Interesting Word of the Day yesterday - https://wordsmith.org/words/parkinsons_law.html
It would seem that the Architectural field is a living example.
RE: Generalization of Parkinson’s Law (at the link)
I always just said that crap follows Boyle’s Law: Like gases, crap expands to fill the vacuum. I will now have to change that to Parkinson’s Law. 
I became a Specifier by mistake.
While a science major in college I took a job with an Architect going to a sketchy neighborhood in Washington, DC (St. Elizabeth’s Hospital), measuring buildings built between pre-WWI to pre-WWII and drawing up floor plans. I figured I’d taken mechanical drawing in high school and I was the only person he could find willing to go there and do it. After 4 years of drafting, sitting in on planning meetings and learning how to program medical use spaces, putting together CD’s, walking them through the DC Permit Office (I had memorized NFPA 101 and used it as a hammer), and ultimately writing the specs based on guide specs available back then from GSA at the US Government Printing Office (typewriter, carbon paper, and mimeograph), I found that I wasn’t bad at it. I learned a lot back then and still do.
Like Dave M., I sat at the feet of greats like Ev Spurling, construction lawyers like Kasimer and Katz, and the Specifiers at the VA who taught the DC Metro CSI classes. Unbelievable wealth of information and just wonderful people to be with.
Ev almost accidentally talked me out of writing specs when I visited his office and realized how much work he put into tracking project requirements. Brilliant guy. Incredible organizational skills. I miss him.
I cut my finger with an Exacto knife doing real cut and paste to assemble specs for a “justice” project in the nightmarish firm I started with. I had already learned some basis word processing (Applewriter 2e) and blanched while I watched our secretary retype the cutted and pasted specs for the next project. I told the firm owner that I could save him money if he got a computer. So I learned to write my first specs on a IBM DOS 3.0 machine and rather than buy office chairs that didn’t need the backs duct-taped on, the owner used his savings to help fit out the yacht he was having built in Amsterdam. Then I heard about CSI, and learned what ASTM stood for, took CDT, etc etc.
We certainly have quieted down as a group. For most of the portion of my career when a computer linked to the internet sat on my work desk, the first thing I opened in the morning was this @specs discussion forum. Work related enough to be not guilty of web surfing and the background for when I tackled the emails that landed in my inbox overnight. Nothing wrong with us as a group or this website, most all of the similar special interest websites that I regularly visited in the past are long gone or just coasting.
This is still one of the first things I check in the morning. I have gotten a lot of help, information, and just some enjoyable chats from this group.
I do a lot of searches for answers through past discussions. And generally find them. And if I don’t, or need further clarification, I will add to the thread, or post a new topic (depending on how old the thread is.)
Maybe it is the summer time. A lot of things quiet down during the summer. I hope that is it. This is a great forum, and I hope people continue to contribute to it. Not all of the questions could possibly have been answered, plus, new ones do come up all the time.
Random Rant (and didn’t think it was worth starting a new topic for…)
What is it with Owners representatives who have REALLY complicated processes in place for project management and how they share their criteria specifications within that process?
I have had some good experiences some not so good (and one really great one), but good golly, this one in which I am currently stuck is torturous – and I do mean that in every essence of the “excessive lengthy and complex” meaning of the word.
It makes me want to curl up on the floor and weep…
Or the owner’s reps who don’t think specifications are necessary, especially Division 01.
Or the Owner’s rep who wants to repeat all the information in Instructions to Bidders, Alternates, Unit Prices, and Allowances on the Bid Form.
I just wanted to say that I hope everyone had a great Christmas, or is having a great Hannukah, and to wish you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2025!
Happy Holidays to All!
I’ll add Kwanzaa to the list of celebrations, too, and join Loretta in wishing all a prosperous 2025 filled with joy.
Just felt like griping and didn’t think griping was a good enough reason to start a new thread…
So…
One would think that someone with over twenty-five years experience as an architect would know that unless the client is a company like Coca Cola (with oodles of money, and an ID heavily invested in a SPECIFIC color) that custom coil-coating colors are out of the reach of most project budgets.
And a lot of companies do have a pretty good selection of options available.
Sigh…
One would think so, but then if that architect is used to getting their own way on stuff like colors…good luck!
Loretta,
I feel your pain. I had an architectural client that designed everything!
They could not just choose a standard, off-the-shelf component and hang it on the wall. For example, they had custom-designed metal wall panels with custom colors for a school! What happens if a panel gets damaged and needs replacing?
Every project was treated like Apple’s world headquarters with an unlimited budget.
The last project I worked on with the architect, the owner fired them, probably because the facility was way over budget.
I often wondered if the architect was designing a building for the owner or for themselves so they could win a design award.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for beautiful buildings, but within reason.
I check this forum every day to see if there is something new and interesting going on. And for the last couple of weeks, nothing. Much to my disappointment.
This particular thread started about a year ago, was last added to almost four months ago. The last post to Coffee Pot and Water Cooler was in April, and to the forum as a whole was about two weeks ago.
No questions? No complaints? No aphorisms? C’mon! I miss the interaction!
Loretta,
Maybe we ended up solving all the world’s problems?
If that is the case, I will spend some time creating new problems for us to solve.
I still check this forum everyday, even though I retired in 2020.
For decades at work I would come in a put this up on one monitor and my email inbox on another and then grab a cup of coffee.
After 5 years of retirement I recuse myself from posting responses, even though tempted at times. Like an old standard, I haven’t been updated, so better keep my mouth shut.
Yeah, Steve, but we retired folk still have opinions and ideas to pass along. We can mentor and guide.