Unpacking agile project management in Indian construction: adoption barriers, industry readiness and sustainability viewpoint

Abstract

The construction industry faces mounting challenges in controlling the complexity, size, and dynamic nature of contemporary projects. Conventional project management approaches lack the flexibility and adaptability to address these challenges. Agile Project Management (APM) has been proposed as an alternative, with a focus on flexibility, teamwork, and iterative development. This present research examines the impediments to APM adoption through a systematic literature review and a questionnaire survey with industry experts. The impediments identified were grouped into four categories: Organizational Barriers, Team and Collaboration Barriers, Process and Communication Barriers, and Technical and Integration Barriers. The data gathered were analyzed using statistical methods, including descriptive analysis, Cronbach's alpha for reliability analysis, and the Relative Importance Index (RII) for ranking key factors. The results identify deficiency in agile expertise, complex interdisciplinary coordination, and client resistance to agile transition as the foremost challenges. Among all the barrier groups, the Team and Collaboration barriers group possesses the maximum RII score, which means the most critical issues in cross-functional coordination and communication. In spite of the limited experience of the respondents with APM, there is a distinct recognition of its need for the efficiency of projects and the improvement of outcomes. Additionally, the current study also discusses the sustainability aspect of APM in construction. The research concludes that effective APM adoption in construction is contingent on focused interventions, including specialist training programs, organizational reorganization, and hybrid project management models integrating agile principles and conventional milestone-based methods.