 |
| Map of Switzerland http://www.solarnavigator.net/geography/switzerland.htm |
Recently an article on cenews.com about construction software neutrality caught my attention. Written by Dexter Bachelder and titled “A neutral platform enables the trust behind successful project management”, the article outlines how the selection of collaboration software on commercial construction projects can have a direct impact on the level of trust between project participants and the ultimate success of the project.
Mr. Bachelder notes that due to the historic tensions and conflicts in the industry (which I have also commented on in this blog, including in my recent post, “Happily Ever After”), project participants often enter the team environment in a defensive stance, limiting their information sharing from the beginning in anticipation of possible future conflict. This approach undermines trust and sets the stage for disputes to occur.
Participants in projects have found that having effective collaboration software can increase information sharing, thereby decreasing the possibility of disputes or miscommunications (see the FMI/CMAA survey cited in the cenews.com article). The article also notes that collaboration software operated by an independent or neutral third-party is more successful at building trust and improving information sharing. As the article states, “A neutral collaboration platform built around the principle of fair treatment for all, linking project partners on a single, secure, common platform, helps build trust among engineering and construction industry partners.”
I agree with this viewpoint, and I encourage design and construction firm leaders to consider the importance of neutrality when selecting software tools for their next project. Many organizations have existing project management or project information management systems, hosted and run off of servers in their offices. These solutions are effective tools for internal operations, but they do not fulfill the neutrality needs for truly effective collaboration across the entire project team. Some products have add-on web portal components that allow limited access to outside parties through a firewall, but this is not the same as a product that is built from the ground-up to be open and accessible to all project team members.
Instead, web-based collaboration software (also known as Integrated Project Collaboration, or IPC, software) is a truly neutral solution that allows all project team members to sit at the same virtual table, with equal access to critical project information and accountability for all parties. IPC software is embodiment of the neutral collaboration platform described in Mr. Bachelder’s article, and as more projects utilize it, the end result will be a higher level of trust among participants and a greater level of success for projects.
Posts
I received this comment on LinkedIn, I thought this was helpful to share.
ReplyDeleteKevin Rowe has just left a comment on your network update:
"Matt, I couldn't agree more. I have been explaining to all disciplines the need to share information. You have hit the nail on the head-most clients confuse their internals needs with the need to share information to the various members of a project. One of the challenges is the revolving nature of various projects. Very rarely is the same team on the same project over and over. The having to educate new team members is a challenge. In addition the decision of who manages the information on each project also revolves. The creation of a neutral software to collaborate has a huge liability tied to it until all of the information can be synchronized upon it's updating"