Hindsight is 20/20; it doesn’t matter what you’re reflecting on. Compared to forecasting, the clarity of retrospect brings everything into crystal focus. Now that we are at the end of the ride for this project, the project schedule is a matter of pulling the dates of actual events and placing them into a timeline. The Gantt chart above is a documentation of those dates and events. This chart is a broad band look at the project with only the major activities noted. However, each of the major activities is made up of a myriad of sub-activities that took place which do a better job of telling a more detailed story of the events that took place on weekly or even a daily basis that shaped the project.
Here’s the story of the beginning of the project thru concept development which represents the pre-design scope of services for the project.
2011
- March 1; the Chickasaw Nation (CN) notifies FSB that they have been awarded the Chickasaw Visitor Center project.
- March 23; contract discussions begin with the CN sending a draft agreement to FSB.
- April 7; following discussions and negotiations on agreement language and fee, FSB sends a signed agreement to the CN.
- May 18; FSB begins research on the project; similar facilities nationally, CN facilities locally and the adjacent national park property and structures.
- May 19; FSB requests the scheduling of a project visioning and programming workshop with key stakeholders in the CN
- June 9; FSB sends out visioning/programing packets of information to all the stakeholders that will be participating in the workshop
- June 10; FSB Team and CN representatives tour CN facilities in Ada, OK, CN facilities in Sulphur, OK and the national park land in Sulphur, OK
- June 16; Final preparations for the workshop are completed; PowerPoint, booklets, marker pads and supplies.
- June 17; FSB conducts an all-day Visioning / Programming workshop at the CN in a conference room set aside for a full day of activities that last from 9am to 5pm. A working lunch is brought in mid-day.
- June 20; FSB begins to digest and document all the information discussed and gathered in the workshop.
- June 27; the first draft of the preliminary space program is reviewed internally at FSB.
- June 28; preliminary bubble diagrams are reviewed internally at FSB.
- June 30; FSB conducts a preliminary review meeting with the CN that recaps the Vision and Program.
- July 1; FSB begins preparing preliminary design concepts.
- July 1; FSB visits niche (pocket) retail stores similar to the retail shop that is desired to be in the Visitor
Center. - July 13; FSB Team conducts an internal pin-up session of design concepts for discussion.
- July 18; an interim concept review meeting is conducted with the CN.
- July 19; FSB begins to finalize the concept design
- July 25; FSB begins preliminary cost estimating effort
- July 25; FSB interior designer begins gathering material samples of prominent interior and exterior finishes.
- August 2; FSB finalizes the preliminary cost estimate.
- August 3; final draft of the Visioning/Programing/Concept documents are presented to the CN.
- August 4; FSB begins to prepare the presentation for the Governor of the Chickasaw Nation.
- August 15; FSB makes presentation of the Vision, Program and Concept for the Chickasaw Visitor Center to the Governor of the Chickasaw Nation. Preliminary selections of building and finish materials are shared. FSB receives a thumbs up approval from the Governor of the design concepts.
It’s time to move forward into basic services for the project beginning with Schematic Design.
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Design Matters 