The Principles of an Impatient Architectural Designer
Good workflow means I spend more time designing and less time fixing mistakes. A bad workflow means I spend more time fixing mistakes and less time designing. I want to maximize design time, because it's what I enjoy most so I ruthlessly optimize towards that.
These are the basic principles:
Principle 1: Do everything, whenever possible, in ONE program only. Do not use multiple pieces of software. Compress and constrain everything into one box.
Principle 2: Work with impatience. Speed is a forcing function. It makes decisions easier. It keeps your eye on the big ideas and big steps. People notice big first and are surprised by small. Small can forever be created later and always. Big must happen now.
Principle 3: Keep everything malleable. Model, draw, and think with flexibility in mind. Everything will change at some point. Be it in Schematic Design or Construction Administration. Don’t lock yourself into permanent or custom modeling decisions. Keep the components, elements, and yourself adaptable and moveable.
Principle 4: If something sucks, change it. Anytime there's the slightest pain in a task that's done more than twice the pain needs to be examined and eliminated.