Is There a Future for Agile in Construction?
Is there a future for Agile in construction? Most opinions I’ve heard to date were either “No” or “Yes, but partial.” There was never a solid “Yes” as an answer. As for me, currently, I am going with the “Yes, but partial” answer, but I am still open to a solid “Yes” in the future.
Before I go any further, it is worth mentioning that Chathuranga et al. (2023) identified five agile practices that drive agile adoption in the design stage of building construction projects. Those practices are “maintaining a backlog,” “running sprints,” “engagement of cross-functional teams,” “facilitating continuous integration,” and “iterative and incremental design development.” They found that those practices along with the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) solutions, enable the architectural consulting firm in their case study to adopt agile in their work.
It is important to emphasize that the adoption of agile by the firm was still limited to the design stage of a construction project. The use of BIM solutions also has a significant role in the adoption of agile. Other than that, the research was also conducted in a single company, so its generalizability might be low. However, their research can still be used as a foundation for similar research in a different type of construction company or project. It can still be used to support the “Yes, but partial” answer we discussed at the beginning.
“Tailoring” is key in the adoption process. Because, as we can see from the agile practices above, there is no single methodology or framework used in the case study. Rather than implementing a whole body of methodology or framework, the adoption of agile in construction will be better executed by selecting the most appropriate practices (Chathuranga et al., 2023).
Earlier research conducted by Žužek et al. (2020) also shared a similar conclusion regarding the importance of tailoring. In their case study, which is a company specializing in wire harness manufacture, the adoption of agile was also done by selecting the practices that were suitable to the needs of the company. The practices they identified shared similar traits with the practices identified by Chathuranga et al. (2023) which highlight engagement, collaboration, and iteration.
At this point, the “Yes, but partial” adoption of agile in construction projects is rather obvious, now or in the future. With more companies looking for the benefit of a result-oriented and adaptive way of working, the future of agile in construction might be brighter than we think. However, “tailoring” alone will not be sufficient.
Another key aspect to consider is “modularity.” Different from “tailoring,” the primary concern of “modularity” is the product or, in particular, the nature of the product. It is one of the main differences between construction projects and the projects where agile originates, i.e. software projects. While any software can be made to be modular, the opposite applies to buildings or any other type of construction. Careful considerations need to be made to achieve modularity.
The importance of “modularity” in adopting agile is shown in the research conducted by Varl et al. (2020). In their case study, which involved a one-of-a-kind manufacturing company, they presented an extensive transformation of the product development process according to agile principles. It reduced the number of engineering changes in the product development process within the company from 613 in 2016 to 431 in 2018, while the number of projects stayed almost the same for the same years. According to them, ensuring a modular design structure is crucial in establishing a robust and agile one-of-a-kind product development process.
Going back to construction, both “tailoring” and “modularity” should play a key role in the agile adoption process. With “tailoring,” we can select the most suitable agile practices for each company, client, project, or any relevant context. With “modularity,” those agile practices can go further than the design stage towards the actual production stage. When that happens, a solid “Yes” for the adoption of agile in construction projects should be feasible.
REFERENCES
- Chathuranga, S., Jayasinghe, S., Antucheviciene, J., Wickramarachchi, R., Udayanga, N., & Weerakkody, W. S. (2023). Practices driving the adoption of agile project management methodologies in the design stage of building construction projects. Buildings, 13(4), 1079. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13041079
- Varl, M., Duhovnik, J., & Tavčar, J. (2020). Agile product development process transformation to support advanced one-of-a-kind manufacturing. International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, 33(6), 590–608. https://doi.org/10.1080/0951192X.2020.1775301
- Žužek, T., Gosar, Ž., Kušar, J., & Berlec, T. (2020). Adopting agile project management practices in non-software SMEs: A case study of a Slovenian medium-sized manufacturing company. Sustainability, 12(21), 9245. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12219245
