Every project has a cadence and progression that drives it forward. Our team has spent years executing numerous projects, and during that time a pattern emerged on what qualities lead to successful project completion. When approaching a new project with a client, we recommend keeping these four elements, the 4 D’s, in mind: Dreaming, Designing, Deploying and Delivering.
DREAM
What are your goals for your organization? What do you hope to accomplish by upgrading your tech? Let us help you see your future.
The beginning of your project is the time to lay out major goals and decide where you want to be at its end. This vital step sets the direction and path for the project. If you want to leverage technology in the future, the proper infrastructure to accommodate that technology must be put in place today. It’s important to keep in mind what the ultimate goal is, especially at the project’s beginning.
For example: Imagine you’re a restaurant planning to eventually use video distribution to play different content on various displays throughout your space. It may not be a project in the immediate future, but ultimately that’s your end-goal. You imagine some of this content will require streaming from the internet, but you aren’t sure if your current network infrastructure could handle the capacity. If this is where you want to end up, integrating an AVL network today that has the bandwidth and segmenting ability to handle multiple streams of video is a great way to set yourself up for future success.
For churches interested in using satellite campuses in the future, it makes sense to talk about camera locations, networks and delivery methods. Planning these things and laying out the infrastructure in advance is much cheaper and easier than trying to retrofit your space at a later date.
Consider all reasonable ideas and avenues during this initial “dream phase,” even if some ideas don’t come to fruition, whatever the reason. Dreaming helps to prepare and lay out the solution that you’ll ultimately end up with.
DESIGN
Dreams can create great designs. Using the latest design tools, we’ll put our experience into action for you.
While dreams can help lay the foundation for designs, truly great designs require greater attention to detail, thought and development. Too often a great dream gets lost or destroyed when the “perfect” design doesn’t become immediately apparent. That where an experienced team becomes a necessity!
It takes a comprehensive understanding of technology, end user experience and infrastructure to translate a dream into a design. Our team uses a wide range of expertise in audiovisual, lighting and network design to provide the best solutions.
Design is about more than selecting types of equipment and drawing lines in software. Design is taking an idea, translating it into a doable action plan that meets all of the objectives of the project and brings the client closer to their desired end-goal.
DEPLOY
A concrete plan for project completion is necessary to meet and exceed expectations while overcoming real-world obstacles.
A project’s overall success hinges on deployment. Effective deployment is what springs the project forward, evolving it from a drawing to something tangible. Product needs to be ordered, crews scheduled and equipment rented to properly deploy a project.
Even with a solid schedule and plan in place, adaptations must be made. We set plans, they change, then get reschedules, then changed again. Real world obstacles crop up continuously and must be managed with decisiveness and efficiency for on-target project completion.
Whether there are equipment delays, issues in other trades causing scheduling problems, financing or budget issues, etc., the response to the problem is absolutely vital. How do you move the project forward? How do you resolve ongoing issues?
Often overlooked, an ill-timed deployment issue can bring a project to a grinding halt. Ensuring a smooth, timely deployment takes significant time and planning, but most importantly it requires communication and flexibility!
DELIVER
The ultimate delivery is customer satisfaction. After Dreaming, Designing and Deploying your custom solution, your smile and satisfaction is the reward.
Although our team enjoys every step of the process, the Delivery stage is arguably the best part of a project! With the final delivery comes the opportunity and privilege to turn the completed project, in all of its glory, over to the owner.
When delivery is properly done, the owner is handed a complete system and is fully trained on its operation. This should be a time of joy and celebration, the moment when that initial dream officially becomes a reality!
While the 4 D’s may not seem difficult on paper, pulling them all off is not always easy. Taking a project successfully from start to finish takes intentionality, time, good old-fashioned hard work and planning. When followed diligently, the 4 D’s will help lead to successful project completion!
