Young Architects Forum

 View Only

Community HTML

2020-03-19_1206.png

Quick Links

Who we are

The Young Architects Forum (YAF), a program of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the College of Fellows (COF), is organized to address issues of particular importance to recently licensed architects.

FAQ: What is a young architect and what is an emerging professional? Young architects are architects licensed up to ten years of initial licensure, and the name does not have any relationship to age. Emerging professionals are professionals who have completed their academic studies up to the point of licensure or up to 10 years after completion of their academic studies. Although young architects are now defined as distinct from emerging professionals, many components refer to these groups similarly. For example, a local YAF group may include emerging professionals and a local Emerging Professionals Committee may include young architects.

  • 1.  Beyond COVID-19, How to afford remote work.

    Posted 04-02-2020 07:58 PM
    Dear Fellow Architects.

    I'd like to have this blog post to be an open discussion about what everyone learned from the multi-week remote work experience. With many smaller and larger firms are currently struggling with technology, we anticipate a sudden spike in overhead expenses and reduced profits.

     What are some of the discovered free or affordable tools that can be used by small teams with no or minimal impact on the profitability of their firms? I hope this discussion can be beneficial for people seeking immediate solutions.

    Please keep in mind that we are not advertising or endorsing any products or services, we are sharing our practical experiences and struggles in the past few weeks.


    Below is my personal list that is able for immediate use.

    Video Conferencing 

    1. FreeConferenceCall.com: Pros:(Free 1 room), Cons: usually not suitable for discussing confidential projects.
    2. Zoom:  Pros: Free/ unlimited 1 to 1 meetings, Free 40min max group meetings.

    Remote Access

    1. Microsoft Remote Desktop for PC & MAC: Pros: Free. Cons: Requires VPN / Network Gateway.
    2. Chrome Remote Desktop: Pros Free, easy install, Cons: Requires Chrome Browser and Gmail or Gsuite Account.

    Remote- Software access Licensing 

    1. Fra.me: Set up a Windows computer on the cloud with necessary design software, suitable for a multi-user account.
    2.  Rhino Zoo: A cloud license management for Rhino, Free of charge if you own at least 1 rhino license

    Cloud Storage & Sharing

    1. Owners of Office 365, get around 1TB of data storage.
    2. Owners of Gmail business accounts have multi-tiered google drive storage plans.

    Office Phone Products (Voice Ove IP)

    1. Ring Central Essentials (Up to 20 users / $20 per month per user)
    2.  Mitel Business phone essentials (unlimited users / $21 per month per user)

    Remote Team Collaborations tools
    1. Bluebeam Studio (Document coordination). free of charge for Bluebeam users.
    2. Slack vs. Basecamp vs. Microsoft teams.
    3. Zoho Connect, Social media for work.

    Benefits, Billing, Bookkeeping and Payroll

    1. Paylocity: Payroll, HR, Benefits, Talent Recognition
    2. Clear Company: Talent Development
    3. Quickbooks:  Financial Management, good for small businesses


    These are my lists, for now, I'd like to have everyone share their experience with some of the remote tools. trying to keep our list as affordable as possible.



    ------------------------------
    Tay Othman AIA
    Project Architect
    DES Architects & Engineers
    Concord CA
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Beyond COVID-19, How to afford remote work.

    Posted 04-06-2020 03:05 PM
    Tay - thanks for sharing! I have a few thoughts worth sharing:

    Video Conferencing:
    We've been going back and forth between Zoom and GoToMeeting. I personally find Zoom a little more user-friendly. I believe it's paid subscription is also less expensive than GoTo's.

    Remote Access:
    We've been using TeamViewer and SplashTop - both paid subscriptions. I've found TeamViewer to be much faster than SplashTop, which has a bit of a lag.

    Remote Team Collaboration Tools:
    Our office has had Microsoft Teams for a while, and never used it. We're getting a crash-course over the last few weeks, and it's proving to be a good resource for us. We're using Zoom for all-office check-ins three times a week.

    ------------------------------
    Matthew Toddy AIA
    Architect
    Design Collective Architecture
    Columbus OH
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Beyond COVID-19, How to afford remote work.

    Posted 04-08-2020 07:13 PM
    Thank you Matt,
    so far in the other knowledge communities, it seems that most firms are providing very positive feedback for MS teams. We are not using it at work, but it is something that makes me more curios. 

    How does it compare to slack?

    ------------------------------
    Tay Othman AIA
    Project Architect
    DES Architects & Engineers
    Concord CA
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Beyond COVID-19, How to afford remote work.

    Posted 04-09-2020 05:37 PM
    Hi Tay,

    I've found that most firms gravitate towards Microsoft teams because it's already including in Office 365.

    I happen to be biased to Slack, but then again I work for them. I do think the UI is better - and it still integrates with 365 but it is an additional cost if your firms have needs beyond their freemium offerings.

    ------------------------------
    Evelyn Lee AIA
    Senior Workplace Experience Strategy
    Slack Technologies Inc
    Lafayette CA
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Beyond COVID-19, How to afford remote work.

    Posted 04-09-2020 07:38 PM
    Our firm just switched from the free version of Slack to Microsoft Teams as we found the capability more expansive and supportive of our WFH needs. We still maintain Goto and Zoom as alternatives, but Goto has been a disaster since this started. Stay safe and well, everyone!

    ------------------------------
    Kevin Roberts AIA
    Architecture Discipline Lead
    505Design Charlotte, Inc.
    Charlotte NC
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: Beyond COVID-19, How to afford remote work.

    Posted 04-10-2020 06:46 PM
    I would encourage everyone who uses Slack, Teams, or something similar to also use Zoom, Goto, and the like for conference meetings.

    Both communication platforms have video call capability built-in, but at best they are meant for small groups (4 or less), and mostly meant for 1:1s when you find things going south because what you are typing is being misinterpreted. 

    In order to get the most productivity out of the toolset, it's actually best to use the tools for what they are ultimately designed to be used for.

    ------------------------------
    Evelyn Lee AIA
    Senior Workplace Experience Strategy
    Slack Technologies Inc
    Lafayette CA
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Beyond COVID-19, How to afford remote work.

    Posted 04-13-2020 05:23 PM
    We've got a meeting for our internal leadership of about 20 people scheduled later this month - what tools and tips do others recommend to keep this manageable but also beneficial for everyone participating?

    ------------------------------
    Matthew Bartner AIA
    Principal & Director of Operations
    Kitchen & Associates
    Collingswood NJ
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: Beyond COVID-19, How to afford remote work.

    Posted 04-13-2020 07:25 PM
    Hello Mathew,

    My research for tools is still evolving, My understanding there is a capability for Zoom meeting to enable Voting on specific items, this is a good tool for Leadership trying to discuss and agree on specific topics.

    This weekend I got to experiment with Miro.com , it is a virtual board that enables many members to discuss, sketch, brainstorm and strategize on one infinite virtual whiteboard. I suggest giving it a try.


    ------------------------------
    Tay Othman AIA
    Project Architect
    DES Architects & Engineers
    Concord CA
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: Beyond COVID-19, How to afford remote work.

    Posted 04-14-2020 12:55 PM

    Hi Matthew,

    It really depends on how you run or would like to run your leadership meetings, and the format that you would like to run this one. In any scenario - I find that it often helps to have a biz-tech or someone in a similar role managing conversation/presentation switches especially if the technology is new to most people.

    If you want engagement - what type of engagement do you want - Poll Everywhere is one tool you can use to test waters during a presentation and get everyone engaged at various different levels. Miro is a toll that I would often designate under collaborative brainstorming for project-based work. It's harder to spin-up for these type of leadership meetings especially if it's a new tool for most of the team. 

    I believe that both goto and zoom (I'm more familiar with the later) have the ability on their webinar packages for people to break off into different groups and then come back and have a broader discussion. The webinar features also comes with the ability for people to virtually "raise hands" or type in a question to the Q&A box - this can also be done not in webinar mode.

    You will find with a group as large as one you are hosting - that some people may run into bandwidth problems or even be more quiet than usual because it's harder to understand when to break into the discussion on video conferencing features - so making use of the hands raised and Q&A will be critical - again that is something we usually have someone not apart of the discussion moderating so the person leading the meeting doesn't have to simultaneously be watching for things coming in but can be queued when they do.

    Hope that's helpful.



    ------------------------------
    Evelyn Lee AIA
    Senior Workplace Experience Strategy
    Slack Technologies Inc
    Lafayette CA
    ------------------------------