A Little More Conversation? The mobile phone and collaborative working on projects

Did you know, the construction industry, although characterised as slow to adopt new technologies, was one of the first to use mobile phones for business. Check-plots, mark-ups, drawing re-issues, incorrect revisions, and site meetings all generate waste and delays in a construction project. In fact, one check-plot is never enough - the entire checking and amending process is iterative. Sending an out-of-date revision to site causes untold problems and you can only be sure a client has received the latest release if he acknowledges its receipt. It is easy to imagine how trackable mobile communication would ease the strain.

Mobile phone communication is not particularly secure. Calls are rarely recorded, tracked and filed, and can be easily intercepted. So, as much as we all cherish the mobile phone's immediacy, freedom and texting facility must be more security and accountability when using in business.

Poor communication of project information has a significant cost and time impact during all phases of a project, as well as in the ongoing management of the resulting asset. There is a growing realisation that effective collaboration, via improved communication, will increase project team productivity, minimise construction errors and reduce the associated risks. Collaborative working on construction projects could benefit more from mobile phones if they enabled users to check who has been told what, and when, whether drawings, or a message, have arrived, and whether all project partners have received, and therefore are working with, the same revision at the same time.

Effective collaboration cannot happen without verbal exchange. Face-to-face meetings are impractical and costly and remote conference calls unpopular as participants tend to feel uncomfortable with the format. Making a quick call on a mobile seems such an easy and natural way to communicate. If only the content could be recorded on demand and, even better, automatically converted into a written record. Is this too much to ask? With just a little more trackability, mobile phone communication would benefit collaborative working on a project immensely. Nothing beats a conversation in times of uncertainty, or crisis or even just for confirmation.