I’m supposed to know about the best blogs in the architectural, engineering and construction community. And I really should know about AEC blogs based in North Carolina, especially at organizations I’ve visited personally. (We’ve published North Carolina Construction News for more than a decade.) So it’s embarrassing that I only discovered the Raleigh-based PSMJ Resources, Inc. A/E/C Pulse blog a few weeks ago after fellow blogger Matt Handal took a (justified) pot-shot at one of the blog’s postings and stirred up a solid controversial reaction.
PSMJ handled the controversy about David Whitemyer’s post,?8 Reasons Why You Shouldn?t Do A/E Marketing?with a hands-off approach.?Outside of correcting a typo that one reader pointed up, the consultancy let the blog entry remain in place. It allowed one reader to post a counter-argument, but didn’t really let the intensity of angry answers directly see the light of day on its site. (You can read them here in Matt Handal’s follow-up post.)
You might agree or disagree with how PSMJ handled the situation, but I’ll look at things from a broader perspective, and that is whether this blog should be on your “must read” list, and the answer is “yes” if you are a serious architectural or engineering practitioner interested in best practices and business management.
For example, David Burstein recently posted Difficult Clients vs. Bad Clients, suggesting that you certainly should set the line in the sand for certain types of clients you should drop for good, including ones which:
- Establish expectations that are impossible to meet;
- Sue your firm if things aren?t perfect;
- Don?t pay their bills;
- Require you to do things that are illegal or highly unethical; or
- Lie to you.
However, he said some clients can simply be difficult; they may treat you like a contractor instead of a professional, or have irritating bureaucratic processes, which you should learn to accommodate rather than hate.
In this case, it took one controversial (you could say “bad”) blog post to draw attention to a generally solid blog. Maybe someone will enter PSMJ Resources’ blog in the 2018 Best Construction Blog competition.
