Design-Build and Agile development

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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”.

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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Anders Toxboe Author

Based out of Copenhagen, Denmark, Anders Toxboe is a Product Discovery coach and trainer, helping both small and big clients get their product right. He also founded UI-Patterns.com and a series of other projects. Follow Anders at @uipatternscom.

7 comments

  • Online OSHA Training on Oct 18, 2009

    Thanks for sharing the wiki link regarding Design-Build ..

  • logo design on Nov 05, 2009

    Good to read about this i was searching about agile development

  • canadian on Dec 06, 2009

    Agile development very nice

  • 招聘 on Jan 04, 2010

    Good to read about this i was searching about agile development

  • Correctional Healthcare on Jan 06, 2010

    You’ll definitely receive some very response on this article, it won’t surprise me if your article is bookmarked in huge numbers. :)

  • 广告联盟 on Feb 17, 2010

    Good to read about this i was

  • web development on Feb 10, 2011

    Excellent info, very nice to read to the information, this is a good article for beginners, now it is very easy to designs build.

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