Listen Think Plan Act

For 25 years Larry Weston Architect has been able to provide his clients with incisive design solutions for everything from a bookshelf to whole city blocks by following a simple process.

LISTEN, THINK, PLAN, ACT. It is the ability to recognise the distinctions and opportunities in the process that are unique. What started as an intuitive response to getting the job done has developed into a project management system capable of handling briefs as diverse as villas on very remote islands to multiple restaurant roll outs.

In reality the system is LISTEN, THINK, PLAN, LISTEN, THINK, PLAN, LISTEN, THINK, PLAN, LISTEN, THINK, PLAN, ACT because the ACTION is always the most expensive and time-consuming part of the process so the PLAN has to be right before you ACT.

Get this process out of order, leave out a step or fail to give full consideration and you have limited the potential of the ACTION.

LISTENING includes observing, listening with your eyes, for often actions are more revealing than words. Document your listenings, discuss them and comprehend their real meanings.

THINKING comes with decades of knowledge, but requires you to be completely in the moment ready for a few seconds of inspiration. THINKING also means “finding out” or wanting to (not being a) “know it all”. Don’t limit your thinking, THINK like an economist or an artist or a strategist, THINK laterally or literally or adversarially, but always THINK.

A PLAN is a document that everyone on the team uses. It needs to be made so that everyone can use it. A PLAN needs to be both concise and comprehensive, easy to comprehend and  complete with the needed information.

Get the PLAN right then ACT. ACT hard and fast, get it built for the best price and build it to PLAN, but don’t stop LISTENING and THINKING about how to make it better.