Design Phase Checklist Examples
Task checklists serve a couple of purposes. First they tell you what needs to be done to complete the work of a phase of design. They are a tool for managing the work, especially delegation. And finally having a checklist goes a long way to achieving quality control.
The downloadable example is a tool that we have been refining for years. Your view of the process of design for each phase will probably be different, so you will want to add and delete tasks to suit your situation.
Here is how we have used it.
The columns are pretty self-explanatory except those grouped under “ROLES”. These are the initials of staff members. We sometimes used a check mark to show who was assigned to the task and occasionally the hours budgeted for the task. We found it very time-consuming to estimate a fee using this much breakdown.
Invariably the estimated time was “worst case”. If you are competing with another firm, it just isn’t helpful to assume the worst. Nevertheless estimating fees is another use of the checklists.
The grouping of rows for the top four groups is how we think about those tasks. You will probably see these differently. Starting with “SITE” these groupings come from Uniformat. These groupings of tasks form nearly perfect areas of work that can be assigned to a person or team with a minimum of overlap with the work of others. This is very handy when you are on deadline. Everyone can concentrate on their work without “wasting” time coordinating.
The non-design phases do not have these design groupings.
The Mechanical and Electrical groupings of tasks represent what we wanted from our engineering consultants at each phase. This of course was rarely in synch with their idea of what they should be doing, but it was a least a 'plan' to discuss.
The tasks in this series of phase checklists could be broken down much more than shown here. A more detailed breakdown is helpful for less experienced staff, but it is overkill for more experienced staff. You will have to decide what works best for your organization.