Building Information Modelling with Scrum
Building Information Modeling (BIM) involves creating a 3D model based on a building’s architectural, engineering, and construction data. As the project progresses through its phases, the information and the model evolve accordingly. This requires strong collaboration among stakeholders to develop and manage the BIM execution plan, ensuring it aligns with the project’s engineering, procurement, and critical construction timelines.
This presents an opportunity to apply iterative and incremental project management approaches, particularly for engineering and BIM. While the construction phase benefits from predictive project management, the engineering and BIM aspects can be more effectively managed using agile practices, especially the Scrum framework, which is flexible and not tied to any specific domain.
ScrumBIM explores how to synchronize architectural, engineering, construction, and BIM execution plans using the Scrum framework, aiming to maximize value for all project stakeholders.
Let us start with the key challenges faced while introducing BIM before dwelling deep into solving many of theese issuing with Scrum framework adapted to BIM.
- Adaptation to Workflow: Integrating BIM into existing project management and design workflows can be challenging, especially if the company has been using traditional methods for a long time.
- Inertia in Traditional Practices: Many industry professionals are used to traditional 2D drafting methods and may resist adopting the more complex BIM tools.
- Collaboration Challenges: BIM is designed to improve collaboration, but cultural and organizational silos may hinder effective teamwork, especially among contractors, architects, and engineers.
- Model Complexity: As the BIM model grows, managing its complexity and ensuring that all elements are up-to-date can become a significant challenge.
- Transition Period: During the transition to BIM, companies may experience temporary inefficiencies or disruptions in project delivery, which can affect timelines and budgets.
- Ownership and Liability: BIM models involve multiple stakeholders contributing data. This raises questions about intellectual property, data ownership, and legal liability, especially when issues arise during construction or after project completion.
- Contract Complexity: The legal framework for BIM is still evolving, and existing contracts may not be equipped to address BIM-specific issues such as model ownership, data sharing, and accuracy of the model.
- Multi-disciplinary Coordination: BIM requires seamless communication and collaboration between different disciplines (architecture, engineering, construction, etc.), which may not always happen smoothly.
- Real-Time Collaboration: While BIM promises real-time collaboration, it can be challenging to synchronize updates and ensure all parties are working with the most recent version of the model.
- Geographical Barriers: For global projects, coordinating BIM efforts between teams across different locations and time zones adds complexity.
- Compliance with Building Codes: BIM models need to be aligned with local and international building codes, zoning laws, and other regulatory requirements, which can vary significantly from one jurisdiction to another.
