Project complexity /
difficulty / challenge
and teaching
Harvey Maylor
Cranfield School of Management
United Kingdom
Agenda
• Personal and organisational responses to managerial
complexity / difficulty / challenge
• Research: what makes a project complex / difficult /
challenging to manage?
• How useful is the PMI BoK in managing under
complexity / difficulty / challenge?
• Teaching: matching syllabi with organisational and
personal maturity
Research framework
Managerial
Complexity / Difficulty
/ Challenge
Organisational
Response
•Systems
?
•Structures
•Managerial
effort required
Methodology
•
•
•
•
Exploratory
Based on revised version of PZB
Initial workshops – 3 firms, yielded 71 concepts
Main workshop, 107 PMs – yielded over 1000
individual responses, confirmed 71 initial concepts
and took the total to 160
• Concepts clustered – best fit, active experimentation
Managerial cdc
Structural
External
Stakeholders
Organization
Dynamic
Task
Stakeholder
attributes
Organizational
form
Task attributes
Interstakeholder
relationships
Time and
space
Project
organization
Organizational
dynamics
Stakeholder
dynamics
Task dynamics
Project team
Project
resources
External Stakeholders
Stakeholder attributes
Stakeholder identification
• How many stakeholders are
there? ***
• Are there unidentified
stakeholders? *
Support for project
Do the stakeholder groups:
• Have buy-in to the project?
• Have commitment to the
project?
• Interfere with the project? *
• Have sufficient availability
of time for the project?
• Resist the project? *
• Take ownership of the
project?
• Respond to project needs
in a timely manner, e.g.,
decision-making? *
Relationship basis
• Is the relationship basis of
project with stakeholders
contractual?
Experience
Does the stakeholder group:
• Understand the
implications of the project?
• Have realistic expectations
of the project? **
• Have experience of the
domain? *
• Have experience of project
management? *
Power
Does the stakeholder group:
• Have the power to make
decisions (e.g., to impose
SOP)?
• Have authority?
• Have accountability?
Key stakeholders
• Are unions involved?
• Is there senior
management support? **
• Is there a clear sponsor?
Inter-stakeholder
relationships
Socio-political
• Have the stakeholder groups
worked together before? *
• Are there hidden
agendas/unsurfaced
assumptions? ***
• Is there conflict between
stakeholders?
• Are there power struggles
between stakeholders?
• Do the requirements of the
different stakeholders
conflict? ***
• Are there competing priorities
of stakeholders? ***
• Is there a shared
understanding by the
stakeholders about the aims
of the project?
Inter-dependencies
• Are there inter-dependencies
between stakeholders (e.g.,
between suppliers) **
Organization
Time and space
Time
• Are there multiple timezones? ***
Space
• Are project team members
co-located? ***
• Is there face-to-face
communication between
project team members? **
Geography
• Are there multiple
currencies?
• Are there multiple
languages? **
Organizational form
Structural compatibility
• Is there a mismatch
between matrix structure of
project and department
structure of organization?
• Is delivery to a non-project
based organization?
Task
Task attributes
Objectives
• Is there a clear vision for the
project? ***
• Are the business case, goals,
success criteria clear? ***
• Are project goals aligned with
the organization’s strategy?
• Are there measures for the
success criteria?
• Are the requirements clear?
• Is the scope of the project
clearly defined?
Scale
• Large no. of deliverables?
• Long time-scale? **
• Large no. of resources? **
• High value (budget)? *
• High profile (e.g., strategic,
controversial)?
• Broad scope (e.g., product for
a global marketplace)?
Constraints
• Confidentiality (e.g., IP)?
• Security? *
• Health and Safety? *
• Legislative, compliance? *
Risk and uncertainty
• Is the timescale realistic? *
• Are the implications and side
effects understood?
• Are there a large number of
unknowns? *
• Have the assumptions been
tested?
• Is there a large solution space? *
• Are there many ways of
achieving the solution?
• Is there a high degree of
urgency?
• Is the budget defined?
• Are there significant intangible
benefits?
• Are there interdependencies
between projects? ***
• Are there competing priorities
between projects? ***
• Are there many
interdependencies within project?
• Are there multiple technology
interfaces (hardware, software)?
• Is the product aimed at a new
market?
• Is product highly customized? *
• Does the project involve new
technology? ***
• Has the project been done before
(degree of novelty)? ***
Project organization
Administration
• Project data collection - is
the data:
•Accurate?
•True?
•Complete?
• Project reporting:
•Is the true
progress/status of the
project known?
•Is there information
overload?
•Is status communicated
effectively up, down, and
sideways?
• Is the procurement process
effective? Are project inputs
acquired in a timely
manner?
Decision-making
• Is there effective
governance for project
decision-making? *
• How many levels of
management are involved in
project decision-making?
Project processes
• Are project processes
defined and standardized
but not over-bureaucratic?
• Is there clear responsibility
for tasks and deliverables?
• Are the work packages well
defined?
Project management
methodology (PMM)
• What is the maturity level of
the project organization?
• How well do the project
team understand the PMM?
• Is there a common PMM
used throughout the
project? *
• Is the PMM used for real
(e.g., not subject to arbitrary
override by senior
management on
cost/urgency grounds)
• Is the PMM appropriate to
the project (e.g., is there
blanket use of Prince 2 for
all projects)?
Task
Project team
Project staff
• Are the team members
motivated? *
• Do the team members have
a good attitude?
• Are the team members
committed to the project?
• What is the level of
sickness/absence?
• Are the team members
knowledgeable and
competent: *
• Technical?
• Business?
• Project management?
• Do the team members have
sufficient prior experience:
***
• Technical?
• Business?
• Project management?
• Does the project involve
multiple technical disciplines
and languages? ***
• Has sufficient training been
conducted?
Project manager
• Does the project manager
display leadership?
• Does the project manager
have authority? *
• Is the project manager an
effective communicator? **
Inter-Personal
• Are there cultural
differences between team
members? ***
• Have the team members
worked together before?
• Do the team members trust
each other?
• Are there personality
clashes/rivalry? **
• Do the project team have a
shared vision for the
project? **
Project resources
Resources - human
• Resource availability:
• Are human resources
shared across projects? *
• Do human resources
have sufficient %FTE
allocated to the project?
• To what extent is there
reliance on key experts?
• What is the availability of
key experts? *
• Who controls human
resources for the project? ***
• Does the project manager
have control over resource
selection?
Resources - technology
• Does the project have tool
support?
• Are the tools new?
• Are the tools homegrown/unsupported?
Dynamics
Organizational dynamics
• Is there on-going
organizational restructuring
that impacts the project?
• Does the project involve
organizational restructuring
(e.g., BPR)? *
• Is the culture of the
organization shifting?
• Is the business
environment of the
organization changing?
Stakeholder dynamics
• Are the stakeholders
changing/emerging?
• Is the project sponsor
changing?
Task dynamics
Requirements
• How frequently do the
requirements change? *
• How significant are the
changes to requirements? *
• Is the scope of the project
‘creeping’? *
Change management
• Is the change management
process sufficiently flexible?
• Is the change management
process cost effective?
Resources - financial
• How flexible are project
budgets/financial resources?
Timescale
• Is the project timescale
changing?
Managerial cdc
Structural
External
Stakeholders
Organization
Dynamic
Task
Stakeholder
attributes
Organizational
form
Task attributes
Interstakeholder
relationships
Time and
space
Project
organization
Organizational
dynamics
Stakeholder
dynamics
Task dynamics
Project team
Project
resources
Comparison with PMIBoK
Expectation: Tasks associated with managing projects
greatly assisted by knowledge codified in the BoK.
Test: How well do the 9 knowledge areas cover
managing the 11 categories of issues that make
projects complex to manage?
S’holder
Intreg. Mgt
Scope Mgt
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Time Mgt
Cost Mgt
Quality Mgt
HRM
Comms
Mgt
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Inters’holder
Risk Mgt
Proc. Mgt
S’holder
Dyn.
Geog.

Org. Struc.

Org.
Change
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Proj Team
Task
atributes
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Res.
Proj org
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Task Dyn
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Key:
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- Significant coverage
- Some coverage
- Mentioned
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Describing the context of the project:
What makes a project complex to manage?
Structural
Task
External
Stakeholders
Organisation
Overall
Dynamic
Speculative classification of
managerial task
Structural Level
High
Low
Major
Easy-life
Complex
Agile?
Dynamic Level
Low
High
Research agenda
• General
• What are the key drivers of cdc?
• Can complexity be quantified?
• What is the nature of the interaction effects between
elements of complexity?
• Can complexity be managed?
• How should organisational responses to complexity be
managed?
• Teaching
• Should complexity be reflected in:
• Content of teaching programmes
• BoKs
Project complexity / difficulty /
challenge and teaching
Harvey Maylor
Cranfield School of Management
United Kingdom
harvey.maylor@cranfield.ac.uk