There has been a lot of interest about Agile in recent years, mainly due to the success in the IT industry; however there is a lot of interest in applying the Agile methods to other types of environment, not just IT. This conference uncovered some of the myths around Agile, discussed how Agile can be scaled to large complex projects, looked at case studies, talked about Lean Agile and fed back what governments think about Agile. The presentations sparked some interesting debates, even between the speakers, but soon some common themes started to emerge from each of the presentation. Agile is not a methodology – it is a way of thinking. There are Agile methods, ranging from project management methods to software development methods but the agile manifesto, which was mentioned almost be every speaker, does not actual prescribe anything. Being agile is not an excuse to avoid doing things, like planning and risk management. Being agile has a lot of parallels to Lean – you do what needs to be done, no more and no less. Agile is not new, Julius Caesar used agile, he just did not call it agile. There are a number of companies and projects who are agile, but did not realise it and jumped on the band wagon when a name was given to their behaviour. Agile is about giving your customer what they want, regardless of what it says in the contract - they have the right to change their minds. Agile is about people and collaboration, not the processes or tools although these do help to be more agile. After lunch, we had a presentation from Project Place and learnt about their latest collaboration tools, including KANBAN boards. The idea is not new, Toyota have been using them for decades, but they have been given a new digital face lift. Finally, thank you to our sponsors Project Place, DSDM and APMG, to the speakers for giving up the valuable time for free, and to Anna and Nigel for their support in pulling the event together.

1. Lean
Lean Construction
and Agile
Russell Batchelor

2. Content
 A bit about me
 Lean
 Lean Construction
 A comparison of Lean, Lean Construction and Agile
 Questions

3. A bit about me
 Contractors engineer
 London Underground
 BAA
− Sir John Egan
− CIPP
− Rethinking Construction
− Stansted Phase 2
− Terminal 5
− Heathrow East Terminal (Terminal 2A)
 Jacobs
− Highways Agency Lean Efficiency Support
− Highways Agency Accelerated Delivery

4. The term ‘LEAN’ was coined by Dan Jones & Jim
Womack to describe the difference between MASS
Production and a new manufacturing approaches
developed in Japan
Lean is a customer-focused philosophy of working that delivers
better results with less human effort, less space, less capital and
less time than traditional ways of working
“Getting value to flow at the pull of the customer, then seeking perfection”
What is lean?

5. Lean concepts
 Focus on customers
 Value
 Removal of waste
 Continuous improvement
 Respect for and empowerment of people

6. Value and Waste
Value is determined by the customer
Waste is anything which adds cost but adds no
value (from the perspective of the customer)

7. 8 fundamental wastes
 Rework
 Unnecessary production
 Unnecessary processing
 Inventory
 Waiting
 Unnecessary motion (people and material)
 Misuse of skills
 Goods and services that fail to meet user needs

8. Focus on the customer - value
 Customer Value eg for HA
− Taxpayer value for money
− Reliable journey times
− Dynamic and resilient assets
− Safe
− Sustainable
 Production Value
− Delivering customer value
− Better
− Safer
− Faster
− Cheaper
WHAT we deliver
(Product)
HOW we deliver it
(Production system)

9. What is lean construction?
 A production management based approach to project delivery
 A new way to design and build – concurrent design of the
product and the production system
 Changes the way work is done through the delivery process
 Based on the concepts of the lean production system
 Using techniques tailored to the specific challenge of
construction to improve the flow of value through reliable
release of work between design, supply and construction

10. Features of Lean Construction
 Production control
 Integrated teams and collaborative working
 Integrated and pre-assembled supply chains
 Focus on people
 Focus on continuous improvement

11. The challenge of construction
“to get the right people, materials, equipment
and information to the right place in the right
sequence at the right time, every time”

12. Production control
In order to do work many things (information, labour, plant and materials) need to
arrive at the right place at the right time in the right sequence. Production
Control is the means by which we manage these inputs, controls and resources
to achieve efficient delivery.
The Production Control toolkit consists of:
Work Planning - Gets the team to meet regularly to create Work Plans, by
using the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, and focus on making and keeping reliable
promises - say what we do, do what we say - measuring and learning as they go
Make Ready - Encourages the team to understand and remove the
blockers stopping them from doing work before starting the task at hand
Data Analysis - Uses measurement and learning to inform the areas to
improve performance and do process improvement
Plan Do Check Act
The Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle
At the appropriate time

13. Lean, Lean Construction and Agile
Lean and lean construction
Primarily a philosophy
Focus on customer value
Focus on eliminating waste
Integrated and collaborative teams
Daily and weekly planning by and at team level
Focus on improving task reliability and reduction of overall scheme duration
Agile
A conceptual framework
Focus on customer satisfaction
Focus on simplicity
Self organising teams
Close daily co-operation between all parties
Focus on speed and adaption to changing circumstances

14. This presentation was delivered at
an APM event
To find out more about upcoming
events please visit our website
www.apm.org.uk/events