Last year, my firm’s leadership group debated whether we wanted to have a firm-wide discussion of everyone’s Enneagram. Most people were ambivalent about taking a test and discussing the results. Even those proposing it seemed ambivalent—it was just a fun idea! Two of us, though, resisted the idea. I felt—or maybe knew is better, having … Continue reading On pushing back against personality tests
Category: Working Life
On the story of your name icebreaker
One of my favorite library finds of last year was Creative Acts for Curious People—a Stanford d.school publication that compiled dozens of icebreakers, group activities, and creative exercises. The icebreakers were more than the typical single question variety. My favorite one in the book is “Story of Your Name.” Find someone in the room you … Continue reading On the story of your name icebreaker
On doing the right thing poorly instead of the wrong things perfectly
Oh no. Have I been doing the wrong things? I fight the instinct to do what everyone else does. After all: do I really expect to do the same things everyone else is doing better than everyone else? Better to do something else that no one else is doing poorly. For example, in my industry, … Continue reading On doing the right thing poorly instead of the wrong things perfectly
On working for a client
It was only my first job, more than a decade ago, that I had something like a client. As a marketing assistant in the academic books division at Oxford University Press, I fielded emails and calls from several dozen authors. The requests were simple—a sales flyer or an update on the number of book copies … Continue reading On working for a client
On the etymology of career
Some etymologies hold a suggestive observation about the word's present-day use, where the word holds meaning under the surface, the shape dimly visible—if at all—from the surface. The etymology of career hit me this way. The Online Etymology Dictionary outlines it this way: 1530s, "a running (usually at full speed), a course" (especially of the … Continue reading On the etymology of career
On pricing psychology for professional services
I witnessed an interesting disagreement a few weeks ago between my architect colleagues: Round figures or specific figures for our fees? Everyone agreed that roundness or specificity weren't actually important. Fee development for professional services tends towards ballpark numbers. Even when someone develops a fee based on projected hours, someone in the room is likely … Continue reading On pricing psychology for professional services
On words to avoid in architecture writing
Having written over 200 project narratives in the past seven years, I feel in the position to offer some advice on writing them. For this first post on the topic I’ll start simple—a list of words to avoid (or limit your use of). Because I don’t want it to seem that I’m only criticizing the … Continue reading On words to avoid in architecture writing
On applying the BCG matrix to my personal life
I wrote a few weeks ago about how Amy Whitaker's appropriation of Hollywood's "major dramatic question" as a personal development strategy, and wanted to touch on another thoughtful exercise in her book Art Thinking. This conceptual framework was developed by consultant Alan Zakon at Boston Consulting Group in the 1970s as a tool to analyze … Continue reading On applying the BCG matrix to my personal life
On working with Gene Kohn
Gene Kohn died last week at 92. I was lucky enough to work with Gene a little bit during my time at KPF, the firm he co-founded. I've no need to speak of Gene's immense talents as a designer and business developer—Paul Goldberger's obituary for Gene in the New York Times covers more ground with … Continue reading On working with Gene Kohn
On template strategy, Part 1
A few months ago, I raced through Richard Rumelt's book Good Strategy, Bad Strategy. Curious about business strategy, I had been looking for a book that was more than just a compilation of business case studies. Case studies are great—but I wanted to go deeper—how were these business leaders thinking? what was the structure there? … Continue reading On template strategy, Part 1
Taylor Coe 