Challenges and opportunities for early project collaboration

This chapter explores how lean construction initiatives address early project collaboration. Previous research identified that early project collaboration is hampered by misunderstandings between project stakeholders, who tend to conceptualise collaboration differently according to their background and experience. In this context, the development of the Transformation, Flow and Value (TFV) theory led to the exploration and development of applications that aim at promoting improved collaboration. This chapter analyses how collaboration has been conceptualised in some lean construction initiatives, highlighting limitations and opportunities to improve performance at early project stages. It is suggested that early project collaboration should be interpreted as a socio-constructive and dialectical interaction, which requires the adoption of strategies for collective reflection, supporting the breaking down of assumptions held by project stakeholders.