Agile Project Management for Arabtec Construction

This assignment delves into the application of agile project management principles within the construction sector, specifically examining Arabtec Construction LLC. It analyzes the company's current practices and suggests recommendations for integrating agile methodologies, such as sprint planning, self-organizing teams, and continuous communication, to enhance project success.

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN ARABTEC
Project Management in Arabtec
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN ARABTEC
Table of Contents
1. Introduction..............................................................................................................2
2. The operational improvement direction (lean vs agile) of Arabtec Construction LLC
in terms of business goals that are sought to be achieved..........................................2
3. The current operations management system and analysis of the operational
capabilities of Arabtec Construction LLC.....................................................................4
4. Discussion of existing problems and weaknesses in the current operations
management system towards becoming leaner of agiler............................................4
5. Discussion of how the operations management system can be reoriented to be
able to achieve the business goals for the Arabtec Construction LLC........................8
6. Discussion of how the suggested changes should be implemented.....................10
7. Conclusion.............................................................................................................11
8. References............................................................................................................12

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1. Introduction
Arabtec Construction LLC is a construction firm based in UAE. They are
willing to enhance the business activities of their construction company. They have
decided to follow the agile project methodologies.
The report will focus on the operational improvement direction of Arabtec by
taking up the agile project management. The capabilities and the benefits that agile
project management can offer will be explained in the report. The problems that
Arabtec can offer will be highlighted as well. The procedures applying which the
current operations management can be embellished will be explained along with the
suggested changes.
2. The operational improvement direction (lean vs agile) of Arabtec
Construction LLC in terms of business goals that are sought to be
achieved
Lean and Agile project management can enhance the business activities of
Arabtec Construction LLC (Arabtec). Both the lean and agile methodologies have
certain similarities and the differences (Dyba, Dingsoyr and Moe 2014). There are
about five lean principles associated which can assist Arabtec to conduct the
business operations and those principles are a specific value, perfection, pull,
identification of the value stream and the flow. The value is identified based on the
customers’ wish or demand. Afterwards, once the value gets detected, the value
stream is defined by the non-value added actions, as well as the value-added
actions and the value stream, can be calculated by the product manufactured from
the scratch and reaching out to the hands of the customers. The value flow can help
to discriminate the value-adding activities, non-value adding activities and the
enablers (White and Fellow 2014). The non-value adding activities are eliminated
and after those value-adding activities getting eliminated the wastes get eliminated.
Later when the customer needs it, the value is handed over to the customer. There
are several types of lean wastes which must be removed for efficiently conducting
the business activities within Arabtec.
In the construction industry when excess production occurs, the excess
materials get accumulated, this excess production must be mitigated if possible, the
removal of this excess production can effectively reduce the cost of the production

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN ARABTEC
(Larson and Gray 2013). The lean project methodology is responsible for eliminating
the wastage of time, eliminates the waste time due to the various kinds of approvals.
Generally, lots of time gets wasted due to the transport of the construction materials
and parts of Arabtec. Thus the transportation facilities must be eased and the
transportation must be on the basis of JIT principle (Conforto et al. 2014). The
inventory wastes must be properly maintained that means the finished products and
the products that are under construction and the raw materials involved must be
taken into consideration as that can save dollars for the company. The defective
products or the defective materials that fail to meet the expectations of the
customers’ demands and thus it is considered as waste, thus the adoption of lean
project management can help Arabtec for good and removing the waste the
business operations of Arabtec can be embellished.
The agile project management can act as an effective tool for the
improvement of the business operations. There are various agile services and agile
values associated with the Agile Software Development -the individuals, the working
software, the user's collaborative approach, response (Schwalbe 2015). The
construction industry is evolving every day adopting new technologies and the new
tools. By adopting these new technologies, the stakeholders and the team members
can get their job done. The workings must be done in accordance with the
documents made and according to the customers’ demands and the customers’
requests (Serrador and Pinto 2015). The contract is made between the customer
and the builder of the construction industry. To make the communications smooth
with the customers, the builders must learn the LP system and should make
necessary changes in the project as per proposed by the customer. After the
discussion is made, the project must be completed as per the customers’ demands
and modifications should be made as per customers’ wishes. After getting approval
from the customers the builders must carry on their workings and finish the project.
After finishing the entire project, the project should be handed over to the customers
(Hoda and Murugesan 2016). In case of LP systems, weekly plans are made and
based on the plan, the employees must communicate with the customers regularly to
successfully accomplish the project goals.

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN ARABTEC
3. The current operations management system and analysis of the
operational capabilities of Arabtec Construction LLC
Arabtec by adopting the agile project management can get improved results,
the business activities and the construction activities of the organization can be
embellished. The project methodology can bring good in the civil construction,
concrete products, the contracting segments and the pre-casting buildings. All these
can provide them with the edge so that the Arabtec can get a strong position in the
construction market of Dubai (Lin et al. 2014). The adoption of agile project
management can cater them the value-added service like the design services to the
customers. The management of the company has also decided to share the wealth
of Arabtec with the shareholders of the company by giving away fifty percent of the
paid-up capital share to the public subscription. The company has also declared
thirty percent stock dividend (Kerzner 2013). They have planned to approve the
dividend policy which depends on the capital expenditure prerequisites, the bank
financing, and working capital. Arabtec can have the construction procedures, the
construction planning and the construction schedule. Generally, due to the delays
the construction cost increases, the labour costs increase too. The project
methodology can mitigate all these risks (Spundak 2014). The agile project
management can help Arabtec in furnishing the business activities thus Arabtec can
have the idea to complete the project at the right location at the right time within the
deadline and with right guidelines. The overruns and all the delays can affect the
project’s performance and that is why it can be concluded that the legal issues can
be solved due to the adoption of the project management and the construction
project eventually become successful (Conforto and Amaral 2016).
4. Discussion of existing problems and weaknesses in the current
operations management system towards becoming leaner of agiler
i. The true agile is practised on rare occasions: The Agile has the best
tools and the procedures incorporated and by following those principles any
enterprise can get immense benefits. The Agile project methodology is iterative, the
project methodology is very easy to adapt (Leach 2014). Thus Arabtec will have to
adapt the agile project methodology and will have to adapt to the methodologies to

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN ARABTEC
the fullest otherwise the business operations of the enterprise can get disrupted. The
employees of Arabtec will have to follow the guidelines strictly.
ii. Customer interaction is mandatory: The construction industry like
Arabtec needs to interact and communicate with the customers daily to detect
whether all the activities are getting performed according to their wish or demands.
The customer interaction is an absolute necessity for the agile methodology to
implement. The customer may be some higher officials may be CEO of any other
company who is always busy, but communication is mandatory, the customer or the
clients must monitor the activities closely and should approve everything is going
right, only after the approval Arabtec must continue with the work (Gonzalez 2014).
The interaction with the busy customers become hectic as well as getting approvals
from the customers from time to time can be hectic. However, they still have to
cooperate otherwise the entire project can become dispute and can fail completely
leading to huge loss of the company.
iii. The Agile project methodology goes well with the teams co-located
teams: The project management in the construction industry works well within office
premises, the team members conducting the in-house activities can get immense
benefits from the agile methodology. However, in case of the construction industry, it
is not possible to carry out the business operations in same locations, that is why the
Arabtec employees can face challenges adapting the agile methodology (Drury-
Grogan 2014). Arabtec can face difficulties while carrying out the business activities
at the national level or the international level. As a result of that, sometimes the
business operations can become quite costly.
iv. The agile methodology is difficult to adapt for the large projects: The
project methodology works well for the small projects, it goes well with the small
organization as well, however, Arabtec being a giant company can face problems as
different teams are working in different areas, even in different locations. A team is
working on a particular data, and the data has been generated by some other team
located in geographically dispersed location. That is why the team must
communicate among themselves (Laitinen 2016). Along with that, the agile project
methodology works well within a small location, within the office premises, Arabtec
can face difficulties due to the construction works at the dispersed locations. Thus it

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN ARABTEC
can affect the overall productivity of the company, the scalability of the business
operations can get affected a lot due to this agile methodology and thus Arabtec
should look upon this factor.
v. Agile weakness on the architectural planning: In the construction
industry the architectural planning involves the entire structure of the building, the
materials used for constructing the building. Also, the software which must be utilized
for conducting the construction procedure must be well analysed and must be
worked upon. All the enterprises have to predict and then consider all the aspects
associated with the construction industry and Arabtec is no exception (Hornstein
2015). Arabtec will have to analyse the building materials, the structure of the
building and the analyse the software used in Arabtec, this takes a whole lot of time.
They need to properly manage those factors too. Therefore, delays occur but they
need to consider the issues otherwise that can cause serious disruption.
vi. The project methodology having limited project planning, project
tracking and the project estimation: The agile project methodology generally
reduces the planning for a particular project by utilizing certain backlogs (Chagas et
al. 2014). It also caters priority to the list of software product land it focuses more on
a fixture of the project deadlines. Also for each and every sprint, the level-of-effort
gets estimated and the estimation is generally rough in nature. This kind of approach
is acceptable in case of small projects, but it delivers to deliver the same amount of
efficiency to the large projects and to the large organisations. The third party clients
of Arabtec sometimes ask for the scope which the project management fails to
deliver, also the senior manager of the client company of Arabtec sometimes ask for
the details of the specimens used for the construction industry (Kautz, Johansen and
Uldahl 2014). The aforesaid project management fails due to lightweight planning
fails to deliver the details of the project.
vii. The agile project methodology needs more and more rework: The
project methodology that Arabtec has planned to adopt requires lots of lots of
clarification and lots and lots of reworks, this procedure is basically known as the
refactoring, the refactoring takes a huge loads of money and Arabtec will have to pay
heavy (Lehnen, Schmidt and Herstatt 2016). Thus for the project management and
the rework, Arabtec needs to spend heavily.

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN ARABTEC
viii. The challenges occur due to the contractual commitments: The agile
project methodology is very difficult to detail the fixed-bid contracts (Nicholls, Lewis
and Eschenbach 2015). The senior officials often get dissatisfied due to not getting
the details of the projects like the project scope, the project deadline and the
estimated costs for the project.
ix. Light documentation: The agile project methodology prefers verbal
communication to written documentation that is misconception occurs in between the
clients Arabtec can face the same difficulty, can face the same issue while
constructing any product (Pope-Ruark 2015). Due to the lack of proper
documentation, it is really difficult for them to maintain and enhance the quality of the
construction project.
5. Discussion of how the operations management system can be
reoriented to be able to achieve the business goals for the Arabtec
Construction LLC
Arabtec Construction LLC
Management System
Getting conversant with the agile
methodologies
Concentrate more on people over the
processes
Establishment of self-organizing groups
Redefining success for the projects
Encouraging the team speakers to speak
well
Concentrate more on people over the
processes
Fund for experimenting
The monthly reviews

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN ARABTEC
Figure 1: Arabtec Construction LLC Management System
(Source: Created by author)
i. Getting conversant with the agile methodologies: The leaders or the
senior managers of Arabtec must be responsible, they must be knowledgeable of all
the project methodologies. The seniors must discuss with his subordinates and must
educate them with the agile methodologies that can bring good to Arabtec.
ii. Concentrate more on people over the processes: The deserved
members of the team must be given the responsibility to carry out the business
activity. Arabtec must divide the tasks to the employees according to their proficiency
as that can enhance the productivity of the enterprise and Arabtec can earn huge
loads of money because of that. Arabtec should hire employees who are motivated
and are willing to work hard and have sound communication skills (Nicholas and
Steyn 2017). The employees must be creative and should think something out of the
box.
iii. Establishment of self-organising groups: Arabtec should construct self-
organization groups for carrying out all the construction activities within the
enterprise. That can help them to carry out the business activities of the team
members or other team located at geographically dispersed location (Kerzner 2017).
The concept of self-organising can be truly beneficial as it will help the team
members to complete a particular task, and based on the task the other team
members can continue their work automatically, a better interaction can be
established as a result of this approach.
iv. Redefining success for the projects: After the development of the
project the testing team must check and verify the construction materials and the
construction parts manufactured at Arabtec, if the parts pass the tests they are
shipped to the customers or the clients.
v. Encouraging the team members to speak well: The team members
should be encouraged regularly by the team leaders and the team seniors to follow
the project methodologies and should maintain a healthy relationship with the team
members. The seniors must communicate and interact regularly and should help
them at need.

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN ARABTEC
vi. Empowering the product owners: The business leaders must appoint
the appropriate the proper POs and the POs must be knowledgeable about all the
facets of the agile project methodologies and they should be able to take the critical
decisions for the company (Stare 2013). The key decisions and the critical decisions
are capable to provide Arabtec the substantial benefits to gain profits and money.
vii. Fund for experimenting: The experiments require lots of funding.
Arabtec must adopt the project methodologies and along with that Arabtec must
save money and spend for the experiments wisely. The experiments need to be
conducted as that can provide them the competitive edge and can give them
opportunities to stay ahead of the other competitors.
viii. The monthly reviews: The monthly reviews can give them the progress
of the current construction project (Kerzner 2017). Thus the employees, the leaders
and the clients can have a clear view of all the business activities and thus the
ongoing project’s progress can be kept tracked of.
6. Discussion of how the suggested changes should be
implemented
Recommendations for Arabtec
Construction LLC
Redefying success for the projects
After the ending of the sprint retrospective
Empowering the product owners
Communication
A governance body must be implemented
The appropriate definition of the sprint
Conduct daily meetings

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN ARABTEC
Figure 2: Recommendations for Arabtec Construction LLC
(Source: Created by author)
i. A governance body must be implemented: Arabtec must establish a
governance body that is capable to mitigate the risks, the threats and the problems
and all the obstacles within the company. The problem resolution can be achieved
by means of open communication among the clients, the customers and the
stakeholders and the leaders (Gonzalez 2014). Arabtec must implement a
governance structure that is both lean and tight. A communication structure must be
implemented to facilitate the employees of the employees, the stakeholders and the
sponsors of the construction company.
ii. The appropriate definition of the sprint: Arabtec must be aware of the
goal or the objectives in mind when adopting the agile-lean project methodology and
the carrying out the business activities. A particular task requires a lot of time to get
completed. The task must be dispersed into multiple tasks and each task must be
completed within the stipulated time that is must be completed within the stipulated
deadline (Drury-Grogan 2014). This can approach can give them to make the
incremental progress, this approach has the capability to maximize the efforts of the
team to manage the construction project and this can help them in the long run.
iii. Conduct daily meetings: Arabtec must conduct a fifteen minutes meeting
every day. The seniors along with his subordinates must discuss the project
requirements and the project’s progress that can give them the overview of all the
aspects of the projects. The seniors and the clients can be assured that the project is
progressing well (Laitinen 2016). This approach can help them to know every
possible risks, threats and vulnerability associated with the project and the company.
iv. After the ending of the sprint retrospective: A project task is divided
into multiple subtasks, it is viable to complete one task and then move subsequently
to the next task. Arabtec must not rush. After successful completion of one task, they
must analyse the task, the clients’ feedback and the senior members’ feedback are
important and must be taken into consideration (Lin et al. 2014). The feedback must
be documented as well. The documentation can help them to conduct the business
operations in the agile and effective way in future.

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v. Communication: The communication must be established among the
stakeholders, the sponsors, the clients, the leaders and the employees of Arabtec
(Kerzner 2013). The communication can pave way for various solutions that can
assist to carry out the business activities smoothly and efficiently.
7. Conclusion
It can be concluded from the above discourse that the project management
can enhance the business operations of the construction industry. The productivity
can be increased, along with that they can get monetary gain as well. The benefits
that Arabtec can achieve have been well described in the report. The operation
management model of Arabtec needs to be reoriented, in this way the business
operations of Arabtec can get enhanced. The seniors as well the subordinates of
Arabtec must follow the project methodologies, the teams working in dispersed
location must cooperate and follow the project methodologies to successfully
accomplish the project and carrying out the business operations of Arabtec.

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8. References
Chagas, L.F., de Carvalho, D.D., Lima, A.M. and Reis, C.A.L., 2014, November.
Systematic literature review on the characteristics of agile project management in the
context of maturity models. In International Conference on Software Process
Improvement and Capability Determination (pp. 177-189). Springer, Cham.
Conforto, E.C. and Amaral, D.C., 2016. Agile project management and stage-gate
model—A hybrid framework for technology-based companies. Journal of
Engineering and Technology Management, 40, pp.1-14.
Conforto, E.C., Salum, F., Amaral, D.C., da Silva, S.L. and de Almeida, L.F.M., 2014.
Can agile project management be adopted by industries other than software
development?. Project Management Journal, 45(3), pp.21-34.
Drury-Grogan, M.L., 2014. Performance on agile teams: Relating iteration objectives
and critical decisions to project management success factors. Information and
Software Technology, 56(5), pp.506-515.
Dybå, T., Dingsøyr, T. and Moe, N.B., 2014. Agile project management. In Software
project management in a changing world (pp. 277-300). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Gonzalez, W., 2014. Applying agile project management to predevelopment stages
of innovation. International Journal of Innovation and Technology
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Hoda, R. and Murugesan, L.K., 2016. Multi-level agile project management
challenges: A self-organizing team perspective. Journal of Systems and
Software, 117, pp.245-257.
Hornstein, H.A., 2015. The integration of project management and organizational
change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project
Management, 33(2), pp.291-298.
Kautz, K., Johansen, T.H. and Uldahl, A., 2014, June. Creating business value
through agile project management and information systems development: The
perceived impact of Scrum. In International Working Conference on Transfer and
Diffusion of IT (pp. 150-165). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

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Kerzner, H., 2013. Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Kerzner, H., 2017. Project management metrics, KPIs, and dashboards: a guide to
measuring and monitoring project performance. John Wiley & Sons.
Laitinen, T., 2016. Improving new product development efficiency through agile
project management: a case study across three NPD projects.
Larson, E.W. and Gray, C., 2013. Project Management: The Managerial Process
with MS Project. McGraw-Hill.
Leach, L.P., 2014. Critical chain project management. Artech House.
Lehnen, J., Schmidt, T.S. and Herstatt, C., 2016. Bringing agile project management
into lead user projects. International Journal of Product Development, 21(2-3),
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decisions of novice agile teams with data from agile project management tools.
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and technology. Taylor & Francis.
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Agile Project Management is right for small teams. Engineering Management
Journal, 27(1), pp.3-10.
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and professional communication courses. Journal of Business and Technical
Communication, 29(1), pp.112-133.
Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage
Learning.
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1051.

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Špundak, M., 2014. Mixed agile/traditional project management methodology–reality
or illusion?. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 119, pp.939-948.
Stare, A., 2013. Agile project management–a future approach to the management of
projects. Dynamic Relationships Management Journal, 2(1), p.21.
White, K.R. and FELLOW, P., 2014. Agile project management. The AMA handbook
of project management, pp.441-450.