Technology is Cool, Collaboration is Better

When it comes to utilizing technology in the construction business, I'm a little ambivalent. On the one hand, I consider myself an early adopter of technology (for a construction guy anyways) who can't have enough Google apps and online social networking tools. On the other hand, I'm a firm believer in the Toyota Way principle of "Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes." I'll often get all excited about some new project management software, only to be reminded that many of my project stakeholders don't have work computers or aren't too proficient at using even basic software. It's a major barrier that we must overcome in the construction industry, because there are some technology tools that could serve our people and processes well.

While this technology barrier won't be eliminated in the short-term, I still plan on utilizing technology tools whenever and wherever I can on my projects. For example, one tool in the pipeline that I'm really excited about is Google Wave. If you haven't heard anything about it yet, you can check out this long demo video here or a good assessment from a construction industry perspective here.

I really think that Wave can be a powerful means of developing project knowledge and building consensus among the project stakeholders. While I love the technology, it's the focus on collaboration that really appeals to me, not the tool itself. Even if I can never convince any project stakeholders to get on-board with Wave or other tech tools, the focus on collaboration can still be a constant part of the projects I manage.

By that, I specifically mean that I can treat project planning as a collaborative activity. If you think about it, building a project plan is nothing more than building a common base of knowledge and agreement that all project stakeholders can refer to throughout the project. The project plan is the standard by which the project will be managed, and as with any standard, the people involved with the work must lead its development. This is why Google Wave has the potential to be a powerful collaboration tool; it efficiently allows anybody we designate to contribute to the knowledge base and have a say in the project planning process, real-time and with rich multimedia communication. It's an awesome tool!

That being said, Wave is by no means the only collaboration tactic available to us. If we have folks with limited tech skills, as we often do in the construction industry, we can always fall back on more low-tech solutions. A face-to-face meeting, properly facilitated, is still an excellent approach. Regardless, the format is not what's most important; it's the end result that matters.

So, while I'm all for the construction industry shedding its Luddite past, and even though I'm tremendously excited about Google Wave, I think it's much more important for us to first start seeing collaborative project planning as a "must-have," not a "nice-to-have" element of construction management. While some folks, like proponents of the Last Planner system, have been actively promoting collaborative construction management methods for years now, a huge majority of builders still defer to the old-school "boss man" archetype. This has to change. No amount of technology will be enough if we fail to make this philosophical leap to collaborative planning.

Old-School Vertical Hierarchies

As the saying goes, I wasn't born in Texas, but I ran here as fast as I could. When I arrived, I found that the Lone Star State produces some fine beer, specifically, Shiner beer...

While I could go on all day about the merits of Shiner Hefeweizen compared to the original Shiner Bock, that's not really the point of the above photo.  What I want to discuss is how folks on large-scale construction jobs view the relationships between the prime contractors, secondary contractors, sub-contractors, and so on.  

Typical Construction Industry Approach

In case you haven't figured it out yet, the construction industry typically views sub-contractor relations like the above photo...with each contractor dominating the one below it and being subservient to the one above it.  An old-school rigid, vertical hierarchy.  This is based on standard construction practice, which typically involves a contractor doling out aspects of the work to sub-contractors.  In this arrangement, the contractor is viewed as the customer and the sub-contractor is viewed as the provider of the product or service.  This is an external customer relationship, and it's repeated over and over again at each level of the hierarchy, so you can have dozens of external customer relationships on a job site.  How fun!  A bunch of people showing "respect" for their boss man above them.  Old school mentality.

The Lean Approach

From a Lean perspective, I would say a collaborative model would be more effective than a rigid vertical hierarchy.  If you've read Gemba Kaizen, then you know about the inverted pyramid that places management below the gemba (the place where the real work is done) in a support role.  Essentially, the gemba is viewed as the internal customer of management, and I would say that prime contractors should view their sub-contractors as their internal customers.  They should support them, not threaten them with punitive actions.  They should identify and solve problems, not pass the buck just because the contract says they can.

Your thoughts?  I'd be interested in learning if other traditional industries are as "old-school" in their relationships with vendors/suppliers.  How would you rank your industry's level of collaboration on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being a rigid, vertical arrangement and 10 being a progressive, Gemba Kaizen-like approach?

All I know is that until the construction industry embraces Lean thinking and begins working more collaboratively, we'll be doomed to mindless obedience and endless frustration.  Thank goodness we have beer.