Description

A focused course, tailored for you

The Design-Build PM Systems-Thinking Playbook

A working discipline for the PM running design-build delivery across architect, engineer, owner, and contractor without losing the schedule.

Your RFI log is tracking design intent, contractor sequencing, and owner approvals in the same column, and the weekly pull plan reads like a recovery exercise. That is a systems problem, not a logging problem.

$199 one-time

Tailored to your situation. Access within 24 hours. 30-day money-back.

Includes a hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access, generated for your specific situation.

Why this course

Design-build delivery rewards the PM who can hold three logs as one system: architect submittals, contractor procurement, and owner decisions. The PMP discipline teaches each as a discrete process area, and the DBIA literature assumes the integration but rarely teaches it as a working method. The result is a weekly report that reconciles three versions of the same week rather than driving the next one. Schedule slippage shows up as RFI volume, GMP movement shows up as scope ambiguity, and owner satisfaction shows up as decision latency. None of those signals get caught until the variance is already in the float. This playbook closes that loop. It gives the design-build PM a systems-thinking discipline that turns the submittal log, the procurement log, and the decision log into one forward-looking instrument, with named artefacts, named cadences, and a named role on each. It is written for the practice lead who has to run the job and also stand up the practice that runs the next ten.

What you walk away with

Run architect submittal, contractor procurement, and owner decision logs as one forward-looking schedule instrument.
Read RFI velocity as a leading indicator of schedule risk before the float is gone.
Convert the GMP open-book from a reconciliation exercise into a steering tool the owner trusts.
Stand up a weekly design-build cadence that produces one version of the week, not three.
Build a practice-level method other PMs in the firm can step into without re-learning the integration.

The 12 modules

Module 1. The Three-Log Integration

Architect submittals, contractor procurement, and owner decisions modelled as one schedule system rather than three parallel logs. Names the data each log carries, the dependencies between them, and the single forward-looking view the PM works from. Builds the spreadsheet or Smartsheet structure that holds the integration without inventing a new tool the team will not adopt.

Module 2. RFI Velocity as a Leading Indicator

How to read RFI open-rate, close-rate, and aging as forward-looking signals of schedule risk on a design-build job. Distinguishes design-clarification RFIs from contractor-sequencing RFIs and from owner-decision RFIs, because each predicts a different variance. Includes the weekly chart pattern that catches drift two weeks before the schedule shows it.

Module 3. Progressive Design-Build GMP as a Steering Tool

Treats the GMP open-book as a forward-looking decision instrument rather than a backwards reconciliation. Walks the PM through the design-assist conversation with trade partners, the contingency allocation logic the owner can defend, and the cadence at which GMP movement gets surfaced. The chapter the DBIA Associate curriculum gestures at and does not work.

Module 4. Owner Decision Latency and the Decision Register

Owner-side decision latency is the most common silent killer of design-build schedule. This module builds the owner decision register the PM brings to the weekly OAC, the framing that converts an open question into a named decision with an owner and a date, and the escalation pattern when latency exceeds the threshold that the schedule can absorb.

Module 5. Architect-Contractor Coordination Cadence

The weekly cadence that holds architect coordination and contractor sequencing in one conversation rather than in two parallel meetings the PM has to reconcile. Defines the agenda, the standing artefacts, the named seats, and the decision rights. Includes the pattern for when the architect is the design lead versus when the architect is the design assist on a contractor-led progressive job.

Module 6. Pull Planning Without the Whiteboard Theatre

Pull planning the design-build PM can actually run, with the trade partners, the architect, and the owner in the room or on Zoom, without the multi-day workshop ritual. Names the six-week look-ahead the team commits to, the constraint-removal log that comes out of it, and the weekly update pattern that keeps the plan alive instead of becoming a wall artefact.

Module 7. Submittal Log as a Schedule Instrument

Treats the architect submittal log as a leading schedule indicator instead of a back-office register. Maps long-lead procurement against submittal review duration, builds the submittal pace the schedule actually requires, and gives the PM the conversation with the architect about review-cycle commitments. The DBIA-aware way of running submittals on a fixed-price design-build.

Module 8. Risk Allocation in the Design-Build Contract

Reads the design-build contract from the PM seat, not the legal seat. Names the risk allocations that actually drive PM decisions on differing site conditions, design errors and omissions, scope ambiguity, and owner-directed changes. Builds the risk register the PM updates monthly and brings to the executive review. Tuned to AIA A141 and DBIA Document 530 patterns without naming a specific contract form.

Module 9. The Weekly OAC That Produces One Version of the Week

The owner-architect-contractor meeting redesigned so it produces one version of the week the three parties leave aligned on, instead of three versions they leave to reconcile. Names the standing artefacts, the meeting flow, the decision-capture pattern, and the follow-up cadence. The meeting the PM runs, not the meeting the PM attends.

Module 10. Stakeholder Reporting Up the Owner's Chain

How to report design-build progress to an owner whose internal stakeholders include facilities, finance, end-user, and capital projects, each of whom reads the project differently. Builds the one-page report that survives forwarding through the owner's chain without each reader inventing their own interpretation. Includes the pattern for the executive sponsor who only reads the first paragraph.

Module 11. Practice-Lead View — Running the Next Ten Jobs

Steps the practice lead out of the current job and into the question of how the firm runs the next ten. Names the artefacts that travel between jobs, the cadences that become firm-wide method, the PM onboarding that produces a PM who can step into design-build without re-learning the integration. The systems-thinking lens applied at the practice level, not just the project level.

Module 12. The Closeout That Sets Up the Next Job

Design-build closeout as a learning instrument, not a punch-list exercise. Captures the schedule signals that worked, the RFI patterns that predicted variance, the owner decisions that moved the GMP, and feeds them forward into the next job's planning. The lessons-learned register the firm actually uses, because the practice lead set it up to be usable.

How this addresses your situation

Specific modules that map to what you said you are dealing with.

Module 2 (RFI velocity) is the chapter the PM running a job where the RFI log has overtaken the schedule reads first.

Module 4 (owner decision latency) is the chapter the PM whose schedule is being eaten by an owner who cannot decide reads first.

Module 3 (GMP as steering tool) is the chapter the practice lead about to enter a progressive design-build GMP conversation reads first.

Module 11 (practice-lead view) is the chapter the systems-thinking practice lead reads after the current job is under control.

What you get with this course

Twelve text-based modules with worked examples drawn from progressive and fixed-price design-build delivery.
Downloadable templates for the three-log integration, the owner decision register, the RFI velocity dashboard, and the one-page owner report.
A hand-built implementation playbook tailored to the design-build delivery model the buyer is running, delivered alongside course access.
A weekly OAC agenda template and a submittal-log schedule overlay the PM can adopt in the next planning week.
Thirty-day satisfaction guarantee.

What you will have in hand by Day 1, Week 1, Month 1

Within 24 hours your account in the learning environment is provisioned and the tailored implementation playbook is delivered alongside it.

Modules one through four cover the current-job recovery work and can be applied to the weekly OAC inside the first two weeks.

Modules five through ten cover the working discipline and are paced over the following four to six weeks alongside the live job.

Modules eleven and twelve cover the practice-lead view and are typically read once the current job is steady, often in the closeout window.

Before and after

Before

The weekly report reconciles three versions of the week. The RFI log is doing work the schedule should be doing. The GMP open-book is a backwards reconciliation. The owner is told what happened, not asked what to decide.

After

One forward-looking instrument holds architect submittals, contractor procurement, and owner decisions. RFI velocity is a leading indicator the PM reads weekly. The GMP open-book steers the next decision. The OAC produces one version of the week, and the practice lead can hand the method to the next PM.

What happens if you do not address this

The systems-thinking discipline that distinguishes a design-build practice from a design-bid-build practice does not show up because the team is doing it. It shows up because the practice lead built it into the cadence. Without that build, every job re-invents the integration, the schedule keeps absorbing RFI volume as variance, and the next ten jobs run on the same pattern as this one.

Who it is for

A PMP-certified project manager or practice lead running progressive or fixed-price design-build delivery inside an architecture, engineering, or integrated A/E/C firm. DBIA-aware. Comfortable with pull planning and the GMP open-book conversation. Owns at least one active design-build job and is shaping how the firm runs the next ten. Wants a method, not a survey.

Who this is NOT for. Design-bid-build PMs running traditional CSI sequencing with a fixed-fee architect and a low-bid contractor. Owner's reps who never touch the design-side coordination. Pure construction PMs without architect-side reporting in their seat.

How it arrives

Text-based course in the Art of Service learning environment, plus downloadable templates and worked examples for every module, plus the hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access.

Time investment. Roughly six to eight hours of reading across the twelve modules, plus the time to adapt the templates to the live job. The implementation playbook is designed to be brought into the next weekly OAC rather than studied in isolation.

Why $199 is the right number

DBIA Associate and DBIA Professional credentials cover the principles and the contract literacy but do not teach the weekly PM discipline. PMI's PMP and PgMP cover the process areas but treat design-build as a delivery method footnote. Generic Lean Construction or pull planning workshops cover the cadence but assume a construction-only context. This playbook sits in the gap: PM-seat systems-thinking discipline for design-build delivery, with the artefacts and the cadence named.

FAQ

Is this tied to a specific contract form like AIA A141 or DBIA Document 530?

No. The risk-allocation module reads from the PM seat and applies to both AIA A141 and DBIA Document 530 patterns. The contract-form specifics are referenced where they change the PM decision, not used as the structure.

Does it cover progressive design-build and fixed-price design-build?

Yes. Module 3 on GMP-as-steering-tool is written for progressive design-build. The submittal log, RFI velocity, and OAC cadence modules apply to both delivery models.

Is this PMP or DBIA continuing education credit?

It is not currently registered for PDU or CEU credit. It is a working method, not a credential course.

How is the implementation playbook tailored?

After purchase, the implementation playbook is hand-built against the design-build delivery model the buyer is running, the contract form in use, and the owner type. It is delivered alongside course access.

30-day money-back guarantee. If after a week of working through the materials this is not what you needed, reply to the receipt email and a full refund is processed. No questions, no forms.

Within 24 hours your account in the learning environment is provisioned and the tailored implementation playbook is delivered alongside it.