In-Depth Blog Post #5

Progress Update

Since my last blog post, my mentor and I have met to discuss the trades and the space plan. During our discussion about the trades, I learned a lot. We talked about who the trades people are and why they are important. We also talked about how you get in contact with trades people as well as how to work with them.

 

One of the best ways you can find trades people is word of mouth. “If you know somebody who is getting work done and is happy with it, that is huge… if you have a friend, and they can give you the exact feedback of what they did, how much it cost, what kind of obstacles they were up against. That is probably one of the best ways you can find your trades people.”

 

Over the past few years, I have been told a lot about how important networking is. I have always been kind of lost with this idea of networking. I have learned about the benefits of it, but I can be a pretty reserved person at times, and I have not learned how to actually begin to build my network. My mentor told me about how she started to build her network when she first entered the world of interior design, which I thought was really interesting.

 

Once my mentor and I finished that discussion, we began to work on the space plan of the tiny home. Over the past couple months I have been brainstorming a lot of ideas for the tiny home. My mentor and I first discussed using the dimensions ½” – 1’-0”. We decided that those dimensions were a bit difficult to work with so we decided to change them to ¼” – 1’-0”.

 

My mentor taught me how to use an architectural ruler (scale) and a regular ruler to draw the space plan, as well as the differences between them. Apparently, an architectural ruler (scale) is used to measure and make markings, then you take your regular ruler to draw the lines, which I did not know before. I learned how to draw the walls into the space plan as well as how to represent doors and windows.

 

The weekend after I met with my mentor, I took some time and began to work on the space plan on my own. I was struggling a bit at fist, trying to get all the lines to make sense, but I eventually made some progress. When I first started, the lines were not straight and I kept on making smudges all over my paper. It also bothered me how some of the lines were thicker or darker than others. After a while I took a step back and I tried again.

This is what the space plan looks like so far. I am very proud of how well it is going and I am very excited to continue!

 

 

How to Have a Beautiful Mind:

For this in-depth post, I looked into Edward de Bono’s Parallel Thinking – The Six Hats. The chapter about parallel thinking discussed The Six Hats method and how it can be used to “help you enhance your conversation and so develop a beautiful mind.” Each of the hats represent a different way of thinking. The white hat is for information, the red hat is for emotion and intuition, the black hat is for critical thinking, the yellow hat is used to look for the positives and point out the value of an idea, and the green is used for creative thinking. To practice recognizing The Six Hats, I took a short section a conversation I had with my mentor and I analyzed it for the six hats.

 

 

Analyzing The Six Hats: Conversation With My Mentor

“There are three people she asked me to contact on her behalf that were a complete dead end. It was just a complete waste of time.”

During my conversation with my mentor about trades people, she was telling me about a frustrating experience she had with the trades. She was trying to get a hold of specific people that her client wanted to work with because they had done some work for her client before. Though when my mentor was trying to get in contact with them, they were very dismissive and did not respond. This falls under the red hat, Edward de Bono mentioned because my mentor was expressing how she felt and did not have to give an explanation.

 

“When this happens, do you charge your clients extra because you have to spend more time?”

This question falls under the white hat. I asked my mentor this, looking to fill in the blanks and find all of the information. The white hat is about “focusing on information in parallel.” I was trying to explore the subject and understand the situation as much as possible. I also wanted to learn more about working with trades people in general.

 

“So, I did charge her for the time I felt I spent chasing these people. It’s hard, its really hard because there is nothing that came out of it at the end, but she is asking me to do this as part of my service. So I need to charge for that. So, yes.”

My mentor was talking about finding the value in her work, even if there is not a tangible result. I believe that this fits best under the yellow hat.

 

“Is it sometimes hard to charge people that you know, or just in general charge people for your own work?”

This is another question that falls under the white hat. I was trying to get all of the information. I wanted to learn more about my mentor’s experience working with trades people as well as the work she puts into a project.

 

“Yes, and I think anything that doesn’t have a material product at the end of it, is hard sometimes. Like you really need to be firm and feel that your time is valuable, your time is money, and that it’s important. I went to school, I worked hard to learn all of this information, I have a lot of information behind me. So, you need to charge for that, but its not easy. Especially when you are a giving person and you want to help people, its hard.”

When my mentor said this, I found it very inspirational. She talks about how it can be hard sometimes, but that it is important to know your worth. She is such a giving person. By being my mentor for this project, she is giving me her time and sharing her knowledge. She goes out of her way during the week to answer any questions I have. I really appreciate all she does for me. I believe this fits underneath the black hat. The black hat is “an excellent hat and probably the most useful of all the hats.” My mentor talks about being a giving person but making sure to not give everything away. By doing that she is thinking critically, which makes this statement sit underneath the black hat.

 

These past couple weeks of in-depth have been some of my favourite so far. I learned about working with the trades which was really cool. I also thought the concepts of The Six Hats – Parallel Thinking was really intriguing; I am definitely going to try to apply it more in the future. Working on the space plan has been the highlight of the project so far. I feel like all of the skills and concepts that I have been learning about are finally coming together. I am super excited to work more on the tiny home over the next few weeks, especially during spring break!