From the comparison of Table 1, a few similarities are found, but most characteristics are almost opposites. Starting with planning and goals, stigmergy and peer production are similar. Neither of them requires any planning. The overall goal is guiding for the individual tasks. In stigmergy, individuals act on stimuli in the environment. Social insects are not conscious of the primary goal in which they are contributing. In peer production, the paramount goal is commonly determining the general direction of the project. In construction, a project goal is set right at the beginning. This goal might be diffuse or conflicting. The different parties of the project might all have different opinions on what the goal is. This unclarity might lead to disagreements and project changes during the project life-cycle.

Coordination is an essential characteristic in the comparison. In stigmergy, coordination is invisible, embedded in the work. There is no communication between the different agents. The environment is used for indirect communication through marks. Peer production is a combination of the two, using both direct and indirect communication. Peer producers might coordinate work through talking or messaging. At the same time, work is commonly coordinated through marks in the digital medium. Construction solely uses direct communication. Planning and collaboration happen in meetings, through talking or corresponding via email. Direct communication is useful for communicating a message or coming to an agreement in discussions. It might, however, be inefficient in coordinating work. Meetings are time-consuming, and misunderstandings might occur. Too frequent communication might not even lead to the best solution (Bernstein et al., 2018). Learning from stigmergy where work is coordinated indirectly, these things might be avoided. However, as long as people are working in the construction industry, direct communication will always be present. By learning from peer production, it should be possible to strike a balance in how work is coordinated — both through direct and indirect communication. 

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Task assignment is another characteristic that differs. Agents act on stimulus from marks in stigmergy. In social insects, this often happens unconsciously. In human stigmergy, people are more aware of their stigmergic contribution. Peer production, on the other hand, has people self-assigning to tasks. They choose tasks they are motivated for and knowledgeable about for their contribution. In construction, people are often assigned to tasks by managers. It is harder for them to influence which tasks they are allocated. The lack of influence on their work tasks is likely to give less motivated workers in the construction industry. When they are signed to tasks by managers higher up in the system, their ownership of the work is also reduced.