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How about going back to the genesis of project management? “Project management” is ultimately very strongly associated with the world of construction.
This dates to the Renaissance and to major works, especially in Florence, Italy, when the Dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore was created. Everything then accelerated in 1860 with the creation of the transcontinental railway in the United States.
Since then, management processes and methods have developed (Critical Path Method, Program Evaluation Review Technique, Gantt charts, etc.) and been applied to many other sectors. They have continued to evolve, become more sophisticated, and gained in agility to meet ever-increasing constraints in terms of quality, deadlines, and cost. Now that there are many tools to support construction project management, there are a few critical points to remember to be successful.
Have a project schedule and stick to it
The planning stage and the development of the schedule, including all the tasks, resources, deliverables, and milestones of the project, is essential.
Having a project schedule within the framework of construction project management makes it possible to allocate resources to the various tasks. It also makes it possible to monitor the progress of the work and know how to anticipate delays and risks (human factors, budgetary, material, technological and organisational) to prevent the project from losing momentum, at the risk of increasing the final invoice.
The technological advances of recent decades, in particular, the possibilities associated with the use of cloud computing as well as project and task management software being accessible via web browsers and on remote devices (smartphone, computer, tablet, etc.), allow for extremely collaborative and agile project management.
With a good project management tool, all tasks are assigned, all documents and histories are archived and kept, and all deadlines are clear and visible to all project stakeholders.
Establish a single source of truth
The schedule is important for the macro and micro view of a project, but it is also necessary to be able to follow the progress in real time to have a realistic view of things, at all times. To do this, it is essential to move away from “compartmentalising” operating modes by making the data available to all relevant stakeholders in a common and unique space that centralises all of the project information and data. All tools, platforms, and tech should ideally communicate so that information flows smoothly and is reliable for everyone.
In this sense, the document management system of a construction project is critical to mastering the timing of the project.
Instead of dispersing the elements, centralising the flow of information, communications, and documents within a same space (common data environment) will create a single source of truth that makes it possible and easy to determine the real progress of things, at any time.
Foster collaboration without borders
Good management of a construction project involves successfully coordinating all of the stakeholders involved. This means that collaboration should be fluid and efficient.
The tools must be easily accessible on the move by each member of the project and/or partner, whether on the site or in the offices. Collaboration systems must be fluid, but also secure. Good management of user rights must also be defined and implemented.
Combine quality and planning
As part of quality management, having an effective monitoring process resolves nonconformities as they arise and therefore avoids crippling errors for the project.
It is therefore important to be able to integrate the quality management dimension into your project by working with a software that addresses it and also by assigning, from the planning stage, tasks associated with the management of defects on the site. This allows any issues to be identified and resolved much faster.
Monitor the productivity of your teams
As construction projects are very complex and involve a multitude of actors, it is essential to have productivity monitoring to avoid blocking elements.
Once a project has started, it is important to regularly monitor the progress indicators, such as the speed of completion and the quality of execution. Having tools to track the progress of field tasks at all times is key to being able to anticipate adjustments as quickly as possible and avoiding any delays or construction faults.
In addition, it is important to provide transparency by sharing these indicators with the people involved in the project so that everyone can have a good understanding of how the project is progressing. A project is more likely to be successful if everyone is aware of what needs to be done to avoid mistakes or delays. Adopting a solution that makes it possible to monitor field performance and project progress in a macro way, while also offering project management and collaboration functionalities (control checklist, common data environment, collaborative apps, etc.) is essential for effective construction project management.
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