Ithuta JV

Source - Article by Bob Andrew

Conventional project management methodologies are highly mechanistic and rigid, assuming a world of perfect order and predictability, with little flexibility and tolerance for handling uncertainty and rapidly changing environments. While there has been some movement toward developing more flexible and change-tolerant project management methodologies, mainly in the area of fast-track information technology projects, traditional project management methods are often found wanting for complex projects and rapidly changing environments.

The ‘linearity’ of conventional project management defines upfront the processes to be adhered to, the ‘route map’ to be followed and the tasks to be undertaken. Project workers are selected on this basis, with roles, responsibilities and relationships determined by function, hierarchy and precedent. This approach encourages limited interaction between parties and contextual confusion as project data and information are only channelled to specific recipients, in terms of their defined roles. A major deficiency of conventional project management is that the approach only allows optimisation of the project to be undertaken by the optimisation of the individual project management elements, with little recognition of interactions between the elements.

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Unlike traditional project management, a systems approach ensures that the ‘whole’ project, its purpose, rationale and goals are fully understood by everybody. This encourages consensus, learning and willingness to adapt to changes.
The performance of the project manager and project team are critical factors in the achievement of the goals and objectives of a project. Even if the organisational project management maturity is at a high level, with strongly institutionalised procedures and methodologies, the capability of the project team to adapt standard procedures for the demands of a specific project is extremely relevant. To achieve this, the project team needs not only to be competent in the application of project management principles, but also to have a deep understanding of the project context and the internal and external environments. Because of the unique nature of projects, i.e. to create a new product or service, at a given quality or performance level, in a specific time period and within a fixed budget, the management and leadership qualities of the project manager are extremely relevant and important. Leadership qualities, like the ability to guide, motivate and inspire team members, often under stressful conditions, and to provide coaching and mentoring when necessary, are significant requirements for a modern project manager.

Apart from the necessary competence in project management, management and leadership qualities on the part of the project manager, and people involved at all levels in modern complex projects, need to develop flexible holistic views of the context of their projects in order to develop a clear and sustainable methodology for achieving the project deliverables in terms of all requirements and constraints, with efficient and manageable accommodation of changes. They also need to be able to identify the relationships between all relevant elements, functions, goals, attributes and performance measures and be able to consider and evaluate multiple options. Of particular importance is the up-front identification and consideration of the factors that might create uncertainty in the project. For all members of a project team to have the same holistic view of a project requires a strong commitment to communication, to have a shared goal, a shared project management culture, a common code of conduct and sense of interdependency. Holistic project management also requires trust, collaboration and a passion for achievement.

The traditional features of project management, e.g. the definition of a project life cycle with defined phases and the well established processes for planning, scheduling and cost estimating, remain relevant for modern projects. Accordingly, it is essential that these features remain in any modern project management teaching programme. The systemic features of projects, however, e.g. the way in which the capability and efficiency of the project management system are influenced by interactions with other organisational and external systems, need to be directly integrated into traditional project management training course curricula.

Integrating expansive, innovative and holistic systems thinking into traditional rigid and inflexible project management methodologies in new training programmes will be highly relevant in efforts to produce project managers that can remain focused on fixed project deliverables, tight schedules and stringent budgets, while at the same time appreciating the complexity of the project environment. Teaching of project management for today’s challenges must address how systemic issues can be simultaneously woven into fundamental project management processes issues so as to provide the ‘new’ project manager with the capability of successfully managing complex projects and to provide preparedness for future unexpected and unpredictable scenarios.