One Good Idea

One Good Idea is a collective effort to improve the everyday realities of architectural practice. The idea is simple. If each of us shares one practical insight that makes our professional life a little easier, the combined impact can be meaningful.

This campaign is inspired by the concept of Kaizen, or continuous improvement. Rather than big reforms, it focuses on small, experience-based ideas that reduce friction, save time, and make work more sustainable and rewarding.

Architects understand the challenges of this profession because we live them. One Good Idea recognizes that the best solutions come from those doing the work every day.

The goal is straightforward. How do we make the profession, and your job, 5% easier?

Why We’re Doing This

AIA Colorado is inviting members at every career stage to share what is already working in their practice. Ideas do not need to be revolutionary. Small improvements can have real value when shared across a community.

By collecting and organizing these ideas, we can create a practical, living resource that supports architects and allied professionals throughout Colorado.

Share Your One Good Idea

One Good Idea is an ongoing effort. Use the form below to submit your idea at any time. Whether you are a student, emerging professional, firm leader, or allied partner, your perspective matters.

Together, through small improvements, we can strengthen our profession one good idea at a time.

Explore the Ideas

Below you will find ideas submitted by your peers. Browse them, take what resonates, and adapt what works for you. This collection will continue to grow over time.

Work-life balance | Employee satisfaction | Professional development | Technology | Business | Contracts & profitability | Project Management | Marketing | Community

“Our firm offers a “Wellness & Relief” Stipend; a small sum of money ($150 per employee) as a benefit to pay for something personal to the employee that supports their welfare, in and out of the office. Employees spend it on things such as gym memberships, new running shoes, a yoga class, a massage, and even maybe something like a retreat. It also seems within the scope to let employees spend it on something that might help their work life too. Perhaps a new planner or journal to get organized, a new work/tote bag since your old one ripped after years of trusty use. Maybe this stipend could even just be a resource to the employee to purchase a new office chair, or a pair of prescription blue light glasses.”

“Waking up early helps me. I am better when I’m more relaxed, and nothing kills a day like being behind from the start. So, finding some Zen in the early hours in my tiny idea. Hope it helps.”

“To build community within a firm, establish a mandatory lunch with 4 people from a firm selected at random – maybe every Friday – maybe target newer hires or pair them up however makes sense in that firm. Send them to lunch on company time on the company dime so they look forward to it and the only mandate is that they talk to one another, get to know one another, and maybe not talk about work.”

“Our company includes families in at least half of all of our social events each year. It makes it easier to participate when I don’t have to choose between work and family, and has strengthened some of my friendships within the office because our families have bonded.”

“My firm actively encourages, organizes, celebrates and sometimes compensates us for our pro-bono work. It breaks down normal project hierarchy, helps the community, and makes me feel good about my contribution every year.”

“In our office remodel, we added a “pump room” (which also works as a Zoom room).  It has made it easier to return to work after having my first child. And I feel good about working someplace that actively supports it’s working moms, and doesn’t make us choose between family and work.”

“The kaizen concept developed from the improvements in a workshop to an aspect of industrial policy that rejected labor as a commodity, but still with the impetus of achieving greater productivity. If the objective of kaizen is to improve productivity by motivating workers, there is no greater motivation than to have ownership in the business, therefore my idea is that workers should be part owners of the companies in which they work. An ownership equal to 5 percent of their salary for example.”

“The most impactful change we can implement across the architecture sphere is simply prioritizing health. This means supporting the wide spread use and investment of gym memberships, meditation sessions, or wellness stipends. Our firm implemented wellness programs (like behavioral health) and discourages the glorification of overworking. When we as architects get the help we need to stay focused, we gain tremendous capacity to improve and innovate. This solution will make our work better, relationships stronger, and peace greater.”

“Every year, our firm identifies pain points for our staff and actively works to try and eliminate them: we have a downtown office; years ago we gave everyone an RTD EcoPass and bought an office bike. This year, we also added parking spaces for everyone who has to drive and comes in at least 3 days a week.”

“Once a quarter we bring a chair massage therapist into the office and everyone can sign up for free.”

“We just did a 4 month Fitness challenge in our office. Everyone who wanted to participate got randomly put on a team of five and we self-reported our activity on a Google-drive spreadsheet. We have one staff person who’s running it and they let everyone know each week how the teams are doing. The office is offering a prize to the winning team and the top 3 particpants. It really upped everyone’s activity and health, but mostly it was just fun and team-building.”

“My firm pays for our AIA membership and 50% of Design conference registration. It makes it financially possible for me (as a young designer) to participate.”

“My firm has offices all over the US and my current project team is on the east coast. My firm has set aside a budget to allow me to come out to work with my team a few times a year. It is great seeing everyone and it’s fun collaborating with people in person as opposed to another Zoom call. I appreciate their investment in me as an employee.”

“I encourage my team to travel and study architecture in other places that are richer in hiistory. My favorite was Turkey. In my opinion, it’s the details that bring a building to life and what makes people want to interact with buildings. Otherwise, we’re all living in large cubes built out of the cliche; wood, steel and concrete.”

“One great way to for firms to support their employees long-term professional growth and feel valued by their employer is to cover membership dues for individuals that are active on committees, whether it is AIA dues for AIA Colorado committees, ULI, ASID, or other professional organizations, encouraging participation is a wonderful way employers can make their employees feel valued while also giving them a chance to gain leadership skills.”

“We all experience an inordinate amount of information. Recalling this information is important to me, especially as a specifications writer; at times, I’m perceived more as an archivist than I am as a technologist. In order to keep up with project specifics and advancing construction methods, I take about 30 minutes at the end of each work day to record what I learned. This small amount of journaling serves me in two ways; 1) as a transition out of work-mode and into afterwork-mode, and puts my brain to rest; and 2) reiterating information in my own words integrates it as knowledge into my practice.”

“Working fully remote presents unique challenges when it comes to collaboration, as spontaneous in-person discussions and organic idea-sharing are less frequent. Without the ease of stopping by a colleague’s desk or gathering in a shared space, communication requires more intentional effort. To address this, we use CliftonStrengths, which helps each team member identify and build upon their natural talents. This strengths-based approach not only enhances individual performance but also fosters a more cohesive team dynamic. By recognizing what we each do best and leveraging those strengths, we are able to work more effectively, communicate with greater clarity, and contribute to a culture of support and innovation despite the physical distance.”

“I’d love to implement a program at our architecture schools, in partnership with local firms, where firms commit to hiring a recent grad and agreeing to contribute to covering a percentage of their student loans in exchange for that intern committing to staying with your firm for a set number of years. Tuition in higher ed has grown exponentially in comparison to income/inflation and loans can be a debilitating burden for students. Most of us who went through architecture school have not experienced loans like the ones current students face. Medicine incorporates this system and it works.”

“We support our staff by offering educational opportunities either through a learning fund for training, classes, conferences that they can tap into throughout the year or by creating an internal program that offers routine education opportunities for the firm overall. We encourage the younger generations in developing these educational opportunities themselves such as setting up the lunch and learn/construction tours of ongoing projects for the firm, or for organizations. It is important to nurture in each other/younger generations that there is so much more out there, in terms of understanding our projects within the context of the environment, in the construction industry and economies, the communities and so much of that can be nurtured through further educational opportunities.

“Our firm gives every employee a $200/yr continuing Ed stipend to spend at their discretion.”

“Some day (more than a decade from now) I hope to apply for AIA Fellowship. The best advice I have received from a Fellow is “Start recording everythign you do now. 10 years from now, it will be hard to remember.”

“Every year our small office participates in one design competition. It’s costly, but it’s an important chance to do a new project type, to mix teams and levels and to keep us from getting stuck in a rut. To make sure you don’t really get burned in terms of internal costs, give the team a budget of hours – people get excited working hard and fast. It feels like school….the good part.”

“We moved to using keynotes this year. It has really cleaned up and streamlined our Revit drawings.”

“We just started using Granola AI for note-taking and it’s been very successful. I know that there are lots of other programs (we tried 8), but we did an in house study where everyone used whatever they wanted and then we had a tech team decide which was the best. One of the ways we tested it was that for one month, every PM compared each meeting’s human recorded notes to the AI to see which was the most accurate.”

“We started tracking architectural billings on a per-person, per-month basis a few years ago. Coupled with software-based project profitability tracking, this approach has proven to be highly effective in improving overall profitability.”

“As sustainable design is core to our mission, we use the Just label when specifying, and strongly encourage all our consultants to utilize green certifications relevant to their areas.”

“We invite in subcontractors to help us (the architects) have a better understanding of budgets.”

“We became an architectural cooperative to promote equity, collaboration, and community in the practice of architecture.”

“We have a semi-annual all staff Visioning mini-retreat twice a year. We take the time to let all staff know what our goals and visions for the year are, and then we engage in a group dialogue to make sure that everyone is on board and understands what we’re trying to achieve and how we’re going to do it.”

“I discuss budget and schedule with a prospective client within the first 30 minutes of their calling. This saves us both a lot of wasted time if they don’t have realistic expectations.”

“The Beer Spec: contractors do not read specs, so we developed a specification clause requiring contractors to provide the architect with a case of beer on Fridays during construction. Beer is to be chosen by the architect, and the delivery location are to be set by architect prior to the bid. If they inquired, it was waived, and not, it was enforced.”

“An effective way to save time, reduce costs, and mitigate risks is by achieving predictable outcomes through well-prepared contract documents. Best practices suggest that by the end of the Design Development (DD) phase, the project scope should be fully defined and aligned with the budget. The Construction Documents (CD) phase should then focus exclusively on producing a complete, well-coordinated set of documents that accurately reflect the established scope, design quality, and budget. This phase is not the time for continued design. Firms that implement robust standards and processes during the CD phase achieve higher-quality documents and better overall project outcomes and can prevent Construction Administration (CA) from becoming an unnecessary drain on time and resources for your team.”

“Our contract states that we have the right to photograph and publicize the project. This sets that expectation up front. It stinks to finish a project and then not get to put it on our website.”

“I believe the permit process can be streamlined for architects by allowing direct communication with permit reviewers. Currently, long wait times for responses can delay projects. Establishing a more efficient communication system would ensure timely and effective feedback. When we work in a jurisdiction that doesn’t do that, we send the CBO an email asking them to change that policy or tell us how we can make that happen.”

“Setting realistic deadlines. Pop up Meetings that are kept short. Lean Teams.”

“We have a protocol of always doing a Pre-meeting with team to prep for client meetings. This has made client meetings super efficient and ensures everyone in meeting is on the same page.”

“We have a policy that face to face communication is the best (in-person is preferred, but Zoom is okay). Phone calls are second best. Emails are for sharing and tracking documents. Texts are only for perfunctory confirmations like, “I’ll be there in 5 minutes”. Never ever have project discussions via text. All tone and nuance is lost and that leads quickly to miscommunication.”

“We ask our clients to create Inspiration image folders using whatever format or program works for them. It helps us really hone in quickly on the style that they are looking for BEFORE we start designing.”

“We have improved our Client Communication Protocols and it has been very beneficial: we send the meeting Agenda to our clients 24 hours ahead of time. They like knowing what’s going to be discussed. Then we email the presentation and a summary of the meeting notes and decisions to them immediately afterwards. This makes it easy for them to circulate it around to everyone who needs to see it, and helps them to remember what we told them. Our contract also says that if they don’t send us written disagreement with the meeting minutes within 48 hours of receiving them, that we are entitled to rely on that information moving forward. This has really helped reduce the ‘convenient forgetfulness’ that some of our clients have.”

“I’ve created a predictable and consistent communications schedule given to clients in advance. Let’s say Client A and B would communicate with me on Monday and I would then return their communication on Tuesday. Client C and D would communicate with me on Tuesday and I would then return their communication on Wednesday. Client E and F would communicate with me on Wednesday and I would then return their communication on Thursday. Client G and H would communicate with me on Thursday and I would then return their communication on Friday. This formatting makes this necessary communication much easier to deal with, without unexpected overload, notwithstanding whatever else is going on during the day! The clients also appreciate some communication structure, so that they can optimize their calendar relative to their work and daily lifestyle and have time to craft a thoughtful message. Of course reasonableness needs to be a part of this process, as important unanticipated communications should be welcomed at anytime.”

“To make sure that landscape constractors actually read the drawings we added an abbreviation GSU to the drawing in the lawn area, but not in the legend. It stands for Green Side Up. If they don’t ask what it means, we know they didn’t read the drawing carefully.”

“Deadlines advanced before they are actually needed – people routinely miss them, but it helps not get so stressed.”

“We don’t put all of our projects on our website. We only include the ones that we want more of. ‘What you put out is what you get back’.”

“I write articles (for free) for our local newspaper about architecture and working with architects. I think it has not only given the public a better understanding of what we do as a profession, but it has directly led to a lot of client inquiries.”

“We started a monthly “Morning Tea” at our office to highlight personal passions of studio staff. Staff members share about something they’re learning about or creating that they’re excited about. We’ve learned about where to find the best burritos in LA, heard thoughts on how different concert venues around the US compare to each other, and what someone’s experience was like taking and passing all the ARE’s in less than a year. It’s been a really fun way to learn more about each other.”

“Historically underrepresented populations are statistically less likely to seek licensure after graduation. This is problematic for our profession; entire demographics are not practicing therefore the unique perspectives of the demographics are not represented in our profession. Though fees to be an associate are lower and some firms will pay them, these fees are a barrier to our profession. Barriers for legitimization already exist through school degrees and ARE fees. As employers and as a professional community, we need to alleviate these membership costs for all emerging professionals as a mission to encourage the inclusion and representation of the minorities we may lose. Architecture is a service, we’re unable to design for all if we do not include all.”

“At the leadership conference in February, our table had several good ideas around the theme of building community within an architecture firm. my idea was to establish a mandatory lunch with 4 people from a firm selected at random – maybe every Friday – maybe target newer hires or pair them up however makes sense in that firm. Send them to lunch on company time on the company dime so they look forward to it and the only mandate is that they talk to one another, get to know one another, and maybe not talk about work.”

“We’re an office of 55 people. Each month we have 15-20 projects actively in the SD and DD stages. Often teams are so focused on each project, they aren’t aware of the others. So we’ve created a Project Social, 90 minutes on Thursdays afternoons, once per month where we pin up our work and share ideas. It’s fun, casual, and focused on “sharing” rather than “critiquing” our work. It has strengthened the work, and the office culture, providing a non-hierarchical environment to discuss the most important thing we all do.”

“Being a sole-practitioner can sometimes feel a bit insular. I have found that getting involved in various areas of the architecture community is inspiring to me and my practice. I seek out opportunities with groups and organizations within the AIA and beyond to build your network, learn new skills and feel that sense of “team” that may be missing from not working at a large firm.”

“One small change that could help make our profession 5% easier is embracing more horizontal, reciprocal “micro learning exchanges.” These are quick, informal moments where colleagues at any level share an insight, an aha moment, or a smarter way of doing something—without the hierarchy or structure of traditional mentorship. Creating a culture where these small exchanges are normal would strengthen collaboration, reduce repeated frustrations, and make our daily work just a little lighter and more connected.

We allow well-behaved dogs in the office. Everyone seems to like having them, and for those staff who can’t easily leave their dogs at home, it makes it much easier and pleasant for them to come back to the office.”