Feedback:
It was June 1983, and a newly degreed (and recently married) young architect landed his first full-time job. With an annual salary of $16,000, and a head full of great designs, I started my career. In that first year, I became proficient at checking hardware schedules and drawing details and quickly graduated to checking steel shop drawings on pretty simple buildings. Not quite the height of architectural expression but it paid the rent. Chained to a drawing board (yes, pencil and paper), I never got to really see any of our projects under construction, because that was my boss’s job, and I was told I was too good on the “board” to be wasting my time on a job site.
This photo is feedback that was in the form of a 1-1/2” long piece of the last penthouse beam that my boss had to let the builder field cut because yours truly made a mistake (got the length wrong) while checking the shop drawings. Shameful. Not one for subtlety, he let me know how he felt by providing this real feedback and the colorful commentary that went along with it. I have saved this bit of feedback for many years now. I always thought I would do something with it, but never did, at least until today. Over the years, the way we give each other feedback has changed dramatically. From the hair dryer, in-your-face method to the more productive conversations of today. Still, all feedback doesn’t always feel good or make you happy. And because we are all human, all feedback isn’t delivered perfectly. No matter how you receive it, or even how it may be delivered, it is nonetheless feedback.
My recommendation is don’t ignore any type of feedback; have thick skin; have the courage to lean into it; and then grow from it.
In the words of Churchill,
“No success is final. Failure is never fatal. Courage is the only thing.”
Sure Winston….except for that damn penthouse beam!
Perspective:
I was surprised by how easy it was not to see mistakes in your own work (also reference story above). I would check the dimensions, the line-weight convention, the date…everything. Then my boss would review a blueprint of my work and mark it up with the needed corrections in a blazing carmine-red pencil. The next morning you would pick up the corrections. As I advanced, his reviews of my work included questions like “How are they (the owner) going to use that space?” or the dreaded “How am I supposed to build that, Mr. Architect?”
While I switched to the construction side of the industry at 25, stories like this repeated themselves over the years with different issues and different bosses, architects, and owners. The punchline from all of this is:
The ability to look at an issue from various stakeholder perspectives and provide real-time, meaningful, and knowledgeable feedback is extremely valuable as we plan, design and ultimately build. Here are some takeaways:
Accept criticism, even if delivered poorly
Take a good look from different viewpoints
Provide real-time, knowledgeable feedback
Measure twice, cut once :)
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