........ published in NEWSLETTER # 64
[ PCO Home Page ] [ Table of Contents of NEWSLETTER # 64 ]
........ published in NEWSLETTER # 64
MANAGING AND MODELLING COMPLEX PROJECTS
by Dr. T. Williams, Strathclyde University, UK.
Developing new technological products, building new capital assets, undertaking new and unique large-scale enterprises, or implementing solutions to international problems, all require major projects to be undertaken. In recent years, these technological products and systems have become more complex, so projects have become correspondingly more complex. Simultaneously, projects have also become more time-constrained: product development times and market opportunity slots are shrinking and clients expect quicker delivery, frequently with heavy penalties for lateness; this exacerbates the increasing project complexity.
For such projects, traditional project management (PM) methods have proved inadequate, resulting in over-runs, over-spends and project failures. This is exacerbated by the above trends. There is clearly a need for more effective means of managing these projects, supported by more effective means of understanding and modelling these projects. Furthermore, this need is imperative, and becoming more urgent as projects continuously increase in complexity.
A number of approaches have been taken to such work, but it is difficult to take a view as to the most promising approach, nor has any synthesis been attempted (either between the approaches or with lower-level operational methods). It is clearly the right time to take an overall view. This volume (NATO ASI SERIES 4-17) results from a workshop in Kiev which brought together leading world experts in the various main thrusts of research, both applied academics and practitioners, in order that such an overall view can be taken. Fifty-four invited participants from 15 countries representing academics, consultants, contractors and clients attended. A key feature of the workshop, which took a significant part of the time, was a series of open discussion sessions to develop the ideas in the 13 key papers, and these are all summarised in the volume.
The workshop firstly considered modelling techniques, with papers extending PERT, covering risk analysis techniques, and describing the System Dynamics technique for simulating projects. Three papers looked at PM in specific domains: new technology, software development and infrastructure projects; the last dealt specifically with the human factors involved. Two papers considered corporate structures, one from the West (joint venturing), and the second from a Co-operative Partner (CP) country (PM in market and transition economies). Two papers looked at management techniques, again one from a Western (using teams) and one from a CP country (using a heirarchical approach). Finally, techniques for managing portfolios or programmes of projects were discussed.
A number of strands runs through the volume. These include: the balance between mathematical modelling and human management; the balance between over-complex techniques and simplistic approximations; the differences between NATO and CP countries' views; the use of the techniques as a tool bag to be selected from and synthesised; and particularly, the need for more effort in PM education to ensure the science of PM is applied effectively worldwide.
Reference books: 4-17, E58, F110, F154