Meet ISG Landscape Architect Mitch Workmon
At the office and project sites, you may know ISG’s Mitch Workmon as a quiet, calm, and driven landscape architect. At home, he tends to be a bit goofier while living off coffee to take care of his newborn. Keep reading to learn more about how Mitch strikes a great work-life balance and what made his personal bucket list!
What do you like most about working in the A/E industry?
I like creating, designing, problem solving, and collaborating as a team to provide a comprehensive solution. Spending countless hours working on a project and then finishing it is rewarding, but watching people use the space you designed is also incredibly gratifying.
It’s also exciting to see how the field continues to change over time and try to anticipate where it’s going in the future. In the short term, I see technology becoming integrated into outdoor environments that used to be relatively "technology-free," as well as the need and desire to have an abundance of flexible and multi-purposed spaces. In the more distant future, I see the driverless cars having an enormous impact in the A/E industry and beyond.
Describe a challenging project you have encountered since coming to ISG and how you solved it.
Lake Park Playground, an 18,000 sq. ft. play area, was challenging from a documentation, budget, technical design, and scheduling standpoint. We proposed multiple surface types, selected some existing equipment to remain, connected new equipment, and tried to make the budget go as far as we possibly could to enable a CD set and cost estimate that worked for our partner. Working with the City, we suggested opportunities to save money, proposed bid alternates, recommended work to be done at a later time, and researched the best products for the job. Knowing my strengths and weaknesses is so important. I was glad that I leaned on Amanda Prosser and Megan Tacheny to help make the project successful and put ISG's best foot forward for the client.
Who has had a significant influence on your career path and in what way?
My first significant influence, starting at a young age, was my dad. I remember growing up and watching him do a tremendous job of being a leader at his accounting firm, but when he walked through the door, he instantly became "Dad." Even during tax season when accountants have to grind out an enormous amount of work, he always made time for us and made it to all of our events for football, baseball, basketball, soccer, wrestling, and whatever else my siblings and I were doing at the time. He demonstrated how to be all-in at work, all-in at home, and how to balance life.
I can't say he had any influence on my specific career choice though, accountants and landscape architects don't have much in common. The design world was ingrained in me; I liked to draw, liked the outdoors, liked to create.
What do you do for your professional development?
The field of landscape architecture is an incredibly small community; just by making an effort to participate and inserting yourself into some of the professional events will go a long way. I attend various professional conferences, meetings, and social events. I have also spent time as a Director of Education and Professional Development for the American Society of Landscape Architects.
What is on your bucket list?
In no particular order:
- Catch a marlin
- Go elk hunting
- Get a hole-in-one
- Earn the title "Dad" (2019)
- Earn the title "Grandpa"
- Experience Alaska
- Attend a Royals World Series or Chiefs Super Bowl
- Celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary
- Hike to the top of a fourteener (2013)
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