Can IPD Solve Our Problems?

Yesterday I had a great conversation with an attorney in the construction industry, who said (and I am paraphrasing) that Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) is a contractual way to MAKE people collaborate. He continued to say that if team members really focused on the good of the project there would be little need for IPD.

As I do my work the most important driver I see around a project having a positive outcome for everyone is first, TRUST, and second, effective COMMUNICATION. Good and effective communication and information sharing follows trust.

I think any tool that can increase these is good. The Partnering process assists this, as can software project management systems such as eBuilder, MySmartPlans, etc.

What IPD, (or any contractual process), BIM, etc. do NOT do, is MAKE people behave in certain ways. They can assist, but not force. If there is one key decision maker that is the bottle neck, that one person can hinder the project.

My point here is that the "next, newest thing" cannot take the place of effective communication, trust-building (and keeping), and personal and group accountability.