Collaborative engineering issues and challenges: Insights from a reconstruction project case

Collaborative engineering has been discussed as a solution for complex technological projects for a long time. Still, adoption of this management technique remains limited. The paper identifies theoretical issues in understanding and modeling collaborative work practices and respective coordination related challenges in the project management of collaborative engineering which are derived from the case of a reconstruction process. Evidences from the case show that high complexities, unforeseeable uncertainties associated with innovation and user involvement and high number of interdependencies are major drivers towards intensive collaboration within the construction project. The analysis of the cases also shows that traditional project management is not sufficient to predict the outcome of the project reliably where the modularity can not be achieved in advance within the course of project. The results can be used to achieve a smoother collaborative engineering phase through innovative technical developments.