Dollar figures were similarly fuzzy. Everybody also was in a big hurry, thanks to the Mariners' demands that the park be ready for opening day, 1999. The response at NBBJ was to establish a core team of about 25 people who would work on nothing but the stadium. Forsyth said the entire team, including five new hires, was assembled at the outset to ensure that all members were fully involved and informed. This effort was helped tremendously by a simple expedient within NBBJ's design studio.
Communication is easy and continuous.
In fact the team members rely on conversations being overheard as much as being able to speak to each other directly. But the firm went beyond that. To make sure everyone was reading the same sheet of music, NBBJ paid for the whole ballpark team to fly to Denver for a look at Coors Field. And it bought them all tickets to the Mariners' season opener. So in the working drawing phase, people know why.