Back in 2019, Henri Ahoste graduated from Aalto University and started on his first big project on a construction site at Skanska, responsible for building the schedule of a 200M€ shopping center project. Little did he know that the experience would later shape the direction of a construction software company called Sitedrive.
Today, as our Head of Product, Henri is helping bring flow-based production to thousands of users on a global scale.
This is the fascinating story of how that journey unfolded!
Henri’s path begins with his diploma thesis on lean construction and takt production, one of the first Takt-related Master’s theses conducted for Skanska in Finland, titled “Effect of Collaborative Production Management on Waste in Construction” (2019).
Soon after graduating, he was given responsibility for scheduling a large shopping center project, Lippulaiva in Espoo at Skanska.
What surprised him wasn’t the complexity of the project, but the realization that there was no clear, ready-made structure for building the schedule.
The organization around him was highly experienced. But as a young engineer stepping into a major project, he expected a more defined playbook to lean on.
“It wasn’t about the people around me lacking experience, far from it. But there wasn’t a ready playbook for how the schedule should be built. I had to figure it out,” Henri thinks back.
So he did what engineers do. He asked questions.
He sat down with site managers and contractors. He studied drawings. He mapped work phases. He built a general schedule using logic and mathematical relationships. Then he introduced takt-based planning for interior phases and ran 10–20 collaborative sessions with subcontractors to balance production flow.
As a result, in some work phases, productivity improved by 30% compared to previous project data. The project was delivered two days ahead of deadline. There was no last-minute chaos.
And that’s when the bigger question appeared.
“How can it be that one young engineer, using manual and quite clumsy methods, can improve productivity by 30%? This shouldn’t depend on one person. This should be possible with software,” Henri says.
That thought led to the founding of Kulmakerroin in 2021 together with Jussi Engblom (today our Lead Data Scientist at Sitedrive). Their idea was simple but ambitious: take quantities from 3D models and generate takt schedules algorithmically. Machine-assisted optimization instead of manual balancing.
Kulmakerroin didn’t become a commercial product on its own. In 2023, the business was sold to Flow Technologies Oy, and the technology was absorbed into Sitedrive. Henri joined to continue developing the idea further – now as part of the core product.
Today, that early idea is becoming reality.
“We’re reaching the point where someone who has never done takt planning before can create a good location-based schedule in 15 minutes. The software guides you. It suggests and helps,” Henri smiles.
What once required weeks of workshops can now be initiated in minutes – and scaled to thousands of users.
Henri is the first to admit he’s not a “typical SaaS product leader.” The transition from construction to software was eye-opening.
“On a construction site, decisions are made weekly. In a software company, they’re made hourly. The frequency is completely different,” he says.
The speed was exciting. But the complexity was humbling. Features that seemed simple turned out to require far more effort in production software. Dependencies surfaced. Edge cases multiplied. Prioritization became critical.
“Software business is like a garden. The more features you have, the bigger the garden. And then you spend a lot of time just maintaining it,” Henri thinks.
At Sitedrive, Henri had to balance three strong forces:
It wasn’t always obvious where to focus. Over time, one principle became clearer: strengthen what makes Sitedrive unique.
“I’m not an ideological takt expert anymore. It’s not about pushing a principle. It’s about how the person on site experiences the software,” Henri says.
That shift from ideology to usability has shaped Sitedrive’s product direction.
When asked what Sitedrive’s product really does, Henri answers without jargon:
“We want to bring flow-based production methodology easily available to everyone.”
But what does “flow” actually mean?
It means work progresses in rhythm. Tasks follow each other in a logical sequence. Workers have enough work, but not too much. Obstacles are visible. The schedule reflects reality. Everyone understands it, commits to it, and it becomes a shared social agreement on site.
Traditional Gantt schedules struggle with this balance.
They can be understandable at a high level, but too abstract for daily control. Or detailed enough for execution, but so long and complex that no one can read or update them.
“A schedule can be understandable but too rough to guide daily work. Or detailed but impossible to read. At Sitedrive, we can combine both.”
Location-based planning and flow-based logic allow Sitedrive to offer something different: a schedule that is both manageable and precise.
The goal isn’t to force users into extreme takt planning overnight. It’s to meet them at their current maturity level.
“You can’t push ideology. You have to see what users are ready to adopt,” Henri says.
That’s why development is closely tied to real users – from superusers in the Sitedrive Insiders channel to completely new users testing onboarding flows. The team watches how people actually use the product. Assumptions are tested, not trusted blindly.
As Head of Product, Henri’s role has evolved beyond building features.
He sees his role as creating space for others to operate from their strengths. In the product team, each member brings something different – technical depth, design thinking, domain knowledge. The goal isn’t to centralize decisions, but to align strengths toward business growth.
“We guide our work so that the business grows and the software supports that growth,” Henri says.
There’s also humility in the role.
“It’s been three years since I last built schedules on a site myself. I’m not in the center of site operations anymore. I need to listen.”
Listening to users, to designers, to developers, and to markets. Sitedrive has sharpened its focus in recent years: from consulting-heavy roots toward being a clear SaaS product company.
“We’re not a consultancy building custom software. We’re a software company that understands construction.”
That clarity shapes both product decisions and culture.
In Finland alone, construction is a €40 billion industry. "And yet, double-digit productivity gains are still possible," Henri says.
For Henri, this journey has always been about impact.
“I’ve been chasing this for five years – removing the stupidity from construction,” he smiles.
In Finland alone, construction is a €40 billion industry. And yet, double-digit productivity gains are still possible.
“It’s crazy that in such a large industry, individual engineers can achieve 10–30% improvements. In other industries, they optimize promilles.”
Why hasn’t it already been solved?
Henri believes the ecosystem has found a local optimum. Complex subcontracting chains, lack of trust, and variation make production unstable. And unstable systems can’t be optimized effectively.
“First you stabilize production. Then you can improve it,” he says.
Flow-based, location-based planning is, in his view, a way to stabilize construction production. Once stability is there, continuous improvement becomes possible.
Looking ahead, Sitedrive’s roadmap includes more intelligent suggestions, deeper integrations, and eventually coordination of material and labor flows through living schedules. AI is not the goal in itself – it’s an enabler.
For Henri personally, the motivation remains simple.
“I’ve always wanted to create value for society. The best way to do that now is to transform the industry through software," Henri says.
Henri’s path to Head of Product wasn’t typical, but it reflects what Sitedrive stands for: practical expertise, clear focus, and the ambition to improve how construction is led – not in theory, but in everyday work on site.
If improving a multi-billion-euro industry sounds like a challenge worth taking on, and you’re curious how software, methodology, and real-world impact come together…
Take a look at our careers page and introduce yourself to our talent pool! We’re always looking for people who match our mission.