Specifications are unlike other forms of writing familiar to design professionals and tradesmen. The writing we’re all exposed to on a daily basis (such as in books, newspapers, websites, etc.) is almost entirely expository, the goal of which is to inform or persuade. Specifications are entirely different: the goal is to describe the design intent and list provisions of the construction contract, with precision, and in language that will be interpreted by each separate reader in exactly the same way. This is no small order. The very qualities that make the English language such an elegant tool for authors and poets – the rich supply of synonyms and the complexities of syntax and grammar – present design professionals with a challenge to create specifications with precision and clarity.

As part of the contract documents, specifications serve to regulate future conduct as much as they document design intent. Each party to the construction contract has a legal right to enforce the obligations and restrictions indicated in the contract documents. Any shortcoming in language that isn’t spotted before contract signing has the potential to cause a problem down the road when brought to light under performance of the contract. Further, after signing the construction contract, no single party has the authority to unilaterally fix mistakes that do come to light. Expository writing that seeks to explain or persuade rather than regulate doesn’t carry with it these sorts of risks.

Every specification provision is subject to intense and prolonged scrutiny by multiple parties, including the owner’s representatives, regulatory agencies, contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers, manufacturer’s representatives, specialty consultants, expert witnesses, attorneys, mediators, judges, and others. Much more time can ultimately be spent negotiating a single disputed provision than was spent writing all of the original project specifications in the first place; this in turn can give rise to additional related issues being disputed and requiring even more time and further resolution. If nothing else, disputes, disagreements, and negotiations reveal one simple truth: provisions agreed to in principal can still include areas of disagreement within their wording. Since the contract documents consist of what is actually written down and are not an abstract notion of what one party thinks they should be, precise language is imperative.

Uncertainty is the specifier’s enemy. Any specification provision that (1) is capable of conveying two or more inconsistent meanings; (2) is too general because a lack of detail makes it unclear what it applies to; (3) employs a word or phrase that conveys a different meaning in another provision; (4) includes a word or phrase that conveys a meaning expressed elsewhere in the same provision; (5) contradicts another provision; or (6) provides for the possibility of borderline cases, can all become a basis of dispute, and eventually litigation. A working knowledge of these sources of uncertainty and a proficiency in eliminating them are essential skills anyone preparing specifications must possess.

With a typical project specification containing over 500 pages and more than 150,000 words in the architectural sections alone, and given the very nature of language and the importance of getting things right the first time, isn’t it clear that the rigorous and comprehensive approach to specifications provided by a specialist is invaluable to those firms who would like to spend their time seeing projects realized rather than exposing themselves to the risks involved in defending poorly prepared contract documents?

Ever wonder where we’re headed? What I mean is: on a warm, breezy Sunday afternoon, with barbecue smells and children’s laughter filling the neighborhood, between mowing the yard and watering the plants, do you ever take stock of where we are and try to imagine where we’re all headed? When you’re inching along in rush hour traffic, or clutching that slippery post as your train speeds away from the station, do you ever wonder how we’ll get to where we’re destined to go?

I do. I think about these things all the time. Some say too much although I’m not sure I’d agree. For me, tiny moments of everyday life are perfect respites that invite contemplation. And after all this time, after years of pondering the future of my chosen profession architecture, considering context, reading signposts, and wargaming scenarios, what I’m absolutely certain of is this: while our path to the future is more stepping stone than superhighway, the direction is unmistakeable. And it troubles me.

What I’ve Learned

Architectural practice has evolved slowly over a long period of time, so it’s easy to observe that our business models are indelibly influenced by tradition. Comparitively, other businesses are much younger and less established. They’re hungry, willing to experiment, and have little downside to investing in new opportunities. Ratcheting up the stakes in business today is the fact that technology-enabled companies are lighter and faster than ever before, meaning the competitive race is accelerating at an ever faster pace at the same time the nature of the race is changing. In our complex, globalized world, striving to simply maintain position is a recipe for stagnation. Those businesses that choose to stick to their knitting quickly find themselves surrounded by agile game-changing competitors.

With much of the business world already beta-testing Innovation Version 4.0, I’ve found my profession incorrigibly mired in a previous and outmoded version, with the gulf growing ever larger. I have my own thoughts about where we’re stuck, but you can decide for yourself:

In today’s world innovation pays; in tomorrow’s world wealth will be generated by new ideas. Without a doubt, innovation is the engine of progress, and most often real innovation comes from insurgent viewpoints rather than incumbent ones. Real innovation is as much about new ways of seeing and doing things as about breakthrough ideas. Real innovation flows from shifts in mind-set that enable company visionaries to generate new business models and recognize new opportunities, and company doers to weave ideas through the fabric of its culture. Myself, I define innovation as the ability of individuals, companies and entire professions to continuously create their desired future.

What I See

Accumualated evidence has made me increasingly concerned about, and disturbed by, the health of architectural practice as a whole. I see a crisis brewing and it makes me angry. Collectively, we should be doing much better than we are. We have the talent and infrastructure necessary for increasing success, yet remain complacent incumbents at a time when what’s needed is a fresh approach. 

We’re presently living through a period of radical change, not one of incremental change. Other businesses recognize this and are moving forward at a rapid pace, racing one after another toward a new high ground where the capacity for innovation is viewed as a hallmark of success, and from which new streams of opportunity will undoubtedly emerge. In our profession, what’s currently on the table seems to be a strategy of “more” and not one of “different”. Although we talk about BIM, cloak ourselves in concepts like sustainability or integrated project delivery, and invest in technologies like Revit, such things are at best incremental and don’t fundamentally change the nature of the conversation.

What I Intend to Do About It

Our profession’s biggest challenge lies in siezing a day that’s well past noon, and for this there’s no simple solution. However this blog is intended as a start. It’s the backbone of a social media strategy conceived to help shape our profession’s future, brought to you by a company committed to increasing the success and value of design professionals. AWCWEST operates under a simple insurgent idea: with respect to both design and project delivery, the nature of specifications and position of the specifier together offer a largely untapped resource for innovation. By developing this resource and offering our clients the dividends, we hope to contribute to the growth of their businesses and the future of our profession. Sound strange? Just wait. In the months and years to come we intend to supplement our blog with real time, on-the-fly, media-rich platforms that host content demonstrating exactly what we’re talking about.

For those who either support or are satisfied with the status quo, we wish you well, hope you enjoy the content we put forth, and look forward to you visiting us often. But for those who support meeting our profession’s challenges head-on, diagnosing our current situation, exploring innovation, and putting forth proposals to revitalize our position in the decades to come, we invite you to invest with us in finding new sources of demand, new client needs, and new social trends on which to place bets for the future. We invite you to explore the fringe and develop your insurgent thinking so that new ideas may be brought forth that will help shape our tomorrow. And we hope a little fun can be had collaborating and getting to know one another along the way.

Welcome to our blog and the community that sustains it. Welcome to what’s next.