Advisory
Know the business first. Then put technology to work for it.
I work with architecture firms in that order. First we get clear on the business and the culture of the firm: how it runs, how it makes money, how it is organized, how its people work together, what it wants to become, and where it could grow. Then we make sure the technology serves both.
The work
Where we start, and what follows
First, the business
We begin with the firm itself. How it runs day to day, how it makes money, how it is organized, who gets to decide, and what its leaders want it to become.
A firm is also there to support the lives of the people in it and the work they care most about. So we ask what the business has to do to make that possible.
That look usually shows two things. One is what needs to change. The other is opportunity: services the firm could add, and work it already knows how to do well that could become something it offers to more clients.
I work with firm leaders to act on both, on purpose, at a pace the firm can absorb, while the projects keep moving.
And the culture that carries it
Culture sits over all of it. Whether a firm can change depends on how its people work together, who is allowed to question how things are done, and whether staff trust the change they are being asked to make.
Technology fails in firms when the culture is not ready for it. So we look at the culture alongside the business, before anything gets bought.
Then, the technology that serves both
Once the business and the culture are clear, technology has a job to do, and the firm can judge it against that job. Sometimes that job is running the firm better. Sometimes it is making a new service or product possible.
I never recommend vendors. What we work on together is the decision: how it gets made, what it costs over its life and not only in the first year, who inside the firm owns it, and what happens after the purchase, when the training is over and the projects still have to go out the door.
Where I have sat
I have been on both sides of these decisions.
I am an architect. I have also been the client, and I have worked inside the companies that make the tools.
- The project side
- More than a decade in practice, on the project side.
- The owner's side
- A decade on the owner's side, as the client.
- Inside tech
- Five years in tech, at Slack and then Salesforce. At Slack I led Future of Work prototyping across four floors of the San Francisco headquarters.
- AIA headquarters
- In 2020, my first year as Treasurer of the American Institute of Architects, I chaired the redesign of our national headquarters. I saw it open as I handed off the presidency at the end of 2025.
- AIA AI Task Force
- As the 2025 President of the AIA, I commissioned the AIA AI Task Force.
- Boards
- I am an outside director at Shepley Bulfinch and at Luckett & Farley.
- Advising
- I advise Acelab and Ichi, I am a founding advisor to Women Defining AI, and I have advised on mergers and acquisitions.
- Practice Disrupted
- I host Practice Disrupted, the only business operations podcast in AECO.
And I run my own firm the way I describe.
Where to start
The advisory work runs through my firm, Practice of Architecture. Tell me a little about your firm there and I will take it from there. If you would rather look at your own firm first, take the Adaptability Read.
The Adaptability Read is free and takes about six minutes. It asks for your name, email and firm, and it shows you how adaptable your firm is.
If you would like to see how I think before we talk, read the Practice Rebuilt newsletter and listen to Practice Disrupted episodes on practiceofarchitecture.com.