Efficient and orderly work can really set successful custom installers apart from their counterparts. Whether it's design, installation, programming, or troubleshooting, great installers have a process for everything; and they use those processes to stay on track and, most importantly, on budget.

Project management is a world in itself, and project management ability is in-demand in every industry. Educational institutions offer a breadth of training in Project Management, from brief night courses, to advanced graduate degrees. Of special interest to readers will be CEDIA Project Management coursework that's focused specifically on the CE custom installation channel.

Regardless of what choices you make in formal education, or how the company's processes are structured, it's imperative that project management is top-of-mind. As an old boss of mine was fond of saying: "Plan your work, and work your plan." Here's a good benchmark example of how to structure projects.

Assessment & Planning

Before there's a design, there needs to be information. In the needs assessment discussions with a client, answer the Who, What, Why and Where questions, which will lead to the answers about How. Be thorough. The planning and design stages are where it is least expensive to make changes, because things are still on paper.

Design

Once you have 100% of the information required to proceed, that's when you can begin designing the system. It bears mentioning that wise integrators maintain detailed design templates of proven installations, all of which have been built to consistent standards. It's wasteful and unnecessary to reinvent the wheel on every installation. Most of the time, your templates should only require minor tailoring from one client to the next.

Development & Redesign

It's not unheard of for you and your client to go through more than one design iteration before securing agreement on the scope of the final project. You have to expect that, and indeed, that's why you're charging a retainer for the design work.

Testing

Much of the testing work done prior to installation will be of the programming, although in rack-built systems, you'll be testing to ensure that the physical connections between devices support your programming work correctly.

Installation

The actual installation of a project is a whole series of processes in and of itself. Remember, if you're working according to a previously-determined design and using best practices for installation, this phase of managing the project ought to be as painless as possible.

On-Site Testing

Once the installation is in place, it's time to retest. There will always be variance between "as-drawn" and "as-built", and you'll need to find those variances and iron them out. It's inevitable, but if you stick to the plans and processes like glue, this phase will be much shorter than if you hadn't.

It's important to bear in mind that plans are made ahead of time. If they're made up after the fact, then they aren't plans, they're fixes. The ability to be quick and clever when it comes to problem-solving is laudable, but it's even better to do your best to not have problems in the first place. Applying project management skills to your jobs will have a measurable impact on their profitability when you review the cost structure after completion.

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