Overview
One of the most important duties of an engineer/architect is to possess, assemble and preserve a project diary.
A project diary is deemed important because it has documentations of your past projects and ideas. As time comes, some of those ideas and innovations may turn out significant for your current and next projects in the future. Some projects from before may needed to be reconstructed today and your diary may be the only thing that could help you remake those projects. Maintaining these "diaries" can be quite a challenge. Therefore, you may need a project personnel who can properly document the events and activities and be consistent about it. Avoiding claims and mitigating damages are some of the basic importance of a daily diary.
Details to Record
If it is possible to record everything, that would be the best. But of course, it may not be possible. A summary of your field visits, meetings and conversations is an important entry. Here are some ideas of things that you probably want to track.
Phone conversations. Anytime you talk with a client, a project owner, consultants and other important people, see to it that you have a record of it in your diary. Basically, conversations with these people usually consists of important topics and ideas you shouldn't miss.
Creative/Smart Ideas and Solutions. Take time to write down new ideas for a project. If the idea is sensible enough for sharing, you can check your diary for the details and explain them orderly to your workmates. This may be less important if you're in a formal meeting, where minutes and exchange of words are usually noted down. However you may want to at least jot down the fact at a meeting was held.
Directions or Instructions -- any directions or instructions that you have shared with a consultants, the owner, or perhaps the contractor should be recorded.
Site visits -- most likely you will be creating an observation report that summarizes findings from your site visit, in that case you may just want to make note of the fact that a site visit was conducted. Add your findings and observation reports.
As you can see most of these are common sense items. The key is to capture your institutional memory so that it can be recalled at a later date. When disputes arrive, you can't believe how amazing the human mind forgets the needed solutions.
What are the Elements of a Quality Entry
Probably the most important piece of information is the date. Every entry needs to be date stamped. Next important data are the names of the people whom the records are related to. You may also add the locations, places and venues involved in the entry. Personal opinions, outside of your professional judgement, and editorial comments should most likely not be included. Also, don't forget to add any project information like the name of the project. Just the facts ma'am. It would really help if you can record the entry accurately and as factual as you possibly can.
One of the most important duties of an engineer/architect is to possess, assemble and preserve a project diary.
A project diary is deemed important because it has documentations of your past projects and ideas. As time comes, some of those ideas and innovations may turn out significant for your current and next projects in the future. Some projects from before may needed to be reconstructed today and your diary may be the only thing that could help you remake those projects. Maintaining these "diaries" can be quite a challenge. Therefore, you may need a project personnel who can properly document the events and activities and be consistent about it. Avoiding claims and mitigating damages are some of the basic importance of a daily diary.
Details to Record
If it is possible to record everything, that would be the best. But of course, it may not be possible. A summary of your field visits, meetings and conversations is an important entry. Here are some ideas of things that you probably want to track.
Phone conversations. Anytime you talk with a client, a project owner, consultants and other important people, see to it that you have a record of it in your diary. Basically, conversations with these people usually consists of important topics and ideas you shouldn't miss.
Creative/Smart Ideas and Solutions. Take time to write down new ideas for a project. If the idea is sensible enough for sharing, you can check your diary for the details and explain them orderly to your workmates. This may be less important if you're in a formal meeting, where minutes and exchange of words are usually noted down. However you may want to at least jot down the fact at a meeting was held.
Directions or Instructions -- any directions or instructions that you have shared with a consultants, the owner, or perhaps the contractor should be recorded.
Site visits -- most likely you will be creating an observation report that summarizes findings from your site visit, in that case you may just want to make note of the fact that a site visit was conducted. Add your findings and observation reports.
As you can see most of these are common sense items. The key is to capture your institutional memory so that it can be recalled at a later date. When disputes arrive, you can't believe how amazing the human mind forgets the needed solutions.
What are the Elements of a Quality Entry
Probably the most important piece of information is the date. Every entry needs to be date stamped. Next important data are the names of the people whom the records are related to. You may also add the locations, places and venues involved in the entry. Personal opinions, outside of your professional judgement, and editorial comments should most likely not be included. Also, don't forget to add any project information like the name of the project. Just the facts ma'am. It would really help if you can record the entry accurately and as factual as you possibly can.
About the Author:
Data binding has grown popular over the years. Data binding expert Marty Shumaker recommends Doc Boss and vendor documents as among the best in Canada.
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