Exploring the Lean Briefing Process for Effective Design Management

Exposing, articulating, understanding, defining and managing client requirements play important roles in project initiation, an essential component of design management. This study explores current briefing practices in the UK via interviews with eleven experienced practitioners. Analysis of the rich interview data revealed inefficiencies in briefing, which were related to the absence of an appropriate briefing roadmap, and uncertainty in terms of the concept of a brief. There was a desire from the interviewees for a better, more efficient and structured approach to briefing. Although none of those interviewed were working with lean tools, they were open to discussing lean principles and were keen to know how they could be applied. Thus this paper concludes with a lean briefing perception and a preliminary lean briefing approach, which is proposed as an alternative novel approach for effective design management. The study provides unique insights into the briefing process and contributes to the theoretical understanding and practical implementation of lean design management in AEC.