how hard can it be? complexity and response in major projects
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How hard can it be?Managerial complexity
and response in projectsDr Harvey Maylor
PMPC Ltd and Said Business School
The challengeResults consistent:• >68% of projects failingMajor challenge for organisations and nations:• Capex - $18Trillion global
fixed capital formation, 2013.• Strategies, initiatives,
innovations• Revenue
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Complexity – a crisis?
Time
Complexity / Capability
Complexity
Capability
Journey in complexity• Late 1990s – complexity a
good thing, complexity science, analogy.
• “Embrace complexity” (e.g. Boisot and Child, Org Sci, 1999)
• Up to 2006 – CCPM, more standards.
• 2006 on – what is complexity in projects and how do you manage complexity?
Identify managerial
complexities
Actively manage
complexities
Working framework
Complexity assessment
tool
Resolve, reduce, run with
Determine managerial response
Processes, people,paradoxes
Project Complexity: TIPS• Temporality: the assessment is valid only at the time that
it was made and for a limited period (e.g. a single phase or stage of a project into the future).
• Interactive: the complexity is affected by the (in)actions of those responding to a perceived complexity.
• Position in WBS: complexities differ depending on the level being considered (e.g. programme vs project vs task)
• Subjective not objective – the assessment depends on individual attitude, experience, role, responsibility and perceived ability to influence.
Academic Background Extensive work on understanding what ‘complexity’
means in the project/ programme context. Can be summarised into 3 key dimensions:
Structural complexities
Socio-political complexities
Emergent complexities
Representing Complexities
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Low
Medium
High
Structural Complexity
Socio-Political Complexity
Emergent Complexity
KeyProject 1Project 2
Managing Complexities
Resolve – make it go away
Reduce – make less severe
Run with it – work out response
Q. In 43 workshops with a total of 1100 managers, what % of the identified complexities were they able to plan to resolve or reduce?
A. 22% B. 52% C.82%
Responding to Complexities
Responding to Complexities Complexity response more
than this area?
Responding to complexities: project leadership and the primary colours model
Influencer:relationship-builder
Strategist:Proactive, adaptive
S
E S-P
Manager / Operations deconstruct and solve
Responding to complexities: people
We asked a group of 246 PMs these questions “In your work, which of the 3
complexities is the most difficult to manage?”
“In your own formal training and development, which of the 3
complexities has received the most attention?”
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Future research:Complexity and response
Complexity of Response
So what?Complexities of projectsRRRComplexity response
References:Maylor, H., Turner, N. and Murray-Webster, R. (2013), ‘How Hard Can It Be? Actively Managing the Complexity of Technology Projects,’ Research-Technology Management, (3*), Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 45-51.
Geraldi, J., Maylor, H. & Williams, T. (2011), “Now Let’s Make It Really Complex (Complicated): a systematic review of the complexities of projects,” International Journal of Operations and Production Management, (4*) Vol. 31, No. 9, pp. 966-990.
Maylor, H., Vidgen, R. and Carver, S. (2008), “Managerial Complexity in Project-Based Operations: A Grounded Model and Its Implications for Practice,” Project Management Journal, (2*) Vol. 39 No.S1, pp. 15-26.
How hard can it be?Managerial complexity
and response in projectsDr Harvey Maylor
PMPC Ltd and Said Business [email protected] / [email protected]