A Day in the Life: Principal at Architecture Firm

9:00 a.m.: Arrive at the office. Check with the administrative staff for messages and the day's schedule. Return e-mails and phone calls, particularly regarding east coast projects, so they get any information they need before the close of business (considering the three hour time difference). Deal with any pressing administrative issues and make task lists for the day.

10:00 a.m.: Since it's Monday, conduct a project meeting with all the managers to review pending and upcoming issues on all projects. Afterwards, have meeting with administrative staff to review the coming week and all scheduling and administrative issues. On other weekday mornings, attend construction meetings at project sites with the clients, contractor, decorator and any necessary subcontractors. These meetings can last several hours or consume the majority of the day.

12:00 p.m.: Break for lunch with Brian. Usually go "off-campus"and discuss any urgent issues, calendar issues or projects, potential clients, etc.

1:00 p.m.: Address project issues. Conduct client meetings.

3:00 p.m.: Deal with paperwork of various kinds: memos, project correspondence, billing. Read all mail, review accounts payable. Spend time directing staff on both administrative and design issues. Deal with contracts and proposal packages for new clients. Some days, have to pick up daughter from school and spend the afternoon with her; when this occurs, work from the home office, which is connected electronically with the office server.