Mark van TatenhoveDirector and Founder| SAS Site AuditsHampton, Vic, Australia
Hi all, I am new to the PMI, having joined the Australian Institute of project management.
I have worked in the construction industry for around 30 years starting in design and then moving across to project management, which I have been doing for the last 15.
Last year as part of retraining myself, I became really interested in Agile, and did a Certified scrum master course.
The company I work for, is in the consulting space, doing wayfinding design, strategy and project management. I work in the PM side, delivering construction projects. Using waterfall.
We are looking at some of the Agile methodologies, to see what we can do to differently, to make us more flexible.
Any tips on how we could achieve this, and how we can change our culture to provide a better value proposition? Saving Changes...
Wade HarshmanScrum Master| GDITIndianapolis, In, United States
Mark, I'm fascinated by this question and I hope you'll share with us as you learn more. As many people here will tell you, "Agility" was not invented by the software industry, it was adapted to the software industry from other industries. I have a very strong interest in seeing how it can be re-adapted back into those industries.
"Agile Construction" is a brand that already exists. I don't know much about it, but I think it has more to do with process improvement and risk reduction. Like many applications of agility, it sounds very compatible to "Lean."
I've also read many case studies where construction managers used the Scrum framework with good results. I would love to actually witness this in person, but I haven't. In theory, it should not be incompatible with construction, if you have self-organized teams that work to meet short-term goals and communicate openly.
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1 reply by Mark van Tatenhove
Oct 06, 2019 5:54 AM
Mark van Tatenhove
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Hi Wade,
Typically in our environment, you have about 6 project managers, all working on individual projects. Some are working direct with clients delivering the design and construction of skysigns (these are the signs on top of skyscraper types of buildings) or the design and construction of small wayfinding signage packages - it might be for small add-on in a shopping centre as a result of the building works that we need to arrange for the design, construction and installation of the signage.
Other project managers will be working with builders, delivering architecturally designed signage packages. Ie I am working with a builder on the delivery of a wayfinding and statutory signage package that looks after 3 separate buildings on the one site. Part of the delivery process is broken down into small chunks, called seperate portions, and on this project there are about 30 of these. The builder is using waterfall as part of this proceeds
So in the office, everyone works in isolation, focussed on their projects. Not as a group as such.
From a delivery aspect we are not manufacturing everything and then installing, but making as a series and installing, them making the next series and installing.
I think what we want to try to do is get some collaboration going, and more discussion so that learnings from projects can be passed on sooner
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Mark
My career path is somehow similar to yours except that I have only 15 years of experience. I’ve been in the construction industry for many years and also was curious about how Agile mindset would work in Construction.
I started researching, reading, took many certifications and tried different frameworks and methodologies then ended up with the conclusion that due to the nature of the construction industry, a Hybrid Approach (Adaptive - Waterfall) works best and I found that the DSDM Agile Project Framework works great because it looks at the project from Initiation to Closure unlike scrum that focuses on the production part of the project. DSDM has all roles including business analysts. I advise you to take a look at it, you can find all info through AgileBusiness.org. It’s a UK based organization.
Hope this helps.
RK
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1 reply by Mark van Tatenhove
Oct 05, 2019 7:25 AM
Mark van Tatenhove
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Hi Rami,
I will have a look at this. There looks like that there some good videos on YouTube that would be good to listen to as well.
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
As other mentioned, Agile was not created for software domain. About construction, I used DSDM for construction project in 1999 and the project wons various international awards (it said nothing to me except something worked find). You can apply agile with waterfall withou problem. So, you have to take into account that Agile is totally independent of the project life cycle you will use. Saving Changes...
An agile mindset at the individual, team or organizational level can be applied to all work but specific agile methods, frameworks, practices and tools need to be adapted to fit the specific context of a given domain and project. For example, pair programming may be irrelevant to construction but non-solo work on high value/risk work packages may not be...
Kiron Saving Changes...
Mark van TatenhoveDirector and Founder| SAS Site AuditsHampton, Vic, Australia
Oct 04, 2019 11:08 AM
Replying to Rami Kaibni
...
Mark
My career path is somehow similar to yours except that I have only 15 years of experience. I’ve been in the construction industry for many years and also was curious about how Agile mindset would work in Construction.
I started researching, reading, took many certifications and tried different frameworks and methodologies then ended up with the conclusion that due to the nature of the construction industry, a Hybrid Approach (Adaptive - Waterfall) works best and I found that the DSDM Agile Project Framework works great because it looks at the project from Initiation to Closure unlike scrum that focuses on the production part of the project. DSDM has all roles including business analysts. I advise you to take a look at it, you can find all info through AgileBusiness.org. It’s a UK based organization.
Hope this helps.
RK
Hi Rami,
I will have a look at this. There looks like that there some good videos on YouTube that would be good to listen to as well.
...
1 reply by Rami Kaibni
Oct 05, 2019 3:39 PM
Rami Kaibni
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Sounds Good. Let me know if you have any questions.
there's an interesting presentation tomorrow at the Global Conference: "Agile PM: Applicability to Megaprojects" which I'm planning to attend.
If there are any worthwhile resources or tidbits coming out of that session, I'll post them afterwards.
Stay tuned!
Kiron
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1 reply by Kiron Bondale
Oct 06, 2019 9:22 PM
Kiron Bondale
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Mark -
Unfortunately, the session I attended did not provide any significant insights on tailoring agile to fit such projects over and above the feedback I'd initially provided.
Kiron
Saving Changes...
Mark van TatenhoveDirector and Founder| SAS Site AuditsHampton, Vic, Australia
Oct 04, 2019 9:27 AM
Replying to Wade Harshman
...
Mark, I'm fascinated by this question and I hope you'll share with us as you learn more. As many people here will tell you, "Agility" was not invented by the software industry, it was adapted to the software industry from other industries. I have a very strong interest in seeing how it can be re-adapted back into those industries.
"Agile Construction" is a brand that already exists. I don't know much about it, but I think it has more to do with process improvement and risk reduction. Like many applications of agility, it sounds very compatible to "Lean."
I've also read many case studies where construction managers used the Scrum framework with good results. I would love to actually witness this in person, but I haven't. In theory, it should not be incompatible with construction, if you have self-organized teams that work to meet short-term goals and communicate openly.
Hi Wade,
Typically in our environment, you have about 6 project managers, all working on individual projects. Some are working direct with clients delivering the design and construction of skysigns (these are the signs on top of skyscraper types of buildings) or the design and construction of small wayfinding signage packages - it might be for small add-on in a shopping centre as a result of the building works that we need to arrange for the design, construction and installation of the signage.
Other project managers will be working with builders, delivering architecturally designed signage packages. Ie I am working with a builder on the delivery of a wayfinding and statutory signage package that looks after 3 separate buildings on the one site. Part of the delivery process is broken down into small chunks, called seperate portions, and on this project there are about 30 of these. The builder is using waterfall as part of this proceeds
So in the office, everyone works in isolation, focussed on their projects. Not as a group as such.
From a delivery aspect we are not manufacturing everything and then installing, but making as a series and installing, them making the next series and installing.
I think what we want to try to do is get some collaboration going, and more discussion so that learnings from projects can be passed on sooner Saving Changes...
there's an interesting presentation tomorrow at the Global Conference: "Agile PM: Applicability to Megaprojects" which I'm planning to attend.
If there are any worthwhile resources or tidbits coming out of that session, I'll post them afterwards.
Stay tuned!
Kiron
Mark -
Unfortunately, the session I attended did not provide any significant insights on tailoring agile to fit such projects over and above the feedback I'd initially provided.
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