Design-Build and Agile development

It seems that most industries have their own form of agile development methodologies. Manufacturing has lean manufacturing originally developed by Toyota. I just found out today that construction has something similar: Design-build which is in contrast to the traditional “design-bid-build”.

Categorized in: agile, design build, methodology, iterations

In the Design-Build construction methodology tasks are completed in overlapping fashion, like beginning construction while still designing the building. The comparison between software development and physical construction has often been used to argue against agile development practices in that “you can’t just add another story on a skyscraper”. Adding another story to a skyscraper might be a little tough, but finishing off the design by reacting on feedback of what has already been built is not too far off.

One of the key concepts of agile development is turning the agile triangle upside down. That means instead of starting off with a fixed set of features in a requirement specification (scope), instead the budget and time is locked. It seems this is also the case with Design-Build:

“Almost 70% of traditional contracts end up over budget, compared to D&B which is only around 25-30% over budget. The overage of a D&B project is generally owner driven, whereas the overage in the more traditional method tends to be a result of the budget disconnect to which many architects and other design professionals are prone.”

- Wikipedia: Design-Build

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