence.
The last chapter aims to highlight the conclusions, the most important ideas included in the work, proposed solutions to current vulnerabilities in the practice of architecture science, and innovative solutions for making design methodology more effective. These can all be replicated in other fields that have certain architecture similarities.

18 THEORY III of the work (Total quality through artificial intelligence).
19 CONCLUSIONS: This book has a multidisciplinary approach and deals with the development and application of an innovative methodology (SELF METHODOLOGY). The book presents tools and methods developed, tested and applied in the design process within the company VEGO HOLDING. The book is structured as a guide for the application of management science [and Project management science] in implementing hybrid methodologies. The result of the application of the SELF methodology within the architecture (design) companies can lead to the creation of flows and processes capable of providing the necessary framework for the development of complex projects. The methodology is doubled by computer applications that support all the processes that appear in all the company's departments during all the processes.

The title of the thesis is “The concept of organizing the design process. Methodology. Management. ” These words [each having a meaning, which meaning that I have refined and narrowed down], carefully organized in a specific order, have become the program that has guided my actions for the last four years. The paper could have had any other title consisting of the same words, for example, the process of organizing the design concept and it certainly would have had a different content, or the process of organizing the concept project and the thesis would certainly have another form and high sense. And the iterations can be more numerous if we introduce the other two terms in the title of the thesis - methodology and management.
 That would be about ordering.
The concept is related to conceptualization, and this conceptualization is connected to the process. The process is related to judgment, which acts through laws, and laws are based on principles, which are applied through methodologies from which methods spring. The method is related to the tool, and the tools are the ones through which we operate the organization of the design process. Management is the science of leadership. Leadership is done by order, and orders are a specific sequence of words (commands).
 That would be about orders (commands).
To summarise, my thesis is about words, about the way in which, with the help of words, we can program, program ourselves to write and imagine programmatic documents, which are materialized in architectural plans. Architects are talented people with a superior ability to visualize, which translates into a continuous exercise of imagination. Arming them with the tools of programming and self-programming through words, structuring actions in which they can organize themselves and those around them, developing (by themselves or others) and mastering methods of management, coaching, modern tools of science analysis Project management and management will transfigure them into creators and transformers of the Universe.
 That would be about architects.
The SELF methodology proposes the use of principles. One of them is the PRINCIPLE OF COMPARISON and a strong, permanent comparison is with MAN and implicitly with the human body. Organization is related to organs (the body). Thus, in organizing the design process we can take into account the principles underlying the functioning of the human body. Just as it has a genetic code, so the company can and must have a programmatic code based on which to be born and developed. The body has principles of self-regulation, self-control and self-decision (for example, a man instinctively climbs the stairs if they are designed and executed correctly or shifts his attention to the steps that pose a risk of accident to him).
 That would be about SELF Management.
The SELF methodology proposes that the management should constantly consider both the achievement of automatic decisions and of the intervention when it is observed that something is out of pattern. This means that some warning mechanisms (sensors) are needed, and for this methodology it suppose the existence of a method, of a risk reading tool. In this documentation, we called it READ RISK. The body uses automated processes and, by analogy, they must be applied in management, artificial intelligence / robot / software organization - see DEFRAGMENTATOR chapter. So, just as the human body has many automated processes, such as writing or drawing (which means a direct link between mind and hand), the SELF methodology proposes the use of software applications that retrieve information from a database. singularities)) and produce as many plans and memories as possible automatically using algorithms for verifications.
 That would be about process automation.
And because I am certaint that, so far, I’ve understood the concept of ordering, order, SELF Management and process automation, I invite the reader to be the architect of their own destiny, to think for 3 minutes and imagine what life will be like in the next 20 to 30 years.
Once the reader has done this, they are invited to develop ideas using ULP (Units and Levels of Planning) and strategic documents, but instead of imagining what life will be like, to draw their vision of the future using the definitions of vision (vision is an compendium of desires), to use the annex plate related to the vision - see the annex, and to actually start drawing.
From the perspective of man, who is now becoming an observer, on a seconds based scale, are all the „to do”, the things to check. It should be mentioned that it would be very good for the reader to reexamine the definitions of to do, task, action, deliverable, deliverables packages, phase, project, objective, development area, entity, in parallel with the task’s instructions, the characteristics of the ABCDEF related to the deliverable, the tactics related to each phase, the guidelines related to the project, the strategy related to each objective, the policy related to the area and implicitly the vision related to the entity. On the level of a human observer, we will understand that all „to do” are related to seconds and that tasks can be related to minutes. The materialize in deliverables that are observable on an hourly scale, and the deliverables are grouped in packages of deliverables that are visible on the level of days, and so by positioning ourselves above (as observers) we understand that the phases spans over weeks, that projects run for months, that goals materialize in years and that policies and areas of development materialize in decades, because our whole life is visible over the strech of a century, a century being most probably the maximum lifespan of a human subject. Finally, having all this strategic planning methodology using ULP - Units and Levels of Planning, the reader is invited to make the effort to take a day or a week to paint his whole vision about his life, to extract the objectives he wants to materialize, and by using all the methods and tools included in this thesis, to make a project (program) of his life and make it the best version of it.
 That would be about destiny and life.
In hopes that I convinced the reader of the viability of the SELF Methodology theory, applying it in an imagination exercise the method and tools on the personal development plan, I propose another exercise to imagine the program of materializing the vision of this thesis.
In the beginning of the thesis I presented a metaphor, about how I see this work as a concept of organizing the design process.20 Let's see how we can make the transition from concept to project and from project to materialized goal happen. Going through the whole thesis, and taking into consideration that in chapter 4.4 DESIGN METHODOLOGY, we described which are the stages of design in a very well defined flow, where the detailed concept and the need to validate it before proceeding to the development of the whole project, I summarise here with my thoughts on the importance of this book. which I believe will help in developing the process of achieving a methodology for organizing design in Romania.
This book contains a concept and probably reaches all levels, all the elements necessary for a methodology.21 We will make a comparison between the project of building a construction and this concept which is part of a project of organizing the design process. In the beginning, the concept is accomplished which, if well done, achieves all the essential elements of the construction based on a design theme. This theme is developed, most of the time, by the architect in relationship with the beneficiary. In this case, I am the architect of this concept (of organizing the design process), and the role of the beneficiary is played by my company.
20 Self-quotive: In the country of management, in the city of methodologies, I will build the building (objective) of the design process, and the present thesis aims to carry out the sketch, the urban planning certificate, the concept, the opinions, the documentation for the building permit, the technical project, the details of the execution. After the design we will have to choose the executed and to make together the building of the design process. It is up to us that this construction is a solid edifice that will guide the design in the next period, p. 14
21 Own comment: say "almost all elements" because a concept is not DDE. A concept touch the essential elements so that the project then develops at the technical project level and execution details and is put into operation and even after it is put into operation it undergoes modifications.

In my interaction with the company (as an architect of the building called design organization) I gathered information about the requirements of such a process, the expectations of the beneficiary, his needs, I understood the national context, the international context, developements in architecture and construction today, how management methods and tools developed to this day in general and how the organization of design companies evolve over time.22
Thus, we reached all the important elements (but they do not have the same consistency) just as, in the concept of a project, the defining aspects are implemented according to the decision and inspiration of the architect, but detailed enough not to leave things to chance. Just as a good architect thinks from the design phase to the technical implementation phase and the tools needed to build the proposed construction, so, during the thesis, I presented a series of methods and tools that will be used in the process of organizing the design, in design management and even in the design process:
 the compiler of ideas, based on a method by which one came to separate simple ideas from forcefull ideas, how to enhance and exploit them;
 using the GAME in the planning part, but also in the innovation part;23
 use of innovation and research in carrying out all projects;
 capitalization of databases;24
 ZOOM IN method and ZOOM OUT method;25
 tabula rasa system - tabula scripta: as a method of scientific research;26
 Work Breakdown Structure balances with Units and Levels of Planning;27
 The game - used not only as a statement;28
 SWOT analysis in tandem with the ASK file;
This is the course of this paper. Today, in this thesis, the organization of design is only on the level of a detailed proof of concept. Following the support, me, together with my team and other specialists, and perhaps with other entities and organizations on the goverment level, will develop an extensive process of elaborating a design methodology, leading to raising the design standard in Romania, to its proximity to the use of algorithms and artificial intelligence, to the maximum increase in the level of automation of the design process. And then to mirror the appearance within public authorities of project verification methodologies that are submitted for approval and authorization, using these principles, software, algorithms and artificial intelligence. And then, the verification of the concordance of the project with the norms and regulations of urbanism to be done uniformly on an national level, without errors or bias, to shorten the whole approval process, to increase the efficiency of design and to reduce costs related to design in general. After publication, my intention is to upload this thesis on a website and have it made available to all those interested and those who, naturally, will oppose these theories and ideas that I have structured in this book. And this is because, naturally, research means debate, and any debate or counter-argument that will come to this thesis, will allow me to develop and deepen my knowledge in this field of design methodology and permanently increase the concept until it becomes a solid, verified and functional methodology.
 This would be about the purpose (reason to be / purpose) of this thesis.
To summarise on a dynamic note, which, incidentally, we identify over the course of this entire thesis, we notice at the end of the paper (or at the beginning29 if we read from end to beginning according to the method da fine al capo) the inclusion of tips to follow for teams that will be involved in materializing the vision of this thesis, in transforming the ideas of force into a tested methodology and applicable on as many levels as possible.
 Goals can only be achieved through the combined efforts of all teams.
 Tracking priorities is done efficiently through budget management. Allocate budgets to deliverables and you will activate the entrepreneurial spirit of the employees.
 Communicates effectively with beneficiaries and authorities. Communication with beneficiaries involves, besides working meetings and telephone discussions, e-mails and the submission of information reports on an established recurrence. Telephone conversations must be well-structured, efficient and as short as possible.
 Use sprints. According to the Agile methodology, sprinting is a period of time or a combination of actions in which team members focus on closing a phase. This aspect is of great financial importance because, as a rule, the closing of a phase coincides with the time of issuance of the invoice. Extending a phase longer than planned can be assimilated to making an investment without a rate of return. Until the end of the phase, it absorbs resources, so money is invested in its realization, which will be recovered after a certain period, without generating a financial return.
 Organize the exchange of information through short sessions of 5 minutes (stand-up type).
 Focus on planning and completing a phase in full. Start another phase only after you have closed the one you are already working on.
 Use work instructions and develops standardized deliverables.
 Increase the company's image through the quality of deliverables.
 Use all available automation and be the promoter of artificial intelligence.
 Rely on experts to increase the quality of deliverables, consultants for heavy solutions and researchers for innovation.
 Worthiness is manifested by the fight against gravity and disorder. Taking the initiative, constantly solving problems and being proactive contribute to achieving the goals.
 That would be about advice.

Notes