Building RDG’s Practice Innovation Program | Ron Heims of RDG

Ron Heims has spent his entire career at RDG Planning and Design, moving from architect to IT director to his current role as Director of Practice Innovation. It’s a role dedicated to a question many AEC leaders are sitting with: who is actually responsible for making the firm better at how it works? In this episode of the Smarter by Design podcast, Christopher Parsons talks with Ron about what a practice innovation program looks like from the inside. The conversation explores how Ron discovers and prioritizes innovation projects across a firm with too many good ideas, how he uses process mapping to diagnose undocumented workflows before any technology gets involved, and how he brings people with competing opinions together to build consensus around a better way forward. Ron also explains how RDG decides when to buy software and when to build it, and how he and his team have developed a suite of custom tools tailored specifically to RDG's workflows, including a project management platform built with agentic coding tools that connects project teams to RDG's Synthesis intranet knowledge in the flow of work. A big part of what makes the innovation program work is what happens after a tool gets built. Ron talks about his approach to change management and adoption, including how he keeps early adopters close, responds to feedback quickly, and creates the conditions for people to actually want to change how they work. Building better tools is one challenge. Getting them adopted across a multi-office firm is another problem entirely, and Ron has learned a lot about both. If you lead or manage an AEC firm and you sense that someone should be focused on innovation on a more dedicated basis, this episode is for you. ## **Guest** Ron Heims, Director of Practice Innovation at RDG Ron Heims is a Principal and the Director of Practice Innovation at RDG Planning & Design, a multi-disciplinary design firm. With over 30 years of experience leading technology initiatives, Ron has been instrumental in shaping the firm’s forward-thinking approach to integrated design and digital transformation. His leadership bridges the gap between practice and technological advancement, driving strategies that elevate collaboration, efficiency, and innovation across disciplines. Ron’s passion lies in leveraging emerging technologies to enhance design outcomes and future-proof the firm’s operations in an ever-evolving industry. ## **Credits** Host: Christopher Parsons Executive Producers: Denise Parsons, Christopher Parsons Editor: Coe Hoeksema Theme Song: “We Took the BART” — Written and Performed by The Parents ## **Chapters** (00:00) Welcome and Episode Recap (02:46) From Architect to Director of Practice Innovation (04:46) Defining Practice Innovation (07:48) Building the Receipts App (14:02) Process Mapping and Prioritization (18:53) Project Pando: Standardizing Project Management (26:19) Driving Adoption With Simple, Intuitive Tools (29:15) Adding a Project Assistant and Lessons Learned (31:05) Why Off-the-Shelf Tools Fell Short (34:17) From Tinkering with AI Tools to Building Agents (38:12) Durable Build vs Buy (42:36) Replacing Tools and Managing Risk (45:24) MCP Integrations and Project Brain (52:05) Roll-Out and Change Management (55:04) Handling Feedback and Saying No (58:17) Advice for Getting Started (1:01:13) Innovation Role and Maintenance