Tech companies share a way of operating: rapid feedback loops, customer obsession, data-driven decision-making, and cultures built on experimentation. Each of these principles can transform how AEC firms design, deliver, and grow — if applied with intention.
During the Run Your AEC Firm Like a Tech Company masterclass led by Brian Liu, insights drawn from Netflix, Amazon, Atlassian, SpaceX, and Tesla highlighted practical lessons for AEC leaders aiming to accelerate growth, improve efficiency, and cultivate innovation-driven teams.
Many firms still rely on individuals who hold critical knowledge — the project manager who knows every detail or the partner who closes every deal. But resilience comes from systems, not superstars. Tech companies scale because they document, automate, and share knowledge. For AEC firms, that means building repeatable processes, internal playbooks, and project dashboards that make performance transparent and learning continuous.
Data is often trapped in spreadsheets or reports that no one reviews. Yet every proposal, invoice, and logged hour hides insights about what truly drives profit and client satisfaction. When firms start treating data as an asset, they can price more accurately, forecast workload, identify bottlenecks, and make hiring or sales decisions backed by evidence — not guesswork.
Software companies don’t reinvent the wheel each time — they iterate. AEC firms can follow suit by productizing parts of their service: standardized feasibility studies, modular design packages, or repeatable coordination frameworks. This approach makes delivery faster, quality more consistent, and pricing easier to communicate — all while freeing teams to focus on innovation instead of repetition.
Transformation doesn’t come from adopting a single tool; it comes from creating a culture of experimentation. Start small — automate one proposal, test one AI workflow, pilot one feedback loop — and capture what you learn. Each experiment becomes a data point for better, faster decisions across the firm.
Most new tools fail not because of their features but because people don’t use them. Instead of forcing change from the top, firms can design adoption intentionally: understand user pain points, prototype new workflows, and launch gradual rollouts with early wins. Adoption isn’t a technical issue — it’s a human one.
The best tech companies run on shared dashboards — one version of the truth. AEC firms can achieve the same by connecting CRM, project management, and financial systems into unified views. When every department sees the same data, alignment and accountability emerge naturally.
Notion, Loop, Coda — Build a powerful knowledge directory accessible to everyone in the company.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) — Store client data and track relationships in a structured way.
MS Teams and Slack — Professional workspaces to organize projects in channels and consolidate all project information.
Google Sheets and Airtable — Data platforms that can feed and generate automated actions.
Zapier and Make — Automation tools that trigger actions such as emails or messages tied to your data.
Kanban — A method to make every team’s work visible and manageable.
Scrum — A 15‑minute daily check‑in to remove blockers and maintain focus.
OKR (Objectives and Key Results) — A framework to align objectives and create measurable results in three‑month cycles.
Running your firm like a tech company isn’t about turning architects into developers or engineers into coders. It’s about embracing the principles of continuous learning that drive the world’s most adaptable organizations: building feedback loops, acting on data, empowering teams, and treating change as a constant part of business.
In the end, the firms that thrive won’t be the ones with the newest software, but the ones that learn, iterate, and improve faster than the rest.