How To Grow An Architecture Business - Case Study

I have found that System Hub itself has been I guess a bit of a game changer for us, particularly with the things like the team can go in there and say, yes, I've read it and yes, I agree with it, yes, that one is just like magic for me.

Hello, it's David here from Systemology and today we're shining a light on business owners and, and today I'm quite lucky to have Ruth Newman with us from RuthNewman.com and we're going to talk a little bit about her journey to build a systems driven business and building up a systems culture. So maybe just to start, Ruth, if you could tell us a little bit about yourself and the work that you and your team do.

Okay, so I have a practice called Ruth Newman, Architect. We currently have a team of five working from Sydney. The business has been going for about 15 years and we work in various lots and lots of different areas actually we're currently doing a school, we have a couple of houses going. We do have a couple of national retailers that we work for and we do lots of different work and have done over the years including government office fit outs and things like that. Done lots of different things over the years and it kind of waxes and wanes as governments change and all that sort of stuff. So, so that's why we also have these other areas that we work in and it also keeps it very interesting.

Yes, it's funny, there are a few industries that seem to resonate with the system's message. I do find engineers and architects end up being one of them. And I think maybe it's because it's probably a process for the way that you go through just doing your work. But I'm curious, do you see yourself as a systems person?

I think so, yes. Yeah, I think, yeah, I have a way of doing things and I like them to be done that way. So I guess ideally it then it just flows into being a systems person. If you, if you want things done a particular way then systems is the way to do it, isn't it?

Yes, yep, definitely. We're singing from the, the same book there. Do you find with your team trying to get them on board, like how have you gone passing that on or trying to foster a systems culture in your organization?

I guess we've had limited success and it depends how we've done it really. So we've been, I've been trying to do it since I started the business. Probably within about three months of me starting the business. I did work in another architectural practice it was a national practice before I started my business. And I ended up. They needed to do the quality assurance.

Yes. Yeah.

Whatever that's called. Yeah. The ISO stuff. And I ended up being the person who looked after that for that group. And so I traveled to the nine offices around the country and tried to get everybody involved and get them all engaged and do all that sort of stuff.

Wow.

So I guess before I started it myself, I had a. I knew the challenge of doing that because people were just like, why do we need this? What's the point? What's the. And obviously the point there was we need the certification. But I already knew the challenges, I guess, of what was going to come with trying to get a team engaged. So then when I started, I did the standard paper manuals or whatever of this is how we do everything. And ultimately they got transferred onto being in a systems type set up in Google Sites. And we had some workflows and we had all those sort of things. But trying to get the team to actually use them, I think is really the. The key, because it's kind of like, well, I've done it before, so now I know how to do it. That's the. Well, you might be doing it, but it doesn't mean you're doing it the right way and all those sort of things.

Yes.

I guess that has been the struggle over the years, particularly as you get new people who've used. Who've done it all before somewhere else or had their own business and then come and work for you. And I was like, well, I never did it that way. Why do I have to do it that way? And those sort of questions come up a lot. But, yes, we're getting there. I think we've engaged somebody to assist us a little bit at the moment, and that's helping because that person is engaging my team and they're getting it from somebody else rather than just me.

Yes. And how did you come across Systemology?

I'm part of Business Blueprint, so I knew James.

Oh, perfect.

For a long time.

Yes.

Yeah. And then he was talking, I think. I don't know whether he talked about it at Business Blueprint before I met him, but he did or before we chatted about it.

Yeah.

Somehow I got the book from James. We might have been at an event together or something.

Yes.

And I read the book and then I checked out System Hub, and here we are. Yeah.

Wow. And was there anything in the way that we approach things that spoke to you or that were a little bit different from, you know, the approach maybe that you saw when you went down the ISO certification route or were there any bits that you're like, oh, this speaks to me.

I think the actual setup of System Hub works for me. And the way, I guess the way architecture even kind of works.

Yes.

And the fact that everybody thinks differently. So therefore one person is going to follow the printed one instructions, somebody else is going to read the video, then understand the printed instructions. Somebody like there's so many different ways that you can look at the same system.

Yes.

To be able to get your way of that. It makes sense to you.

Yes.

Because I find a lot of people can't follow the printed one until they've seen something else.

Yeah.

Yeah. And so I guess. And also the. The way that. The fact that you can separate it so we can have the financial stuff that really only I or one of my finance team want to see can be one section and you can separate all that and it's not overwhelming then for the person who's just doing maybe admin, for example, or somebody who's just doing contract administration, that we can separate it all out.

Yeah. And do you use. Is there any sort of accounting project management platform that you use? Like how do you actually manage sort of the day to day tasks?

All the day to day stuff's in Asana.

Oh, perfect. So it's kind of the combination, which is. Same combination. We use System Hub and Asana. So that way when you assign tasks, you effectively link to the system that's relevant to the task.

Yeah. And we had set that up with our previous system.

Yeah.

But it just didn't work as well. And we've actually realistically only just started doing that. I went through the templates for one of our national retailers and what we do for that. And we've had a real focus since we started with System Hub. Had a real focus of getting the systems ready for that particular client.

Yeah.

So that we had everything in there. And I just redid our template and linked all of the new systems into that. So it's ready to go for the next project. That it's. Yeah, you just go straight through and find. I don't know how to draw a sketch panel, whatever it is.

Yeah. Definitely feels like systems and building a systems culture, it's a lifelong journey and it's just a way of doing business because you've been in business for many years, as you mentioned, and you kind of knew about systems early on with the first national organization that you've worked with. Is there anything that's Changed in your thinking over the years, thinking about either systems or as a business owner, the importance of systems or like, where's your head at currently with the. What. You know, what makes systems important?

I guess in the first place, when I did the one with the QA stuff, it was. It purely was make it and make. Make it the same in all of the offices, make it the same in. Have the system to be able to follow up if there's problems, all those sort of things, and get that quality assurance. And that was my job. That was it. Get the certificate and if you can get that, well, it'll be great. So that was really the point of it. And I'm sure that when I actually left that business, maybe 12 months later, I reckon it never got used again. Once they got their certification, nobody ever looked at it.

Yeah.

A, because it was the paper ones that sit in your desk and on the back of your desk and they just look fun. And B, they just weren't engaged. It was a means to an end. It wasn't something that was to be part of the business, as far as I could tell back then. And I think the focus wasn't necessarily on that. It was a different mindset and all that sort of stuff. Whereas now, I think people. There's so many different ways of doing things because you've got different software and you've got different, you know, so many different things that you can do. You really need to say, well, all I want to do is, I don't know, go and buy a cup of coffee. How do I go and do that? And how do I do it in the easiest, quickest manner? That will. Yeah. That will not hurt somebody and not do whatever and all those sort of things. So you need those systems there. So it's not coming back to your. To me, for example, or to my senior team going, well, how do I do this? And it's like, well, you did it last week. There's a system there and if you can follow the system every time, you'll just get it done and we'll be.

Yeah.

Happy. And that gives us. Gives you the time to do the stuff that can't be systemized.

Yes.

Particularly in our office. Yeah. Like in our. In an architectural office, there is stuff that can't necessarily be systemized.

Yep. Because I'm imagining different projects are going to be different. There's probably key milestones and things that might need to happen, but every project itself, like the design part's going to be different. We mentioned something earlier around getting someone to help develop some of the systems. Are we. We talk about the idea of a systems champion. Like, is that. Like, who's this. This person that you've got?

Yeah, so it's Linda McMahon, I believe, you know.

Oh, wow. Okay.

Yeah.

Small world. You know, James, you know Linda. Fantastic.

So she's been helping us with the actual what is it that we need and how can we all do it so that we get the same consistent thing in our system? So she's been helping us on better ways to do our videos so that the transcript comes out right in the first place, so that we don't have to edit the transcript so often and that sort of thing. And then rather than me telling our team, this is what we're doing, this is how we do it. Da, da, da, da, da. She's been working with them and showing them how to do it, encouraging them and giving them the feedback and all that sort of stuff. So it's been a. It's not just me saying we need to do systems because my business will be better, it's we need to do systems because your life will be easier and your. Yes, and the business will be better and all of those other things and encouraging them to, you know, that they do know what they're doing. They've just got to do it a different way and all that sort of stuff. So she's been great with helping us just to have the confidence to how to do it, I think, is what it is. Yeah, yeah.

That kind of work.

They might have understood the importance of it, but didn't understand how to do it quickly, easily, and. And to do it when it occurs to you, like you've just. Somebody says, how do I do this? It's like, well, I'll show you and I'll do the system at the same time.

Yes.

Yeah, that part of that mindset thing, I guess she's been really helping me sometimes.

And it's the same with me individually. Where my wife might tell me to do many times over is like, you should do this, you should do this, you should do this. And then I get an external person say, oh, Dave, you should do this. And then I do it. And then I tell my wife, I say, oh, I did this thing because blah, blah, blah, tells suggested I do it. And she says, I've been telling you to do that for the last few years and sometimes happens to you. Yeah, that's right. I feel like sometimes. And it's the same with the business owners, like, sometimes having that external person, like a systemologist who can sort of make the suggestion to the team that, oh, this is how you do things and why sometimes you. The person just needs to hear it from someone else for it to stick. So I think that makes perfect sense. Now that you're a little bit further down the road. I'm not sure if you have any suggestions or tips. Maybe if you're speaking to a, you know, a younger Ruth that was learning about systems and getting her head around it. Is there any advice you would give to a business owner around systems and adopting a systems mindset?

I guess the big one is the one that everybody says all the time, will I ever have to do this again? Well, then let's make a system. Yes, that's the big one. And trying to get to think like that. I think that's probably one of the harder ones is that really simple mindset of I'm going to have to do this 400 times this year. Why am I not doing a system so somebody else can do it for me? I think is. And then the mind block of this can't be systemized because it's different every time. We have a system at the moment that's like that where it is different every time, but we've managed to put a system in there to do it one particular way. And then at the end we go, and if this happens, then you do this instead. And if this happens, then you do this instead. And we're focusing on the other ways that it might happen because next time you do it, it might not be as the same. So you've kind of got to get over that. Well, it's always different. And that might be the case, but you can systemize. Always different.

Yes. Yep.

That would be. My big one is trying to remember that one.

Yes.

Otherwise you just do the really easy ones like I don't know how to turn the alarm on as you leave the office or.

Yep.

Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah. You do all of those. And then the critical ones about that's actual business focused and can make a difference to the profitability and all those sort of things you're not doing because you have that. That mindset that it's too different.

Yeah.

So I can't systemize it.

Oh, good. So those little nuggets and insights because someone just needs to get it. And sometimes you only learn from doing, but just also hearing from another business owner sometimes might give someone the aha moment. If people want to learn more about what you do. I'm gonna. I'll include a link to Ruth Newman.com if they want to find an architectural firm that's systems driven, you would be the one to chat with. But if there's, yeah, I don't know if there's anything final you want to mention about systemology or anything. And then, yeah, we'll call it a wrap.

I guess the Systemology book was really good to think differently. Again, it was a different way of thinking about it all. And I had found that System Hub itself has been, I guess, a bit of a game changer for us, particularly with the things like the team can go in there and say, yes, I've read it and yes, I agree with it. Yes, that one is just like magic for me to be able to go, well, you read it, you've agreed to it, why are we doing it a different way? And to give you some way of being able to say, well, this is what we've agreed. If you disagreed, there's a comment section at the bottom that you can put a requested change in. So, yeah, why are we not doing it? So I think the whole thing together for us has been a bit of a game changer and it's been great to start using it all.

Perfect. Well, I appreciate you sharing your story and I'm sure it'll inspire another business owner as well. So thanks again for your time.

No problem. Thank you. It.