We have 2 project managers - one of whom is a principal and one who is an associate. Both participate a great deal in the design (doing more than half of it), and also do some (maybe a third) of all the production, as well as marketing. Others in the firm do a mix of design and production.
We are managing a lot more than 10 projects and don't use Microsoft Project, or any other Project Management software, except on the rare occasion that we for some reason want to create a visual chart for a client. I've worked in some larger firms in which management/scheduling software was used more consistently/successfully - more for keeping track of the staff than the projects themselves - but in our case I think it would only add extra tasks and not provide much actual benefit.
We tend to just keep a running list of active projects, the phases they're in, who is working on them, and when the deadlines are. This list is sometimes a hand-written document or sometimes an excel form - but it doesn't matter much.
If we appear to be heading for trouble (whether a deadline crisis or underutilization of staff) then we shuffle people (and once in a rare while the deadlines) We don't really have big office meetings about project management/staff allocation - most meetings are about specific projects, involve only those people working on that project, and even then there aren't a lot of meetings.

my advice to people , don't work in a small office more than 4 years unless you are made a partner of some sort.

I think I work in the most disorganized firm in the world. We have 2 principals, 3 project managers and 3 to 5 intern/drafing staff. Everybody manages their own projects, even the intern/drafting people. The intern staff usually has one of the principals looking over their shoulder. We don't use any management software, frequently we don't know what others are working on. It seems like we only have staff meetings when I make such a fuss that the principals are sick of my nagging, so that equates to 6 or so staff meetings every year. We used to have weekly staff meetings but they became unproductive. In the past, before the economy slowed, we had twice as many people and there was more heirarchy and more organization. But with so few people and the size of our workload (2 or 3 $5-$10 million projects and 20 - 30 small retail, tenant, renovation, miscellaneous at any given time), it doesn't make much sense to have layers of staff. There's just not enough work to justify a PM delegating work to others. We all do everything except marketing.

Mum, I can asure you that you are not working in the most disorganized firm in the world.

There's only one firm which really qualifies for that title and that is OMA.

How so .nl?

I just looked at their website. Is it just me or is it totally incoherent?

Well this happened just a couple of months ago, OMA's financial director almost got away with $800.000 office money, they got him but the money is gone for sure

It really depends on where you work. Some firms marginalize PM's to just doing paperwork and redlining. I work as a PM at a very small firm, and get far more design input (sometimes more than I want to have) than when I was at a previous firm as a "design intern". It is a different type of design, where you control more of the detail and specifics after the big idea has come and gone. Personally I find it much more rewarding.

kn825 - do you use any PM software? Any specific methods of keeping track of projects? Gantt charts? Spreadsheets? Are you managing multiple projects at once? How do you keep track of who is doing each part of the project?

Anyone else have any input?

just pick up anything by
tufte

take the course...u will throw out gantt.....

on my way,
I use Microsoft Project for gannt charts, but just to make a pretty schedule in order to satisfy the client. Unfortunately, I'm usually just cramming the whole project into a unrealistic schedule that has been pulled from the air by the architect (or to cover for them sitting on the project to long). MS Project does have the capibility to track things tightly with graphic breakdowns. For my limited uses it works well, and is easy to use.

Im pretty new at the whole PM thing, but I use Microsoft Project for all our scheduling, not just for the graphic part. I have three projects for right now, and its been very tricky juggling all of them. My best method right now involves three pieces of paper taped up next to my desk with lists of everything that needs to be done on each project. I forsee myself having to come up with something more sustainable though.
So far Ive had to draw most everything myself (we're very small), so its resulted in some long hours.

there is a discussion board on the tufte web site regarding gant/project and alike. being a pm does not have to be boring as the thread topic implied nor does it have to have us loose our creative visual skills and limit ourselves to contractor tracking tools.

interesting points on this discussion link of tufte's
Project Management Graphics or Gantt Charts discussion thread.

Project management is more than just producing schedules. The project schedule is usually done by me (by hand) and then our admin puts it into Microsoft Project. The most important thing to remember is to document everything! don't matter if you're in a sm r lrg firm. Most PM's where I work, do everything. From "design direction" to CA. I am a firm believer in being able to do everything in an office. If your goal is to go out on your own at any point, you have to do this. Later you can hire someone to do the tasks you like least.

Hmm nice topic and not so banal.

I work in an office with 3 architects, 1 intern that constantly needs assistance, 2 QS, a clerk and a arch teck. The architects do their own project management, production and design.

I like take my designs through to project management (I'm an architect not a draftsman). I'm not so keen on people changing design aspects during construction - admin orders are usually the death of any project.

2 major things I've noticed and appreciate. Gannt charts are usual for monitoring contractors but should come from them directly. The other is that it helps to have someone else manage the finances whether internally in the office or on the projects - allows more time for creativity.