Identification of the Need for Agile Methodologies in Construction Projects Design Management

Abstract

Recent studies showed that most employees occupy “Meaningless Jobs”, due to poor interaction and deprivation of sensing the working outcome of jobs, especially in the design phase of the construction and urbanism project. However, recent studies proved the need for employees’ engagement with different stakeholders to increase productivity and optimize work performance. Although various industries have adopted the Agile Project Management (APM) approach, the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) industry might not be ready for APM, due to traditional Human Resources Management Systems. Thus, this research aims to identify the need for Agile Methodologies in the EPC industry and to propose APM philosophies and methodologies that might fulfill those needs. The methodology is based on two parts. The practical part includes performing a social survey on the design engineers of the EPC to quantify meaningless jobs. The second part includes a comparative analysis of the needs of the EPC industry against Agile adequacies, in addition to analyzing case studies where applying APM was a success in both EPC and Software industries. The analysis is based on reviewing relevant literature and its statistical findings. The research concludes that the majority of the survey subjects occupy a meaningless job. Meanwhile, their needs can be addressed by applying Agile Methodologies, similar to the shift that occurred in the Software industry. Finally, the paper discusses the high affinity and potential of the EPC industry to adopt APM in design phases.