GRIZZLY PEAR

written snapshots

Category: OPM letter

  • OPM.29 (notes on) The New West, Robert Adams, 1974

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    (notes on) The New West

    The Houston Public Library introduced me to three great books, The New West, Stephen Shore’s Uncommon Places, and a third monograph that focused on reflections in the plate glass on New York City streets (but I haven’t been able to rediscover). All three books were from the 1970s and 1980s.

    The New West has kept its freshness ten years after I first discovered it, almost fifty years after publication. Even though the Rocky Mountains are a foreign place for me (the most interaction I’ve had with Denver is stretching my legs at its train station while riding the California Zephyr), the suburban scape is quite familiar.

    The tract homes are much like the simple homes I renovated in the Bay Area. I spent four years remodeling an old tract home in downtown Vegas. I now live next to freshly cleared new subdivisions in the desert. The book’s business strips mirror my grandparent’s avenues in the San Gabriel Valley. I can also see a central business (casino) district from our house, through the dusty haze of flatland. That same highway rolled through the foothills of Austin when I started dating my wife. It also runs through the desert towards Los Angeles.

    It is all so familiar, and yet half a century foreign. Different from what I know, but every element rhymes.

    The only misstep in this book is the introduction to the chapter “Tract and Mobile Homes”.

    Few of the new houses will stand in fifty years; linoleum buckles on countertops, and unseasoned lumber twists walls out of plumb before the first occupants arrive.

    I pulled up a copy of Google maps to verify this sour prediction. There have been some changes. Big trees stand tall where the land was scraped bare and fences now divide the properties. But the homes all remain, sometimes barely touched.

    I wonder if any of the current residents know that their abode is been featured in a photographic monograph? What would they think if they stumble across a print in a fancy gallery? Do they realize the artist fully expected them their homes would quickly disappear?

    However, our ability to predict the future is often half right. I followed up the house search by looking up his busy commercial strips. Almost all of them have changed. Sometimes there are wafts of the past with similar uses in new buildings, but American commerce is one of creative destruction.

    Those examples in this book were not spared. Only the church has remained.

    And so I see our future in Las Vegas. The streets will remain. These squat stucco boxes will survive. I doubt our trees will grow as tall, but I’m curious what our shopping centers will become in the second half of this new century.

    ~

    A Question

    What do you see in your crystal ball? What will stick around in fifty years?

    Hit reply and let’s chat!

    ~

    A Link

    The Growth Equation posted about the importance of physical constraints, especially for knowledge workers who deal in data all day. This is why I love this industry. Outside of academia, architects have to deal with physical reality, even if we aren’t forced to get our hands dirty.

    … and a photo.

    Nisei Grill, San Francisco, 1942, Dorothea Lange

    ~

    Thanks for reading the OPM letter! I’d love to have a conversation if you have any feedback. I hope you found some prompts to stretch your craft as a curious Owner PM. See you soon!

    Justus Pang, RA

  • OPM.28 The Real

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    The Real

    One big perk of this job is the privilege of awarding someone a project. Beyond the personal ego, there is excitement on both sides of the phone call. It’s exciting to create teams and the prospect of a fresh project is intoxicating.

    Even more so for the big projects. Technically, I don’t announce the information – that comes from the Administrator when he emails the competing firms who interviewed for the project. But a bloodless email is an inauspicious way to start a journey, so I follow up as quickly as possible with a personal phone call.

    This year, I had the privilege of making two calls, one to a contractor who won a fellow PM’s project and to the contractor who won my main project for the next four years.

    On the first call, it was exciting to reminisce about what went well on our previous project and wish him all the best with my colleague. And then I followed it up with the next call to discuss the next steps on my own project with the new contractor.

    A great way to close out a Friday evening.

    Except.

    In the middle of the second call, I received a text. One of our administrative staff lost their spouse after a long fight at the hospital, right as their health seemed to turn for the better.

    It was a crushing reminder amidst the adrenaline that life is much more than the games we play at work.

    The real world always has the final say.

    ~

    A Question

    How do you keep rooted?

    Hit reply and let’s chat.

    ~

    A Link

    Zen Pencils illustrates a great quote by Jack Kirby about learning from the past and then sitting down to do the work.

    … and a photo.

    Transmission Lines, Mojave Desert, 1941, Ansel Adams

    ~

    Thanks for reading the OPM letter! I’d love to have a conversation if you have any feedback. I hope you found some prompts to stretch your craft and relationships as a curious Owner PM. See you soon!

    Justus Pang, RA

  • OPM.27 Professor Grenader

    Happy New Years!

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    Professor Grenader

    Nonya Grenader retired at the end of last semester. The news made me contemplate my good luck with the professors I’ve come across in academia.

    Colleges and grad schools are full of kids who think they are adults, so it must be a strange experience to be a real adult in this environment. On paper, the professors’ job is to cram information into these developing minds, but their best work is pointing students towards the wide richness of life.

    I studied under three great professors from Berkeley. Joe Slusky attacked life and art with unapologetic exuberence. Chip Sullivan exhorted us to pursue our idiosyncratic interests. Ray Lifchez introduced us to the world of literature that I am still exploring. Those lessons have enriched my life for the past twenty years.

    In Houston, I studied under Nonya in my first semester with Rice Building Workshop and in the last semester as my thesis advisor. Even though I am proud of the work we did in for this big last project, it was her bearing that left a lasting imprint after school.

    Nonya carried herself with warmth and dignity, rare traits to be found in architecture programs. Her example has been a beacon as I have navigated through my career. Watching her success spared me from the temptation of trying to become someone foreign to myself. She proved that one can succeed without acquiescing to the norms of the prevailing culture.

    The last time I read my thesis was when I submitted it in 2008. The glow of a previous project stays only a moment. Technical knowledge is already out of date by the time you learn it. However, managing oneself (and others) with grace is a practice to be honed every day.

    I am excited that Professor Grenader will be starting a new chapter in her life. However, it is a shame that new students at Rice will not have the opportunity to work with her.

    Here’s to the next woman up!

    ~

    A Question

    How have your professors left a lasting imprint in life and work?

    Hit reply and let’s chat!

    ~

    A Couple of Links

    While scheduling this post, Petronas has not yet uploaded their 2022 Chinese New Years advertisement. Hopefully they’ll get a great one up by the time this post is published on CNY Eve.

    If you’re looking for an architect for your home in Houston, you’d be well served to give Nonya a call, maybe she’ll have some free time to help out.

    … and a photo.

    New Year’s Feast, New York, 2/19/1912, Bain News Service

    ~

    Thanks for reading the OPM letter! I’d love to have a conversation if you have any feedback. I hope you found some prompts to stretch your craft and relationships as a curious Owner PM.

    Happy year of the Tiger!

    Justus Pang, RAwwwr!

  • OPM.26 New Mantras

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    New Mantras

    I’m also not very big on New Year’s resolutions. I don’t have a problem with them, but I’ve found that goal setting is an ineffectual exercise for how I work.

    However, a few mantras have anchored into my brain over the past couple of weeks (to add to my growing list of mottos).

    Viscously Focused

    As a worker, my skills and my usage of time define my output.

    Now that I’ve been at the Division for more than three years, I have the necessary knowledge to do my job. Unfortunately, I can’t create infinite time, so the next frontier is managing my time better.

    Time management comes in two parts – management and execution. I’m happy with my task management system (immediate capture in my physical notebook, overall task organization in Microsoft Outlook Tasks). So the final frontier is to optimize execution, squeezing as much productivity out of my time at work.

    In that endeavor, I need to increase my ability to focus. Project Managers are pulled in many directions, so whenever I get that rare clean block of time, I need to exploit it to the fullest. The colorful mantra has been reminding me to stay on track whenever my brain starts to wander.

    Twenty-Thirty

    With another election year coming up, I’m susceptible to getting caught up with the news. I’ll do my duty and vote, but I’m not a politician, so why waste my focus on the minutia of the political entertainment complex? Same for all the other types of news.

    After spending four months sucked into the vortex of an online game, I’ve finally regained my equilibrium. Through the detox, I’ve realized that it is best to be extremely focused on the present while keeping an eye out for the distant future.

    This mantra reminds me to think of the distant (but not too remote) future. Eight years is far enough to avoid capture in the ephemeral but still close enough to still feel imminent.

    Stillness

    On a practical note, both of the previous two mottos are pushing me to address my greatest distraction – podcasts.

    Growing up, I would listen to sermons on cassette tape. When I started my career, I would listen to sports talk all day, punctuated by Thursday afternoon baseball with the San Francisco Giants. Now I’ve got the entire world in my pocket. It is too much of a good thing – especially as my work requires more and more hard thought.

    Just like I culled Twitter down to elected politicians in my home district and Official State Agencies, I need to clean up my audio feed. I’m paid to pay attention, so I need to give my work my full attention.

    The hard part is that I need to become comfortable with silence.

    If I pull that off in 2022, then this will be a pretty damn good year.

    ~

    A Question

    Have you picked up any themes, resolutions, or mantras for the new year?

    Hit reply and let’s chat!

    ~

    A Link

    David Epstein wrote a newsletter extolling the virtues of well-timed resolutions. As with most productivity advice, it all depends on the personality quirks of the individual.

    In 2018, CGP Grey went on a drastic media fast that ultimately lasted well past a year. I’m not ready to go that far, but I find his quixotic “Project Cyclops” inspiring.

    We celebrated New Year’s Eve by watching the Times Square ball drop on the Roku TV while simultaneously streaming the Smithsonian Panda Cam Live Stream on the iPad. Once it was over, 9 pm Pacific was the perfect time to usher the kids to bed.

    … and a photo.

    Paul Petrov of the Ballet Russe, Sydney, 31 December 1936, Sam Hood

    ~

    Thanks for reading the OPM letter! I’d love to have a conversation if you have any feedback. I hope you found some prompts to stretch your craft and relationships as a curious Owner PM. See you soon!

    Justus Pang, RA

  • OPM.25 Kinda Pausing

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    Kinda Pausing

    Happy New Year! I’ve decided to take the OPM Letter off of the weekly schedule and will adopt an “occasional” publishing schedule. Let me indulge in a solipsistic discussion of the first half-year of this project.

    I started this newsletter because I was curious about what it would be like to enter the “influencer” game. I’ve kept this blog for the past decade with minimal traffic and I was curious what it would take to garner an active readership. TLDR: it takes way more work than I’m willing to invest.

    I started with a bang, preparing a massive backlog of letters, which is why I was able to maintain a weekly schedule for the past half-year despite getting addicted to an online card game for most of that time. Fortunately, I quit the addiction over the holidays so I’m not worried about wasting 2022 as well. However, this detour made me realize that getting good at the influencer game isn’t my thing.

    I made this decision a couple of weeks ago, but life is funny – at the same moment, I posted my most well-received OPM letter on Linkedin. However, after pondering my next steps over the holidays I realized that going off a regular schedule is still the right move. I enjoy reading and writing, but I don’t care for the hard work of “publishing”; even the extra half hour of formatting these letters was grating.

    I’ve long held that if you don’t want to do the shit work, then it’s a sign to move on. Especially since I’m also about to enter the busy season at my Division. We do our biennial budgeting process (estimating a boatload of Agency requested Capital Improvement Projects). So between taxes, preparations ahead of “hurricane CIP”, and the actual three-month whirlwind, I decided that it’s best to go sporadic.

    I’m not yet ready to just kill the newsletter. I’ve created an infrastructure and it would be a shame to just burn it down on a whim. So I’ll return to your inbox on a sporadic basis until I decide upon a regular schedule or give it a proper closing.

    We’ll see where the OPM Letter goes, but I quite appreciate the few of you who have subscribed to this letter and wish y’all new journeys for 2022.

    ~

    A Question

    Have you had a project that requires a mid-course correction? How did it play out?

    Hit reply and let’s chat!

    ~

    A Link

    One of my last projects in private practice was a master plan for the track facilities for Coach Yvonne Wade. She was one of the most impressive clients I’ve worked with. This podcast interview with her and her husband is a good case study of what it takes to be great in a field.

    … and a photo.

    Egyptian Arch, Dublin County, Ireland, 1890, John Hargrave,

    ~

    Thanks for reading the OPM letter! I’d love to have a conversation if you have any feedback. I hope you found some prompts to stretch your craft and relationships as a curious Owner PM. See you next soon!

    Stay humble, be kind, and keep experimenting!
    Justus Pang, RA

  • Happy Holidays! 2021!

    Here’s the holiday greeting I’ll be emailing out to colleagues later today. The background comes from a partially ground concrete slab where the work was stopped under the future carpet finish.

    That said, I’m fond of this alternative draft, which inadvertently happened as I was trying to pick out my font. However, as a staid representative of the State, I decided to play it safe in a mass email related to work.

    Either way, I hope you are enjoying the end of this year, and all the best for the new one!

    Justus

  • OPM.24 Goodbye to My Building

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    Goodbye to My Building

    I did my last job walk this year. I didn’t tell him, but it was also my unofficial handoff to my former intern who now works for the agency.

    The building has occupied three and a half years of my career when I joined the project at the start of design development till now. By the time we conduct the 11-month warranty walk in April, it will have run the length of a college degree, a tenth of my career.

    After walking together for an hour, my former intern left for another meeting so I spent the last hour walking the site by myself. The semester was over. The only occupants were a few folks holding a potluck in a classroom. The building was otherwise empty.

    I reminisced about the quiet Sundays I spent on-site over the past couple of years. I had come to treasure my time alone in the building. It was an opportunity to commune with the structure, a meditative walk of heightened sensitivities scanning for construction issues.

    When the pandemic settles down, I’ll pop onto campus mid-semester to check out this building as was it was designed, full of students. Until then, it was a privilege to pass it into the care of my colleague.

    It’s now his building.

    Coincidentally, I’ve been picking through this year’s job walk photos for my annual holiday card. It was magical to traverse back through time and a nice reminder of how much work happens over the course of a year.

    ~

    A Question

    Do you have mixed emotions when handing off your building to the users?

    Hit reply and let’s chat!

    ~

    A Photo

    Three Carriers, NSC EAB, February 2021

    ~

    Thanks for reading the OPM letter! I’d love to have a conversation if you have any feedback. I hope you found some prompts to stretch your craft and relationships as a curious Owner PM. See you next week!

    Stay humble, be kind, and keep experimenting!
    Justus Pang, RA



  • OPM.23 (notes on) Half Time, Bob Buford, 1994

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    (notes on) Half Time

    This book is quite similar to Simon Sinek’s Start with Why. Both books address a singular “life problem”, but neither gives practical down-to-earth advice on how to tackle this core problem.

    Even so, I found this book an enjoyable listen.

    Most likely because I am the exact target audience, a middle-aged professional who has reached a certain level of success. With two young kids, it’s hard to believe I’ve hit “half time”, but mathematically I’m dead center between graduating college and retirement. Now that I’m halfway down the path described in the book Aging Well, it’s time for a little guidance on the matter.

    I think Bob Buford’s inclinations are correct. I don’t have much more to prove as an Architect. There are certainly some stretch goals that might be nice to grab. But they aren’t worth a significant input of effort that steals time away from my kids.

    I’ve seen how much extra work and stress pile with each step up the hierarchy. A promotion would be flattering, but it would be hard to justify the extra time at the office. Then again, I didn’t get to this point by coasting and I certainly don’t plan to spend the next two decades just chillin’ in my cubicle. So there is a paradox that I need to resolve in my career plan.

    While this book is short on practical advice, it has named the problem and defined it clearly. For that, it’s worth a read.

    I should note that this book is written from an evangelical Christian perspective and Buford liberally quotes the Bible. Even though I’m no longer Christian, I spent plenty of time studying the good book so the scriptural references felt comfortably familiar. Indeed it highlighted a blind spot in my omnivorous reading appetite with my focus on eastern philosophy. The instant familiarity that comes with Christian fare can be useful in quickly grokking an author’s perspective. Maybe I should check out more of these books in my self-help meanderings.

    ~

    A Question

    How are you adjusting for the second half of your career?

    Hit reply and let’s chat!

    ~

    A Link

    Losers, Pretenders, & Scoundrels is a new podcast by Andrew Heaton and Andrew Young. The episode about Victor Lustig who sold the Eiffel Tower (twice!) is a fun listen. The tenuously relevant portion (to this OPM Letter) comes at the end when they discuss Lustig’s “Ten Commandments for Conmen”, which is good general advice for developing rapport with strangers.

    … and a photo.

    In the park on hot day “played out”, ca. 1910-1915, Bain News Service

    ~

    Thanks for reading the OPM letter! I’d love to have a conversation if you have any feedback. I hope you found some prompts to stretch your craft and relationships as a curious Owner PM. See you next week!

    Stay humble, be kind, and keep experimenting!
    Justus Pang, RA

  • OPM.22 Interview Notes

    Can’t believe we’re in December!

    Thanks for reading. Please subscribe if you’d like the next letter in your inbox.

    Interview Notes

    In job search literature there is a trope that the interviewer is just as scared as the interviewee.

    It’s true.

    Two years ago I was a voting member for a colleague’s project. This year I interviewed firms for my own project. Both experiences were surprisingly difficult.

    The morning started with jitters even though I wasn’t going to be on the hot seat. The interviews went well enough that afternoon, but it was a difficult decision and I didn’t fully wind down until long after dinner – after an impromptu therapy session with a colleague who took my call that night.

    Maybe it was the video chat format. Plus, working from home grants zero decompression time on the way home. Maybe I identity too much with these folks. I know how badly I would have wanted this project. Maybe it’s just because this is all still new to me. Then again, some old hands told me it doesn’t get easier.

    We saw presentations by four great architects, any of whom would have been a great pick for this project. As such, this interview should have been a cakewalk. A wrong decision was impossible.

    Who thought a gimmie would be so tough?

    For any architects who may be curious about how their presentations are received by the client. It’s pretty simple. The speaker matters much more than their words. The hard part is developing that relationship enough so the client already knew you before the interview.

    Before posting this letter, we conducted a second round of interviews for our Construction Managers at Risk. It was not as emotionally draining as I expected, even though the contract at stake is much higher. I’m not sure why. Because there wasn’t a professional affinity with the Contractors? Or maybe I’m just getting less sensitive with practice.

    ~

    A Question

    How do you manage your interviews?

    Hit reply and let’s chat!

    ~

    A Link

    This video about Armor weaves together technology, decoration, politics, craft, and history. It is very much an analog for the world we navigate as Architects and OPMs.

    … and a photo.

    Ice cased Adelie penguins after a blizzard at Cape Denison, 1912, Frank Hurley,

    ~

    Thanks for reading the OPM letter! I’d love to have a conversation if you have any feedback. I hope you found some prompts to stretch your craft and relationships as a curious Owner PM. See you next week!

    Stay humble, be kind, and keep experimenting!
    Justus Pang, RA

  • OPM.21 (notes on) Find Your Why, Simon Sinek, David Mead, and David Docker, 2017

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    (notes on) Find Your Why

    Sinek’s first book was a TED talk that was bloated to book-length. This is the book that Start With Why should have been.

    The first chapter of Find Your Why is a perfect encapsulation of its more famous predecessor. The rest of the book completes Sinek’s “why-how-what golden circle” concept, fleshing out the idea within the standard structure of the self-help genre:

    • Introduction: Sell the Concept (Start With Why)
    • Body: Instructions for the reader actualize the Concept in their lives.
    • Conclusion: Reiterate the Concept with final encouragements.

    The Find Your Why method asks you to recount the moments in your history that lit you up inside. Then you process these memories with their method to develop a why statement formatted as:

    TO <blank> SO THAT <blank>.

    “TO inspire people to do the things that inspire them SO THAT, together, we can change our world.”

    Sinek’s own why statement

    Unfortunately, the Find Your Why process requires a partner for half a day to talk about yourself and probe your memories. I generally avoid self-realization exercises (even though my experience with Golden Parachute was fairly illuminating), much less burdening those around me.

    The authors claim their process isn’t possible to execute by yourself, so I’m not going to try. But if I were to take a stab doing their program, I would first try it on my own to probe the weak points of their method, before forcing an acquaintance (spouses aren’t recommended for this exercise) to participate in my navel-gazing.

    If you’re curious about discovering your why, and if you have someone who owes you a big favor, it’s worth checking out. And even if you don’t, this is the better of these two “why” books.

    I listened to this book at double speed, taking two and a half hours to “read” while doing chores. I don’t regret this minimal investment, however, if I were to do anything further, I would need to get a printed copy. I can’t imagine running this elaborate exercise without a visual reference. Then again, I haven’t felt any urge to find my why so over the past few months, so it is unlikely it will ever happen.

    Even though I’m meh about both of Sinek’s “why” books, I very much enjoyed his other books Leaders Eat Last and Infinite Game. They are both excellent reads.

    ~

    A Question

    Is the whole “why” thing is overrated?

    Hit reply and let’s chat!

    ~

    A Few Links

    ESPN occasionally commissions a great essay. This is a lovely portrait of a Will “Akuna” Robinson, a veteran who has hiked the three great trails in the United States.

    Self help books may be a contemporary route to self knowledge, but I wonder if traditional wisdom books may be a better path. If my hunch is correct, I’d recommend Ecclesiastes, Dao De Jing, Analects, Bhagavad Gita, and Havamal. If nothing else, these have stood the test of time.

    … and a photo.

    Supersonic Wing Wind Tunnel Model – A three-quarter rear view of a wooden Langley display model in January 1958 showing the radical twist and camber of a supersonic arrow-wing design. Note the cobra-like raised nose at the upper right and the cambered, drooped trailing edges of the 75-degree swept wing. These features were inverted in the first seal design by Modarelli. (NACA L-00502), January 1958

    ~

    Thanks for reading the OPM letter! I’d love to have a conversation if you have any feedback. I hope you found some prompts to stretch your craft and relationships as a curious Owner PM. See you next week!

    Stay humble, be kind, and keep experimenting!
    Justus Pang, RA