Impact of Lean Practices in the Planning of Design Tasks: Evidence From Two Projects in France

Lean construction, through its different tools, has enriched the construction industry with several ways to present reliable planning for the construction process. Nevertheless, the focus on planning design tasks is still incomparable to that devoted to the construction tasks. Additionally, lean construction and its planning tools and principles are still not routinely practiced in many areas of the world. This article tries to contribute to the existing efforts and shows the integration of lean construction with digital tools to improve the reliability of planning activities for design tasks in two projects in France in time of the COVID-19 pandemic. The article results show that the use of lean practices helped avoid delays in design, better consider the client’s expectations, and improve the collaboration between the participants in the design phase. The current study brings new insights into the applicability of lean practices in improving design management in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry.