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Array Holds Project Management Bootcamp KING OF PRUSSIA – Array Healthcare Facilities Solutions, consistently ranked as one of the top national healthcare design firms, recently held a two-day intensive “bootcamp” for their Project Managers from all four national offices. Led by Chris Martersteck of PSMJ Resources, Inc., 24 participants were present at the session held at Dolce Valley Forge Hotel, Resort & Conference Center located in King of Prussia, PA. All project managers from the Florida, Ohio and New York offices joined the project managers from the King of Prussia office for the event.
“As a recent addition to Array, I was impressed to witness just how committed the firm is to delivering successful projects for our clients,” said Rachel Schwarz, AIA, Project Manager at Array’s Beachwood, OH office. “The session combined processes that are working well at Array and incorporated industry proven best practices. While the classroom exercise lasted two days, it shows that Array is committed to increasing the value of their services to clients through the daily application of project management best practices.” The origin of this PM bootcamp was Array’s annual strategic planning retreat, in which company employees and leaders addressed key areas of focus for the firm, project management being one. Key PM bootcamp session topics included an in-depth discussion of what clients are looking for from project managers, and how Array can develop a process to address clients’ needs. “Array’s future success will depend to a large degree on our ability to meet the ever increasing project management expectations of our clients.” said Carl Davis, President, Array HFS. “A well-defined and followed PM management process can have a significant positive impact on the economics of a project for both our client and Array. Our goal was to transition a loosely-defined process into a signature, uniform system for Array, tailored specifically to meet the needs of individual clients.” “Each Project Manager came away with a clear understanding of their role in delivering successful projects for our clients,” explained Array’s Vice President of Operations, George Shmidheiser. The session will be followed up with monthly project management best practices topics presented internally to staff as part of an ongoing project management development educational process. “We will hold continual Project Management education sessions and reinforce its importance by including project management best practices as part of our performance and accountability review process,” said Davis. “Project management will receive as much attention at Array as other significant areas of our practice such as design and quality control.” While Array felt that its project management services were strong, they also understand that clients are looking for more value as the cost of completing healthcare projects continues to rise. In a recent survey sent out to more than 320 clients, 81.3% strongly agreed or agreed that Array’s Project Managers understood their definition of a successful project at the outset. Additionally, 75.1% strongly agreed or agreed that project scopes were well thought out, detailed and include design and criteria equipment.
Bootcamp facilitator Chris Martersteck agrees that Array excels above other firms in a variety of areas including fiscal accountability on projects and project management, a greater mastery of project status tracking software tools, more accurate billing estimates, exceptional overall project communication, a more personalized PM process and a defined PM manual. Additionally, Array is developing a new position on project teams titled “Project Coordinator” who will act as a right-hand to the Project Manager. This position will train junior-level staff earlier in their careers and also provide the client with cost savings by producing PM administrative duties at a lower cost. “Array is not afraid to ask questions, the result of which leads to better results,” said Chris Martersteck, PM bootcamp leader of PSMJ Resources. “The company also takes great strides in providing junior-level staff members with an understanding of the big picture, allowing them to buy-in to the project and embrace their overall contributions. These communication and mentoring programs have contributed to a lower-than-average employee turnover and greater satisfaction.”
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