Why architects don’t clean office buildings

Just about any project you might undertake can be divided into three distinct phases of work:

• Planning, strategy, and architecture: Identifying near-term and long-term goals, assessing resources and limitations, and plotting the course.

• Execution: Taking what's called for in the architecture phase and building it into a working reality.

• Maintenance: The daily work of keeping the system operational.

I like to think of these as altitudes of involvement.

Consider an office building:

• Planning and architecture:
  This is the 40,000-foot view of things. It's in the realm of the zoning board, the architects, the designers, and the business strategists.

• Execution:
  This is ground-level work. It's in the hands of the general contractor, the subcontractors, the building inspectors, and everyone else who helps from ground-breaking to opening day.

• Maintenance:
  This is below-ground work. It happens in the basements and store rooms and mail rooms and cleaning closets. It's the work of everyone who keeps the place running smoothly, from building maintenance to security to housekeeping to tenant management.

You could apply the same division to even simple projects like your child's 5th birthday party. There's planning and design (date selection, guest list, menu, venue); execution (sending invites, decorating, food prep); and maintenance (keeping the guests happy and the space tidy during the event, cleanup afterward).

Here's the thing:

For a kids birthday party, there's a good chance mom and dad will be covering all areas.

But for any substantial business project, you'll notice that there are a distinct set of players at each altitude of involvement.

Architects, for example, don't usually provide office cleaning services.

And if they did, you can bet they'd charge a lot more than most folks would want to pay for that service.

What this means for you:

In short, it means that the work of planning your CRM strategy, improving your CRM features, and maintaining your CRM systems are three very different areas of work.

You can probably find someone who's willing to promise you all three.

But are they really good at all three? And are they really offering you great business value in all three areas? (Remember, great architects won't usually contract with you to clean your bathrooms.)

The good news for you is that you can consciously divide any project into these three different areas and assign each one to the right person for the job — in-house or otherwise.

By doing that, you've got a much better chance of getting great work at each phase, and of avoiding needless expense.

All the best,
A.