Last Planner System and Scrum: Comparative analysis and suggestions for adjustments

Abstract

This study provides a critical review of the concepts of Agile, Lean, Scrum, and Last Planner^® System (LPS). A comparative analysis is conducted between LPS and Scrum to expand LPS by considering Scrum’s best practices. Eight dimensions, namely, 1) origins, 2) main purpose, 3) overall system/framework process, 4) tools or artifacts maintained by the team, 5) team composition and main roles, 6) regular events or team meetings, 7) metrics/dashboards, and 8) approach to learning, are evaluated. After analyzing side by side the eight dimensions, it was found that many aspects from Scrum already exist in LPS in the same or similar form. However, the authors identify four main elements from Scrum that can be leveraged to improve the LPS benchmark, such as considering the Scrum “Increment” concept into LPS, having a clear definition of roles and responsibilities, or adding an equivalent to a Scrum Master to have a designated “rule keeper” in LPS. These opportunities to be considered in new LPS benchmarks need to be tested and validated with real applications. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is the first to comprehensively compare Scrum (Agile) and LPS (Lean) and could be seen as a contribution toward the evolution of the Last Planner System for the academic and industrial environments.

Keywords

Lean Construction / Last Planner System / Agile / Scrum / comparative analysis / AEC projects / project teams

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