Don’t Waste Your Time - How To Work Effectively In Architecture

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Күн бұрын

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@jakelelievre8057 3 жыл бұрын

Geez it’s about time you make this video on architecture... ;p Some really great points you guys made here. There’s one point I’d like to expand upon, which is from 14:45 where Andrew spoke about doing your deep thinking in the morning. There’s a phenomenon called ‘decision fatigue’ which posits that every decision you make in the course of a day actually depletes your ability to make decisions as the day progresses (almost like a stamina bar in video games, but for decision-making). If you’re using your decision stamina on busywork like emails or social media or whatever, you’re actually making it harder for yourself to do important work as the day progresses. This is even why a lot of high performing people choose to do things like wearing the same clothes every day - to reduce the number of superfluous decision they are making in the morning. This whole phenomenon of decision fatigue makes me wary of Kevin’s later question about working in the evening. I think it’s probably unwise for most people to do important work later (and a delusion of many that they do better work at night at all). I definitely agree with Andrew that design work is better done in the morning, before the information overload has a chance to accrue. (It’s something I’ve learnt the hard way over the years, after foolishly doing most of my important work at night.) I think it should also be noted that the all-nighter culture perpetuated in architecture school is problematic in building these bad habits, and is not helping in the fight for work-life integration (‘integration’, because imo ‘balance’ implies work and life are mutually exclusive) Anyway, that’s my $0.02 in your excellent video

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the detailed comment and the point about decision fatigue.

@Azza-Dh 3 жыл бұрын

Very well said and thank you for the extra information ... since my fourth year in architecture school, I stopped staying up all night, I'd rather get some good sleep and wake up early in the morning. Around this time of the day, we tend to be more cheerful, I work more efficiently and also more creatively. Whereas at night, we would be exhausted, less productive and highly stressed or anxious. I never managed a whole office, I think it is a huge responsibility. But, I tend to plan my day or my projects. With every new experience, I would note down the amount of time I spend on each task. Moreover, I fix my personal deadline which tend to be three days or more before the actual deadline.

@WelcomeToSteph 3 жыл бұрын

What Andrew says early in the video about valuing time is so important. If we don't respect our time then it's a race to the bottom as he says and then clients also won't value the time it takes to make the things that architects make. Often because the end result looks so simple and clean they are unaware just how much effort and TIME has gone into something.

@WelcomeToSteph 3 жыл бұрын

p.s. now that I have TIME to make some more videos one that I will do is sharing my strategies for time management for students!

@OneMinuteArchitecture 3 жыл бұрын

Great episode, as always. Andrew's comment "why you are doing what you are doing" really struck me as it is probably the most important question we, as an architects, need to ask all the time. This is reflected especially in drawing where you can quickly fall in love with your own drawing, rather than with what the design is actually about.

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks. YES! Good point. I keep saying this in the Discord server to students. Be goal focused rather than task focused. Why are you dong what you are doing?! Nice to hear from you too.

@martinwander8295 3 жыл бұрын

As a virtual dinosaur in architecture, I’ve found that freehand sketches are a real way to save time and communicate ideas. When our plans and sections were starting to firm up, I often took a couple of days to walk through the building with freehand perspectives. I did them with overlays studying important ways materials and finishes might intersect. The sketches were relaxed and where usually drawn as a sequence walking through the project, with enough information to indicate the finished intention. Using these sketches, the whole team could question , understand and translate the perspectives into construction documents. We used the sketches, intentionally informal as they were, to walk clients, users, sub consultants and design members through the project. All based on the short amount of time needed to draw them. In my work, we often partnered with local firms thousands of miles away. We were not in the same city as we worked, so communicating was crucial.

@brnkx8177 3 жыл бұрын

That thumbnail gave me one of those take my money now moments incredible

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

😂

@mirakarchitect7945 2 жыл бұрын

Oh, I just wish my Architecture school back then got it, they still don't -even today, most of it was a waste. So fresh, inspiring and educative. Dear Lord, am taking 📝. Thanks.❤🔥🙌🏽

@urbancolab 3 жыл бұрын

You are right on. I definitely use rim blocking to focus. The one thing about time and money is to not get too tied to trading you time for dollars with client fees.

@tommygrewell2684 3 жыл бұрын

I agree about creating good work habits for yourself to be efficent! So if you have a project, idea or objective, it’s sometimes good to break down the big picture into smaller steps. These smaller steps can be challenging, but they shouldn’t be overwhelming! You should know what action you can take to start them, who you might ask for help, and about how long achieving the goal will take. The last thing comes with experience so to young people out there I would say try to get you a mentor to recive that experience quicker, and remember a mentor can be found outside your workplace! The fact that something is hard to do in an 8h work day is also one of the greatest joys! That is how we grow and we find the greatest rewards! / Thanks again for a great channel!

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching and commenting!

@MrPelikan500 3 жыл бұрын

3:09 .... *we're fundamentally constructing a position (argument)* ... making a stand ... defending a "decision taken" (parti pris) paraphrasing there ... thanks guys for that insight of clarity ... shall bear this in mind when i need to explain/justify why i'm doing/proposing something ... taking a position ... time "efficiency" maybe easier to define/measure ... the units of time ... i like to look at "effectiveness" of time ... this is a skill, a cognitive skill my position is that the better the thinking, the more layers of issues are dealt with ... then the more "effective" use of time the more "effective" solution results in more "efficient" time productivity ...

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

Efficiency. See the big picture

@aldrichjohn10 3 жыл бұрын

On point discussion! I'd would love rewarding myself a time in finishing tasks right before the deadline, hard in reality but it's worth to do. Time is gold, it's precious and this is one of the luxuries we have.

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

Yes definitely. Self rewards are so important.

@lumomagus 3 жыл бұрын

I gotta hand it to you, this one tops the clock. You’re lucky it didn’t tick me off!

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

“Watch” it.

@danielwong9608 3 жыл бұрын

Really valuable advice here. The evils of email and the fallacy of multi-tasking - all so true! A suggestion... would Andrew consider documenting a project and its stages of design for an episode? From initial brief and scoping, all the way to approvals and breaking ground? Thoughts?

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

That’s a lot of videos over a long time.

@maynardarchitects 3 жыл бұрын

I can do that in 15mins

@oldrrr 3 жыл бұрын

I wish I have this channel when I start my architecture study. Andrew Maynard is one of my favourite australian architect, and he is so funny and so charming. I'm binge watching all the old episodes.

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

Never too late

@pompei1009 3 жыл бұрын

I find visualising in my mind what I might do for the day on my way to work helps. Sometimes I do this during the bath as well. However, some may argue that I should not think about work at home.

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

Thinking in the bath is fine, it’s not interrupting your family life... unless it is

@fullcircle6345 3 жыл бұрын

Some great points mentioned in this video! It's all about time!

@prawiraagung4011 3 жыл бұрын

Love your office! Love the thumbnail! Love the- *time runs out*

@romanmamus 3 жыл бұрын

Excellent video as usual. This should be required watching for first year students!

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

If you ask me, it’s required watching/rewatching for everyone at different stages

@romanmamus 3 жыл бұрын

@@Archimarathon agreed!

@ethanscotney9999 3 жыл бұрын

again great video as always, will have to try and get uninterrupted work also, I find that when I stay up past about 10PM working the speed that I do things just falls off a cliff. thanks, Kebvin and McLovin :)

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks. Good luck with it.

@gabybordino6024 3 жыл бұрын

Standing ovation! Sometimes I feel like you guys are reading my mind (but with an improved outcome) One particular thing I´d like to add. I don´t know if there is a global thing, but here there is a sort of culture of immediacy, where everything is asked "for yesterday" which results in bad management of time from the very beginning.

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks. Yeah I think that's a global thing

@taracull-archienglish5174 3 жыл бұрын

Couldn’t agree more Gaby. Why do we create this nonsense need for immediacy? Everything before Christmas or the end of the week or yesterday?! Time isn’t always money when it’s at the expense of stress of someone’s mental health.

@gabybordino6024 3 жыл бұрын

@@taracull-archienglish5174 Honestly, I don´t know. And as I´ve said before, setting goals that you know that you cannot accomplish reveals more inefficiency than being realistic and define how much time you actually need.. Of course, real-life has shorter deadlines than University, so you have to adapt.

@taracull-archienglish5174 3 жыл бұрын

@@gabybordino6024 yes exactly! If we do too many overtime hours etc as Andrew said how can we get a realistic idea of how long things take. I once worked with someone who worked 4-5 hours overtime almost every single day. They arrived at 7am and would leave at 7 or 8pm. Then when they moved on the company had to hire two extra people because they realised how much overtime this person was doing was almost equivalent to another full workload!

@taracull-archienglish5174 3 жыл бұрын

So many great points like usual. I never realised how important it was to respect time when I started working for myself as well as dealing with time difference. As you said, so important to respect your time, understand the purpose of what you’re doing so you’re not wasting time! Loved what Andrew was saying about transparency. It’s so great to give staff autonomy so they can be more disciplined and understand the business behind architecture. Oh and the exploited workforce! You really made me think too about how by giving my students endless meetings I’m not being realistic with them and I need to show them to set limits. You two keep outdoing yourselves! Thanks for such a great video.

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks again for your ongoing support

@gabybordino6024 3 жыл бұрын

And even worst, endless meetings at work! If one spends too much time attending work meetings, there is less time you can use to produce, so I think It´s important to organize the agenda, set a few points to analyse, and be proactive, instead of getting trapped in meaningless conversations

@taracull-archienglish5174 3 жыл бұрын

@@gabybordino6024 ah the worst! You’re right. I can’t stand an unorganised all over the place meeting. Do you know what’s even worse if when you have meetings on zoom and people send emails in the middle of that meeting to everyone in the meeting! 🤦‍♀️

@gabybordino6024 3 жыл бұрын

@@taracull-archienglish5174 Ohh yes! I hate that

@mattkeller9667 3 жыл бұрын

Great conversations! It's nice to hear about time from a wholistic perspective, and not just from the student or employee point of view.

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

Holistic thinking is what we like to talk about as you know from Discord

@lividmatter4862 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for all the advice!

@FEISARCHASSISMK3 3 жыл бұрын

The perfect thumbnail doesn't exis...

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

Maybe in the future....

@stefanspasov2385 3 жыл бұрын

i had time for this one :)

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

Good times.

@zoerockett8341 3 жыл бұрын

Really appreciate your videos 📹 I learn so much

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

Glad to hear

@jana.j.a1 3 жыл бұрын

I enjoyed this, thank you 😁

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

Welcome

@richardjohnston5363 3 жыл бұрын

Really enjoying your content and your grounded passion. You mentioned burnout which is something i've suffered with many times over. Its quite tricky to find that creative flow after burnout as the motivation target is always moving. Does your motivation every become less than the job?

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

I am currently a bit burnt out from making KZbin videos

@xmicoz 3 жыл бұрын

The architecture of ur face is cute. Beautiful ass humans 😂😂 love the chats. Gets me thinking more of my future as an architect. Very hard to stay motivated in school but this shows!

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

check out our other videos such as How To Get The Most From Architecture School and many others

@troycequimpo6685 3 жыл бұрын

i really like the hand to mind connection while using the drawing board, but as a first year student i’ve never used a board once. is the drawing board obsolete?!

@Archimarathon 3 жыл бұрын

Drawing board makes you understand scale and output. When we talk about drawing we are also talking about drawing. It could be on a napkin or back of a postcard