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8 |
This chapter summarizes the principles and techniques presented in the previous chapters to form a quick reference guide. For information on how these principles and techniques are compatible with the PMBOK® Guide, and extend on the PMBOK® Guide, please refer to Chapter 2 (PMI, 2013). In deciding whether to apply dynamic project management techniques, a practitioner should:
If dynamism is found to be a salient dimension, the manager should consider employing practices that actively embrace rather than resist change.
Dynamic Environment | Problem for Project Management |
High rate of change, in technology, regulation, globalization, and competition. | Events arise at a higher rate than it is practical to re-plan in detail; Environment changes devalue original project goals, requiring constant revision of goals; Environment changes mean time is of the essence, and late delivery is an expensive lost opportunity; and Resisting change compromises business benefits and misses opportunities. |
Dynamic Planning
For projects challenged by rapid change, management techniques optimized for speed and flexibility can be used to optimize results, as depicted in Figure 8.1. Speed and flexibility are the pivotal concepts informing the principles and techniques.
Project managers should commence with clearly stated objectives and a framework plan of milestones and stages that is developed in more detail as the project progresses, using the principles and techniques shown in Table 8.2.
Principles | Techniques |
Emergent Iterative Planning | Initially, a high-level plan is created:
As the project progresses, the project is constantly reviewed (especially at stage gates) to:
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Adaptable Planning | If possible, identify and plan known good “fall back” options as emergency fall backs early, before seeking more efficient or effective approaches; Freeze design for static components early; Start resolving details for dynamic components early with late design freeze just before execution; Use competing experiments to resolve unknowns; Focus on adaptability over predictability; Build in maximum flexibility to facilitate adaptability in later stages; Contract the parts of a project that won't change first using fixed-price contracts, and consider delayed or performance-based contracts for dynamic components. |
Balance Quality with Opportunity | Calculate the likely cost of lost opportunity versus the cost of inadequate quality. |
Guidelines Controls
In dynamic environments, a larger variety of control techniques should be employed to reduce reliance on a detailed plan, since detailed predictions of the future are likely to be somewhat inaccurate. The synthesized principles and techniques associated with guideline controls are presented in Table 8.3. Guideline controls are defined as all alternatives to tight process control, and include input, output, boundary, interactive, diagnostic, and belief system approaches. Behavior control in dynamic environments is less about the detail in a plan and more about creating and adjusting stage gates in a series of exploration efforts, followed by discussions on progress toward goals.
Principles | Techniques |
Guideline Controls | Reduce dependence on planning as a control mechanism, in favor of “guideline” controls:
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Egalitarian, Goal-Orientated Culture That Supports Experimentation
Dynamic environments promote an egalitarian, vision-led, and goal-orientated culture that is pragmatic and supports experimentation. Foster a culture that is authorized to optimize pragmatism and expedience over perfection. If necessary this may require geographical or cultural separation from the larger organization. The principles and techniques associated with the category of culture are presented in Table 8.4.
Principles | Techniques |
Goal-orientated culture that supports experimentation | Focused on a vision with goals, not on strict processes; Pragmatic – suitable and timely is more important than perfect; Collaborative, not directive; Egalitarian with a flat hierarchy; The smallest possible team; Organic, flexible, and adaptive; Experimentation valued for its ability to eliminate dead ends; and More informal processes complement formal ones. |
Timely and Efficient Communication
In dynamic environments, project managers should increase emphasis on fast, timely, and succinct communication, applying the principles and techniques presented in Table 8.5.
Principles | Techniques |
Timely and efficient communication | Enable more regular communication of all types (colocate staff, have attractive lunch rooms, and social events); Increased emphasis on fast, timely, and succinct communication over slow formal communication (e.g., bullet points over minutes); Adjust communication rates according to needs; Use rapid communication during periods of rapid change; Timeliness over thoroughness; and Facilitate direct communication channels that bypass organizational levels, if required. |
Flexible Leadership with Rapid Decision Making
In dynamic environments, project managers should employ flexible leadership with rapid decision making, based on the principles and techniques presented in Table 8.6.
Principles | Techniques |
Flexible leadership with rapid decision making | Highly adaptable and flexible; deals with ambiguity and can trade off interim goals to achieve final goals and optimize benefits. Courage to say no, and be realistic; Select stability that allows flexibility; High levels of situational awareness developed through diagnostic and interactive controls (Chapter 4); Ability to quickly mobilize responses (through authority, trust, and collaboration); Leader enables rapid decision making through: (a) delegating decisions, (b) rapid feedback, (c) clear authority and accountability, (d) a focus on pragmatism, (e) researched alternatives, and (f) pre-planned responses; Decisions are delegated by communicating vision and goals to an experienced trusted team; Timely and reasonable decisions are facilitated by: (a) high levels of situational awareness (rapid, constant data collection), and (b) pre-planned responses; Rewards experimentation as useful input. |
Structured Experimentation
In dynamic environments, project managers should use structured experimentation and innovation to resolve unknowns, applying the principles and techniques presented in Table 8.7.
Principles | Techniques |
Employ structured experimentation to resolve unknowns Promote and allow innovation |
Use competing parallel experiments to resolve unknowns, and to save time and money, or improve quality; Set clear objectives and time limits with strict review points; Attach small safe amounts of research work to existing robust projects; Encourage experimentation and accept failures as constructive contributions; Have the courage to kill dead ends, constantly redirecting resources to the most promising alternatives; Develop separate career structures to encourage capability development in both innovation management and technology. |
Summary of Themes
Table 8.8 highlights the key differences between mostly static environment projects and mostly dynamic environment projects. While it is not argued that either extreme exists exactly as described, the contrast serves to illustrate the key differentiators and project management approaches required. The reality is that most projects have an element of dynamism that exists somewhere between these extremes and so a compromise between these two extremes is required. An alternate representation of the themes is provided in Figure 8.2.
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