Complex Project Management

This book enhances learning about complex project management principles and practices through the introduction and discussion of a portfolio of tools presented as an evolving toolbox. Throughout the book, industry practitioners examine the toolsets that are part of the toolbox to develop a broader understanding of complex project management challenges and the available tools to address them. This approach establishes a dynamic, structured platform for a comprehensive analysis and assessment of the modern, rapidly changing, multifaceted business environment to teach the next generation of project managers to successfully cope with the ever increasing complexity of the 21st century.

For organizations to thrive, indeed to survive, in today's global economy, we must find ways to dramatically improve the performance of large-scale projects. Applying the concepts of complexity theory can complement conventional project management approaches and enable us to adapt to the unrelenting change that we ignore at our own peril. Managing Complex Projects: A New Model offers an innovative way of looking at projects and treating them as complex adaptive systems. Applying the principles of complexity thinking will enable project managers and leadership teams to manage large-scale initiatives successfully. • Explore how complexity thinking can be used to find new, creative ways to think about and manage projects • Diagnose complexity on a wide range of projects — from small, independent, short projects to highly complex, longer projects • Understand and manage the complexity of the business problem, opportunity, solution, and other dimensions that come into play when managing large-scale efforts Use the Project Complexity Model to determine the most effective approach to managing all aspects of a project based on the level of complexity involved.

Maximizing reader insights into project management and handling complexity-driven risks, this book explores propagation effects, non-linear consequences, loops, and the emergence of positive properties that may occur over the course of a project. This book presents an introduction to project management and analysis of traditional project management approaches and their limits regarding complexity. It also includes overviews of recent research works about project complexity modelling and management as well as project complexity-driven issues. Moreover, the authors propose their own new approaches, new methodologies and new tools which may be used by project managers and/or researchers and/or students in the management of their projects. These new elements include project complexity definitions and frameworks, multi-criteria approaches for project complexity measurement, advanced methodologies for project management (propagation studies to anticipate potential behaviour of the project, and clustering approaches to improve coordination between project actors) and industrial case studies (automotive industry, civil engineering, railroad industry, performing arts,...) and exercises (with their solutions) which will allow readers to improve and strengthen their knowledge and skills in the management of complex and (thus) risky projects.

The application of project management techniques is considered standard practice in today's business environment. What is not widely known is that the learning gap separating good project management from exceptional project management is not as great as one might think yet, the difference in the return on value can be quite significant. Many factors determine how projects are approached, such as rapid shifts in technology, a fluctuating market, changes in a business's organizational structure, and politics. As these forces add to a project's complexity and duration, project managers must develop strategies that allow them to think outside the box and create new on-the-go methodologies. Managing Complex Projects delivers the tools necessary to take on an unpredictable economy with an adaptable battle plan proven to meet the differing needs of an ever-expanding set of partners and stakeholders involved in a project. This book shows how to solve some of the issues facing today's project manager, including: Dealing with multiple virtual teams located around the world Working with partners and stakeholders that may have limited project management tools and experience Adjusting to long-term projects in which the stakeholders may change Managing projects where stated goals and objectives differ among stakeholders This book shows how companies such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, and Siemens are exploring new avenues to aid them in taking on complex projects by combining "hard" skills, such as risk management and scheduling, with "soft" skills that focus on interpersonal communication. Managing Complex Projects serves as a lifesaver for time-crunched project managers looking for new ways to maximize their efforts.

Quantitative analysis of outcomes vs PMs at the individual level Leading Complex Projects takes a unique approach to post-mortem analysis to provide project managers with invaluable insight. For the first time, individual PM characteristics are quantitatively linked to project outcomes through a major study investigating the role of project leadership in the success and failure of complex industrial projects; hard data on the backgrounds, education, and personality characteristics of over 100 directors of complex projects is analyzed against the backdrop of project performance to provide insight into controllable determinants of outcomes. By placing these analyses alongside their own data, PMs will gain greater insight into areas of weakness and strength, locate recurring obstacles, and identify project components in need of greater planning, oversight, or control. The role of leadership is to deliver results; in project management, this means taking responsibility for project outcomes. PMs are driven by continuous improvement, and this book provides a wealth of insight to help you achieve the next step forward. Understand why small, simple projects consistently outperform larger, more complex projects Delve into the project manager's role in generating successful outcomes Examine the data from over 100 PMs of complex industrial projects Link PM characteristics to project outcome to find areas for improvement Complex industrial projects from around the world provide a solid basis for quantitative analysis of outcomes—and the PMs who drive them. Although the majority of the data is taken from projects in the petroleum industry, the insights gleaned from analysis are widely applicable across industry lines for PMs who lead complex projects of any stripe. Leading Complex Projects provides clear, data-backed improvement guidance for anyone in a project management role.

Our professional and private lives are increasingly complex and unpredictable. Complex Project Management gives you access to the guarded secrets of how the worldâs leading corporations are able to deliver their most complex projects.Complex Project Management redefines project management, providing new user-friendly methodologies, tool sets and contracts which enable you to successfully deliver complex and system-of-system projects. Through Wave Planning and Governance Contracting, Complex Project Management tames chaos to let you plan the unplannable.Twenty years of innovation and research are brought together in a series of papers by the author of the internationally acclaimed Complex Project Manager Competency Standards.Complex Project Management will radically change how you perceive and implement projects. Most importantly, its methodologies and tool sets can be adapted to help us to manage our own lives.

“Robert Wysocki does it again, and again. He has evolved from a project management expert and guru to the preeminent thought leader on managing complexity in the 21st century! Wysocki’s approach is to use an adaptive framework and decision-making tool which includes a robust project management methodology that seamlessly integrates change, and can be applied to all types of projects across industries. This adaptive complex project framework is aligned with the most contemporary principles of innovation, agility, and lean approaches to change, and represents the most advanced thinking in applied complex project management to date.” —Kathleen Hass, Project Management and Business Analysis Practice Leader, Consultant, and PMI award-winning author of Managing Complex Projects: A New Model With technology continuing to invade the business world and the convergence of complexity, uncertainty, and constant change, a whole new class of projects has emerged for which traditional project management models such as Waterfall are totally insufficient. These are called complex projects. Extreme Project Management models and a variety of Agile Project Management models such as Scrum, Rational Unified Process, Feature-Driven Development, and Dynamic Systems Development Method have emerged, but project failure rates have not been measurably reduced. Effective Complex Project Management offers a proven solution to managing any project that must succeed in the face of organizational complexity and market uncertainty, in the form of an adaptive complex project framework. Developed, refined, and validated through 20+ years of client experiences and feedback from project management thought leaders, this framework and robust methodology has demonstrated a favorable impact on project and program management success rates. Dr. Wysocki demonstrates that for program and project managers to be consistently successful in managing complex projects, they need to include in their project management portfolio of processes an adaptive framework that continuously analyzes and adapts to changing and modifying conditions even to the point of changing project management models mid-project. The author’s adaptive complex project framework is currently the only robust tool to offer an orderly approach to do just that. When applied and managed correctly, this intuitive framework that proceeds from ideation to set-up to execution has proven to deliver on the purpose of programs and projects without fail, in the form of desired business value.

How-to guidance for defining and implementing a complex project performance environment Sharing his forty-five years of project management experience, best-selling author and industry guru Robert Wysocki presents a straightforward, enlightening, and pragmatic guide to help senior managers make the transition to an organization that profits and thrives on complexity. The first book to discuss practical project management mitigation strategies, Executive's Guide to Project Management presents easy-to-implement infrastructures and processes that will ensure the continued success of your organization and maximize your investment of every project. Collects in one resource all the relevant information for understanding and creating an environment for improved complex project performance A must-read for every member of your senior management team Shows you how to regain responsibility, take action, and skillfully handle complexity to mitigate risk and increase return on project investments It's time for your senior management team to take back control of your investments in projects and programs. Executive's Guide to Project Management shows you how to cultivate your part of the organization so that it can respond to a changing project environment with the infrastructure to support the project and program investment decisions.