Thank you all for your reply and excellent suggestions. I placed an order on a few books. Looking forward to learning from them.
It seems like what I need to start focusing on is exactly as Ralph stated. I have to establish a clear design intent at the beginning of projects, and thanks Michael for expanding in great detail on the process of achieving that. I have a few questions about some of the processes that were listed but need to get back to work for now. I will make another post in a few days when I find some time to gather my thoughts. Thanks again!