www.sketchup.com
5.0 Summary and further reading
The tech industry has and continues to put large amounts of effort into optimizing the
process of delivering software. These Agile processes are often very micro in focus,
looking at how to get the most out of small teams of engineers.
Although the building industry is also frequently looking at delivery mechanisms, the
focus is typically at the macro level – how project teams and contracts are organized
(IPD, Design-Build, etc) rather than at the micro-level of how individual teams are
managed.
However, this does not mean that issues are different. Software businesses also deal
with vast, sprawling teams, often connected to the same project, providing specialist
roles within it. In these projects, software project managers often have rolled-up insight
into the Agile processes of all teams involved in order to map out dependencies and
reduce overruns. Could this be the future of integrated project teams?
Huge amounts of literature exist documenting in intricate detail variations and
alternatives to the processes described in this paper (5), (6), (7). The goal is merely to
provoke thought and consideration as to how lessons could be learned from the
software industry to improve the effectiveness of MEP design teams.
12
