Levels of Design / Development / Detail - Beyond just Design

Contractors can improve business results by applying many of the same processes and vocabulary to their business that the industry is applying to projects.

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
Share
Leadership Tools: Levels of Development Design, and Detail (LOD).

Consider how the different Levels of Design / Development / Detail (LOD) could be applied to your planning processes.  Starting with a basic high-level value-stream map of how your company acquires and delivers projects to your customers.  Think about a simple diagram with 10-20 components; level 100.  

Now consider the series of meetings and teams you would setup on a project that will take that high-level diagram through increasingly granular design details.  Consider all the frustrations of working through that design-development process going from concept to details and specifications that are fabrication / construction ready.  Consider the process rigor including RFIs and change management including value-engineering.  

Imagine your business with a complete set of plans, specs, as-builts, inspections and O&M manuals with training upon turnover similar to what we have on every project.  That is Level 500 of the BIM standards.   


What if you applied that much rigor to your business management processes?   

Schedule a call to learn how




Agile Project Management vs. Critical Path Method
The Critical Path Method of project management is very commonly used on construction projects. CPM does not work as well in situations where there are significant “Known-Unknowns” about the plan CPM really breaks down when there are “Unknown-Unknowns”:
Building a Systems Development Team - Support
The need for support, training, and maintenance of developed systems should not be underestimated.
Evolving Focus with Growth and Leadership Levels
All contractors are built on the same foundation, which starts with the amazing crafts people. With growth in the business, project size, and your level of leadership, the time you allocate to different layers of the pyramid must evolve.