Advanced Project Management: A Course Syllabus*
Background and course objectives:
No business enterprise can survive if it is focused only on improving its operations. Projects are the
engines that drive innovations from idea to commercialization. But projects are also the drivers that
make organizations better, stronger, and more efficient. Research has shown that a great many
projects fail to produce the expected results or are not completed on time or on budget.
You may think that projects fail because of poor planning, lack of communication, or inadequate
resources; but as the evidence suggests, failure is often found even in well-managed projects that
are run by experienced managers and supported by highly regarded organizations. Most project
problems are not technical but managerial. Such problems stem from the mind-set and the
assumptions that drive the traditional approach to project management, rather than from a lack of
process or practice.
This course presents a new model, the adaptive and flexible project management model. The
model considers the strategic as well as the tactical aspects of project performance in the short
term and the long term. To address differences among projects, a diamond-shaped framework is
offered to help managers distinguish among projects according to four dimensions: novelty,
technology, complexity, and pace (NTCP). The diamond is designed to provide a disciplined tool
for analyzing the expected benefits and risks of a project and developing a set of rules and
behaviors for each project type. The diamond analysis is also helpful in assessing a project in
midcourse, identifying possible gaps in a troubled project, and selecting corrective actions to put
the project back on track.
Once adopted, the new model will enable its users in planning and execution of projects and will
focus the attention on more than just meeting time and budget goals, but rather on meeting or
even exceeding business goals.
Topics covered:
Why traditional project management is not enough?
How to define project success?
Adaptive Project Management (the Diamond Model)
The four bases of project management:
Novelty
Technology
Complexity
Pace
How to manage product and business innovation
How markets and industries affect project management
How to manage organizational change
How to introduce the Diamond Model to manage your next project
*
Based on "Reinventing Project Management: The Diamond Approach to Successful Growth and Innovation" (RPM),
by Aaron J. Shenhar and Dov Dvir, Harvard Business School Press, 2007.
Course layout:
Topic 1: A NEW MODEL FOR MANAGING PROJECTS
Traditional project management is no longer enough to ensure success in all projects. Even if
you do everything by the book, you may still fail. There is a need for a new approach and a new
language for managers to understand what project management is all about.
Lesson 1: An introduction - Overview of traditional Project Management, why projects still fail,
projects as the main tool for achieving business goals, how projects differ and why should we
manage different projects in different ways.
Reading: RPM Chapter 1
Case for discussion: Los Angeles Metro subway
Teaching material: RPM slides part 1
Home assignment: Questions from RPM questions pool
Lesson 2: Assessing project success – The multidimensional nature of project success, typical
dimensions of project success, short- and long-term success of the project and its product, success
measures for different project types, the relative importance of success dimensions and how they
change during the project life-cycle.
Reading: RPM Chapter 2
Teaching material: RPM slides part 1
Home assignment: Questions from RPM questions pool
Lesson 3: The Diamond framework – The adaptive project management model and contingency
theory, the four dimensions of the NTCP model (novelty, technology, complexity and pace), how
and for what purposes can the model be used in practice.
Reading: RPM Chapter 3
Case for discussion: Sony’s Walkman
Teaching material: RPM slides part 1
Home assignment: Questions from RPM questions pool
Topic 2: THE FOUR BASES OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
The subject of this topic is the four dimensions (bases) of project distinction and how to adapt
project management to project’s type. The following four lessons are devoted to answering the
question: how do the four project dimensions affect the project organization as well as the
product requirements definition, the technical and the managerial processes conducted during
project execution.
Lesson 4: First base Novelty, how new the product is to the market - the three levels of project
novelty: breakthrough, platform and derivative, how to assess product novelty up front and
determine the managerial implications during planning phase and what marketing strategy will be
best for the product.
Reading: RPM Chapter 4
Case for discussion: The Segway personal transportation system
Teaching material: RPM slides part 2
Home assignment: Questions from RPM questions pool
Lesson 5: Second base Technology, or, more accurately, technological uncertainty — the four
levels of technological uncertainty: low-tech, medium-tech, high-tech, and super-high-tech, how
technological uncertainty affects project management in technical activities such as design,
prototyping, and testing, the special case of super-high-technology projects, the impact of
technology on team skills, communication and potential customers' benefits.
Reading: RPM Chapter 5
Case for discussion: Denver International Airport
Teaching material: RPM slides part 2
Home assignment: Questions from RPM questions pool
Case analysis: Tritec Engine Joint Venture (HBS case 9-600-004)
Lesson 6: Third base Complexity (project complexity, not product complexity) – the three levels of
project complexity: assembly, system and array, how complexity affects project organization and
level of formality, managing system projects, the role of system architecting, system engineering
and system integration, required skills for managing system and array projects.
Reading: RPM Chapter 6
Case for discussion: The English Channel tunnel
Teaching material: RPM slides part 2
Home assignment: Questions from RPM questions pool
Lesson 7: Fourth base Pace, the urgency and criticality of meeting a project’s time goals - the four
levels of pace: regular, fast/competitive, time-critical, and blitz, the impact of pace on project
organization and top management support, the role of contingency planning and improvisation in
blitz projects.
Reading: RPM Chapter 7
Case for discussion: The Y2K problem: A rush to comply
Teaching material: RPM slides part 2
Home assignment: Questions from RPM questions pool
Case analysis: The Perfect Thing (The iPod case)
Topic 3: PUTTING THE DIAMOND MODEL TO WORK
Topic Three illustrates the practical application of the diamond model in various contexts and
environments.
Lesson 8: Managing projects for business and product Innovation - the business needs behind
projects and how they can affect project selection as well as specific project management
practices, the relationship between project management and innovation, “the innovator’s dilemma”
and the customer adoption cycle and project management.
Reading: RPM Chapter 8
Case for discussion: The history of the microwave oven
Teaching material: RPM slides part 3
Home assignment: Questions from RPM questions pool
Case analysis: MS Office 2000 (HBS case 9-600-097)
Additional reading:
Geoffrey A. Moore, Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream
Customers, 2nd ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1999); Clayton M. Christensen, The Innovator’s Dilemma
(Cambridge, MA: HBS Press, 1997); Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor, The Innovator’s
Solution (Boston: Harvard Business School Books, 2003).
Lesson 9: How markets and industries affect project management - various kinds of customers
and markets require various project management styles, the differences in project management
among major industries.
Reading: RPM Chapter 9
Case for discussion: The wire coating project
Teaching material: RPM slides part 3
Home assignment: Questions from RPM questions pool
Lesson 10: Planning and managing projects within the existing organizations - how to apply the
models in organizations and include the adaptive approach as part of existing project management
procedures, how to perform project planning and handle project uncertainty and risk, how to
improve project efficiency, and to make outsourcing decisions.
Reading: RPM Chapter 10
Case for discussion: The Quadrant model
Teaching material: RPM slides part 3
Home assignment: Questions from RPM questions pool
Case analysis: The Boeing 767 (HBS case No. 9-688-040)
Lesson 11: Reinventing Project Management for Your Organization - what executives and
managers need to do to take full advantage of the new approach for the long-term benefits of their
organizations, predictions about the future evolution of project management.
Reading: RPM Chapter 11
Teaching material: RPM slides part 3
Case analysis: The 787 Encounters Turbulence