Collaboration and the Integrated Team
The ease of running a virtual meeting and the convenience for the participants to attend results in much greater participation than is typical in a traditional in-person workshop. The virtual format brings the ability to collaborate with large groups to the workshop. Now we can have a large group of Stakeholders (Project Managers, SMEs, Users), the Design Team, and the VE Team all participate fully – we call this the Integrated VE Team. It is typical to have 15 to 30 participants in a virtual workshop providing a valuable exercise for the Design Team to hear the questions, positive comments, and concerns that flow from these discussions. It also can be an opportunity for the Design Team to surface areas that are not well developed as a component of the VE workshop.
The Collaborative portion of the workshop should:
The traditional face-to-face workshop would involve a limited number of participants from appropriate disciplines with the corresponding limit to available perspectives. The time pressure to finish led to a limited analysis of alternatives. The virtual workshop allows for a larger group involvement – the Integrated Team – which brings new information to better understand requirements and constraints. It also provides better use of participants time which is critical to securing participation in the collaborative portion of the virtual workshop. And group collaboration results in better ideas.
The Integrated Team
The Integrated Team model brings the Design Team into the process, with information about requirements, other design approaches not pursued, and other potentially desirable solutions not included in the current design.
The tensions typical between the design team and the VE team dissipate as the group works together as respected professionals to improve the project. The virtual format, with participants communicating singularly via an internet connection, changes the group dynamics normally present in the face-to-face format. It reduces the barriers inherent in specific group identities and treats everyone as belonging to the same team, the VE team. We call this the Integrated VE Team. The design team and Stakeholders are encouraged to participate right through the Evaluation Phase.
The successful Integrated Team Model separates the phases of the Job Plan into activities that can be accomplished effectively with the Integrated Team from the things that are best done by the VE Team only.
Integrated Team (On-line or On-site)
VE Team (Off-line/in-office)
The ability to include a larger group in the process increases the amount of discussion and the corresponding total knowledge available to the team. Including the Stakeholders in the discussions brings the owner/customer into the ideation process, reinforcing a focus on Stakeholder requirements while providing the ability to re-clarify needs and desires, and communicate any change in priorities. It helps both the VE team and the Design team understand the strengths and weaknesses of the current design from the Owner’s perspective. It is this communication that stimulates the Thinking Mind (Kahneman, 2011) to search for better solutions for the Creative Phase. Additionally, during the Evaluation Phase, Stakeholders provide real-time confirmation that individual ideas are worth pursuing. The large Integrated Team also leads to much higher acceptance of the final proposals that the VE team presents in the study report, as both the Design Team and the Stakeholders have participated in their development and have ownership in the recommendations. The process develops the participants into a High-Performance Team that can accomplish powerful collaboration providing the following benefits:
Results
We collect and analyze the data for each workshop we conduct, dividing workshops into the following categories:
- On-Site Independent Team
- On-Site Integrated Team
- Virtual Independent Team
- Virtual Integrated Team
We track the following detailed information for each workshop:
- Study Type
- % design complete
- # of participants
- Project Value (PV)
- # of VE ideas
- # of proposals developed
- Max Potential First Cost savings (MPFC)
- Proposals Accepted (M)
- PV/MPFC
- MPFC/A
- VE study cost (VEC)
- Return on investment (M/VEC)
Here is a summary of our findings updated 20 May 2024 (For greater understanding reference Mr. Sloggy’s latest paper Virtual VE: Evolving the Value Workshop on our Home page):
- On-Site Independent Team ROI: $17/$1
- On-Site Integrated Team ROI: $26/$1
- Virtual Independent Team ROI: $29/$1
- Virtual Integrated Team ROI: $56/$1
- $56 saved for every $1 invested!
While the performance of all the VE primary delivery vehicles is considered outstanding and certainly justifies the application of the Value Methodology to substantial projects of all types, the data shows that across all measured criteria the Virtual Integrated Team delivers superior performance.
Contact us to discuss the application of the Integrated Team to your project