Interior Design Has a Project Management Problem

Interior design has become increasingly sophisticated.

The visuals are better. The software is better. The products are easier to discover. Studios can work internationally, collaborate remotely and present ideas to clients in ways that would have been impossible not very long ago.

And yet, behind many beautifully designed projects, the actual management of the project still looks something like this:

• The moodboard is in one place.
• The floor plans are somewhere else.
• Specifications live in a spreadsheet.
• The client approved the sofa over WhatsApp.
• The contractor has a different PDF.
• The invoice is buried in an email.

Someone changed the quantity of tiles, but nobody updated the budget.

And there are seven files called some variation of FINAL.

This isn’t a criticism of

designers. It’s a consequence of the tools available to them.

Interior design isn’t one workflow

A designer isn’t simply designing a room.

They’re simultaneously managing:

• the client
• the budget
• products and materials
• specifications
• drawings
• suppliers
• contractors
• architects and consultants
• orders