As a 20 year member of SDA, and a member of the AEC industry for almost 25 years, I have been witness to a fundamental change in our industry and the professional responsibilities of our members.  I have held operations positions ranging from secretary to administrative assistant, office manager, associate and vice president. 

For all of those years, the SDA has been the catalyst to highlight the incredible value of administration and operations.  I never believed my position should be limited, since I felt I needed to understand the full picture of my company and its functional departments in order to best provide value.   But never have I felt the reality of our power than in this year’s convention, EDSymposium24 in Colorado Springs.

I felt a powerful focus this year by many of our speakers on the limitless abilities of operations staff in our firms.  Several speakers in particular delivered this message very clearly:

·      FMI Consulting presented a “Strategic Value Blueprint” (attached) which had a chart showing the functions of a firm.  They asked us to look at the chart of 24 areas and answer the following questions:  Where do I fit in?  Who do I impact?  What company processes support me?  How does my role impact other processes?

The chart listed functions and processes, not departments, such as Reputable Brand; System, Security & Innovation; Payment and Collection; Managing Teams; Project Coordination; Local Expertise; and Legacy Relationships.  Looking at the big picture of expertise rather than segregation into departments made it obvious that operations has a vital impact on the major functions of our companies.

·      NCARB provided a 2 ½ page list of specific competencies where administrators can provide essential services to our firm, such as helping develop leadership skills within the firm, contract administration, staffing planning, reviewing legal documents related to the site, developing tracking systems, and managing project closeout procedures.

·      Deborah Gill, CPA FSDA of Profit by Design, focused on Firm Succession Planning and made a powerful case that operations can play a fundamental role in both recognizing the need for a firm to create an exit strategy for firm principals and adding value to the process as the company begins that journey through merger/acquisition of the firm, either external or internal, and principal retirement/exit options. 

·      The CDFO inaugural Accreditation Process, which was announced at EDS24, is a revitalization of the CDFA certification, which will change the Certified Design Firm Administrator (CDFA) program to a Certificate in Design Firm Operations (CDFO).  The CDFO adds leadership as a dimension to the CDFA and transforms the administration section of the resource guide to a broader Operations expertise.  The Operations knowledge will be expanded to include areas such as strategic planning, firm governance, firm transition, team communication and management, and IT apps and systems used for collaboration.

Beyond the presentations described above, I felt the energy of our members as they spoke of the reality of their experience and transformed careers.  I believe SDA is on the brink of a new era which will create concrete value in the Operations arena.  Join us in remaking and enriching our career responsibilities! 

We visited with Pat about her EDS24 experience. Click here to listen to the interview.

This year I had the opportunity to attend EDS24 in Colorado Springs. I was honored to be selected as one of the PPC grant recipients and was looking forward to meeting many people in person who I had only met virtually up until this point.

The first morning of EDS24 the energy and excitement in the room was noticeable right away. At breakfast that morning, I was introduced to many new members of SDA, and had the opportunity to shake hands and exchange hugs with members who I had only met via Zoom. Being in a room with other members of SDA sparked my interest in the many possibilities that exist for career paths within our field. The diversity of the group and the firms that we all come from is wide - ranging, but I found that we were all able to still find commonalities and discuss the common challenges we all navigate within our industry together. It is refreshing to feel like you belong in a space where people can relate to the day to day successes and challenges you face. 

I made it a point to attend every educational session that was presented at EDS24, some applied more to my position than others, but I wanted to gain as much knowledge from the conference as I could, and I found “nuggets” of information in every session that made me think of our operations within our firm differently.

Skot Waldron presented a great session on  “Communicate with Clarity: Understanding Your Voice and Its Triggers” . I learned a lot about myself in that session, and found different ways to look at everyone on our team and within our office to discover how we can best interact with each other to use all of our strengths to work together as one team.

I also loved listening to Lynda’s SPARKSDA talk regarding the “Ripple Effect”. I have taken this back to my office and our team as encouragement that we need to all work to maintain our roles and tasks on projects and limit our “ripple effect” on the rest of the team and the firm's success.

The session speakers are just part of the great education provided at EDS, another part of SDA is the amazing resource that our SDA community is in and of itself for everyone within SDA. Each person at the conference has different experiences and knowledge and most are willing to share openly and provide guidance for all of us newer to the industry. The support of SDA is even more evident when you attend an EDS event and I look forward to continuing the conversations that were had in Colorado Springs and continuing to learn as much as I can from other members of SDA.

I can’t thank Stephanie and the Past Presidents Council enough for the opportunity to be a first time attendee at EDS24. I enjoyed every moment of being at the conference and getting to know others within SDA. I left with a renewed excitement for my job and career growth, and lots of new connections. I am already looking forward to seeing everyone again next year!

We took a few minutes to talk with Sarah about her EDSymposium24 experience. Click here to listen.

Sarah Kratzner is Operations Coordinator for

BSPARK Architecture in Great Falls, MT.

She was one of the PPC Grant First Time Attendee Recipients for EDS24.