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BUSINESS NEWS

Take your advice from Mark Zweig to-go.

JQ ENGINEERING MOVESTO BIGGER OFFICE SPACE IN AUSTIN, TEXAS JQ has relocated its Austin office to accommodate the firm’s growth in Central Texas, according to JQ’s partner Thomas Scott. The new office location is 108 Wild Basin Road, Suite 350 in Austin. “We are continuing to experience strong and steady growth in the Central Texas region,” says Scott. “The move to our new offices will provide our existing team of engineers, technicians, and support staff more collaborative space and allow

us to accommodate our rapid growth in Austin.” Currently, JQ is performing work for the Creekside Residence Hall at the University of Texas at Austin which will house nearly 1,200 students and the Live Oak Amphitheater, a new 3,400 seat capacity outdoor music venue that will be part of the Backyard, a creative business campus in Bee Cave, Texas. JQ is known for its innovative engineering solutions responsive to architectural design, project schedules, and budgets.

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MARK ZWEIG, from page 1

paid well. This means going to bat with the department heads and other people who determine what a team member makes compensation-wise, and speaking up for them. It also means sub-consultants don’t get beaten down during fee negotiations and get paid when the prime’s firm gets its money from the client. 5)They can put themselves in the other guy’s shoes. A good PM can empathize with the other people involved. Putting themselves in their shoes makes them more sensitive in terms of how they communicate and what they’ll ask (and expect) out of someone. 6)They anticipate problems before they occur. Being able to predict what people will misunderstand and how they could mess something up by accident, or who won’t get along, or who will do the wrong thing, is the mark of an effective project manager. Some of this comes from experience. Some of it comes from being a smart observer and stu- dent of human behavior. This is one of the most important skills you can have as a PM! 7)They confront problems quickly. Nothing other than wine improves with age. All problems must be dealt with expeditiously if you are going to keep people from wasting their time. And no one wants to waste their time as ANY good PM knows. 8)They keep their perspective on the value of a good client and remind everyone of that. I teach this every year to my entrepreneurship students. If someone comes into a fast food restaurant and has a bad experience, the loss is not the $1.20 the restaurant would earn on that $8 meal. The loss could be $1.20 times 52 weeks in a year for five years if that person was a typical repeat customer. Same thing applies in our business. A good PM also understands you can’t try to make a killing on every project. Sometimes you have to work for less because it’s the right thing to do – to help make up for past problems – or to help the client out of a jam as a company or even personally. 9)They are willing to fire a bad client and walk away. An effective PM cannot allow his or her people to be abused or unappreciated by a bad client. No client who repeat- edly has unrealistic expectations can be tolerated. People with short fuses who destroy the morale of those doing the work may not be worth trying to serve. A good PM isn’t afraid to say, “We’ve had enough.” 10) They show respect for everyone. And that includes being super responsive and mak- ing sure people don’t waste their time doing the wrong thing because they haven’t been communicating with them. No one is beneath them. No one should ever be mistreated or dressed down publicly. And no one can be treated as if their time isn’t the precious commodity it is. So what do you think? Could your PMs do a better job at these things? If so, you better get to work! MARK ZWEIG is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.

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THE ZWEIG LETTER August 28, 2017, ISSUE 1214

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