Agile project management for construction

Agile can work well in various stages of construction project management, whether managing the development of particular team members, avoiding cost overruns or looking at resource requirements in real time, an Agile approach can help through the different phases of the project lifecycle, such as the design phase, project planning and development. Agile methodologies can look at sprints and smaller deliverables, continuous improvement and milestones overall, resulting in improved communication between all stakeholders throughout the project delivery, improving decision making and handling potential uncertainties such as supply shortages or bad weather. The Agile manifesto is about quick decision making, smaller workloads and iterative processes across teams. Lean however looks at the flow overall to assess, identify, target, and deliver on customer value while streamlining workflows in order to maximize productivity.

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Agile delivery of capital projects

By: Holly Welles on November 20th, Construction project management is not a one-size-fits-all practice. Managers and supervisors will change their practices to suit a specific job site, but some approaches continue to be favorites regardless of time, distance or specific need.

What are the most popular project management approaches in the construction industry, and why are they essential? In the military, a well-known saying states that no plan survives contact with the enemy. Construction companies might not be facing enemy forces on the job site, but there are still plenty of obstacles to overcome to keep things moving smoothly.

The focus here is adaptability. The most significant challenge in agile project management is the need for skilled supervisors who can stay one step ahead of any project changes while working to keep everything on track. Without that supervisory scaffolding, an agile construction site risks falling apart at the seams.

When successful, agile project management is one of the most versatile options, and that makes it so sought-after. Lean project management loosely derives from lean manufacturing principles, which help optimize production while reducing waste.

It also focuses on eliminating waste in its many forms , from defects and design failures to overproduction and even downtime. On a construction project, time is money, and lean project management recognizes that challenge. It is not the most straightforward management approach to adopt, requiring a lot of time, patience and sometimes a rather significant investment of both money and training time to get it off the ground.

Also known as traditional project management, this is a favored approach often used in the construction industry. Understanding this approach to project management is as simple as observing a waterfall. Gravity causes the water to flow downstream. So, too, does progression when following a waterfall project management approach. Team members must complete each step of the waterfall before progress can overflow and start to work on the next step.

While it can be a valuable tool for construction site efficiency because it keeps the entire team on a single task at once, it can extend deadlines if used excessively. It is still one of the time-tested forms of project management in the construction industry. This old-school style of project management identifies necessary tasks as part of a larger chain. At a glance, a project manager can tell what needs to happen, when it needs to get finished and what might throw a wrench in the works and prevent completion.

This highly structured system also makes it easier to guarantee efficiency and productivity. The downside of critical path management is that it mimics the chain mentioned above. If one link fails, the rest of the chain falls to the ground. It lacks the flexibility and adaptability of some of the other project management approaches on this list. No two construction projects will ever be alike, even if they come from the same blueprints.

As such, project management is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Construction management supervisors need to evaluate each project to determine which approach will work best. Jobs that are likely to see many last-minute changes might benefit from an agile approach, as long as a skilled team is available to manage them.

Projects where quality is a higher priority than deadlines work best under a lean model, and ones where construction efficiency is the most crucial detail are best under waterfall or critical path systems. Choose the one that works best for each situation.

Holly Welles is a freelance writer who covers construction and real estate innovations for publishers across the web, including NCCER and Constructible. She also runs her own residential real estate blog, The Estate Update.

General Contractors. Digital Bid Board. Organize all your project leads and bid invites online. Prioritize and manage your project pipeline. Top 10 Projects. Economic Resources. Construction Estimating Survival Kit. United States. Categories Follow Us Subscribe. Agile Project Management In the military, a well-known saying states that no plan survives contact with the enemy. Lean Project Management Lean project management loosely derives from lean manufacturing principles, which help optimize production while reducing waste.

Select a Project Management Approach That Adapts to Your Needs No two construction projects will ever be alike, even if they come from the same blueprints.

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Agile Construction Management

In this post, we are discussing the concepts, examples, and implementation of Agile project management in the construction industry. We have recently published an article for Lean construction which has characteristics similar to APM. Organizations that have a flexible development process that can respond to the rapid change of economies are one way of competing. Agile project management is a technique that enhances the ability of a team or organization to react to these changes. APM differs from the traditional project management techniques, it is mostly focused on managing the customer needs and ever-changing requirements by using short development cycles, continuous change, and adaption throughout the project life cycle. It is commonly seen that during the design phase of the project the requirements of clients keep changing if the timeline of the project gets longer.

AN INTRODUCTION TO AGILE. Materials taken from Agile Practice Guide joint funded by Agile Alliance ® © Project Management Institute, Inc (PMI).

Concept of Agile Project Management In Construction Industry

In the early s we had to present the two-week lookahead schedule during the weekly progress review meetings. The two-week lookahead schedule which was based on the latest updated level 4 schedule required the Contractor to detail the activities that are planned for the upcoming two weeks. The first week would list all confirmed activities that will be either started, progressed, or completed whereas the second week would list all tentative activities to be started, progressed, or completed. For each activity, there was a need to assign the project team member who will be responsible for the activity as well as the expected completion date. During the meeting, the assigned project team members will confirm if there are any obstacles or approvals that could impact the progress of the confirmed activities. The two-week look ahead report will also list all activities during the elapsed week. PMWeb will digitally transform this process to improve the collaboration and visualization of tasks that need to be performed.

What is an Agile Approach, Agile Pitfalls in Construction Industry?

agile project management for construction

While Industry Revolution 4. The use of efficient project management software in the modern world is increasing in order to achieve organizational objectives. There are several software in market that being used by people in the idustry, but the satisfaction and opinion of the users need to be clarify. The objectives of this research is to identify the implementation of project management software PlanGrid and ZenTao, to analysed the advantages and disadvanatges of the two software. To develop a theoretical basis for this study, literature related to the experiences and lessons learned in the project management software and application was reviewed.

Get complimentary access here. Agile project management integrates an iterative approach to your project planning process.

Awareness and Prospects of Agile Project Management in the Ghanaian Construction Industry

Traditional project management involves very disciplined and deliberate planning and control methods. With this approach, distinct project life cycle phases are easily recognisable. Tasks are completed one after another in an orderly sequence, requiring a significant part of the project to be planned up front. For example, in a construction project, the team needs to determine requirements, design and plan for the entire building, and not just incremental components, in order to understand the full scope of the effort. Traditional project management assumes that events affecting the project are predictable and that tools and activities are well understood.

Lean and agile with Lean Construction

With construction projects, waste of materials, time, and labor is a big issue. Rework delays construction progress and pushes up costs. But no company can afford, or is willing to tolerate, chaotic construction processes any more. Faster, better, more efficient: companies are increasingly applying the rules of their core business as a principle for their construction and real estate projects. Construction departments in industrial manufacturing companies are among those discovering agile and lean methods for planning and implementing their construction projects.

Agile design management can be used to overcome a multitude of obstacles to the working and project routine. The agile planning method was first used in.

Types of Project Management: Methodologies, Industries, and More

Removing waste results in improved efficiency but also applies to reduction of waiting time in a project, space optimization, etc. Customization reduces ease of maintenance during the lifecycle as it increases the need for specialized training of operational personnel. Yokogawa's Functional Design Standards provide the basis of design in all projects, and maximize the utilization of standard functionality.

How can Agile Project Management be applied in the construction industry

Agile project methods and construction management do not make a good pair together as the Agile development started in the software industry and rotate around continuously to check and adapt the outputs as per the changes in the market. Without the same pressures as physical buildings, the software can be built and destroy with considerable flexibility. Buildings have to follow more definite procedures such as the third floor can only be built when the second one is strong enough. Agile construction management offer benefits in construction to use them appropriately.

As we previously highlighted, it is difficult to fully integrate Agile project management practices into construction projects due to its linear nature, extremely complex dependencies, and extensive use of outsourced services.

Lean product development and agile project management in the construction industry

Agile project management can be applied to almost any large scale project in any industry, including construction. Agile asks you to first think of a project at a strategic level, then break it down into tasks. This practice of segmenting a project into bite-sized chunks helps ensure frequent and consistent delivery. It also enables you to structure any project to be more adaptive to changes. You can easily break this schedule down into two- to four-week sprints or intervals. Perhaps the first sprint will be preparing and laying the foundation.

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  1. Ditilar

    initially guessed ..