Archive for the ‘Actuality Research’ Category

Making a difference? Evaluating an innovative approach to the project management Centre of Excellence in a UK government department (O’Leary & Williams, 2008)

Donnerstag, Oktober 23rd, 2008

Making a difference? Evaluating an innovative approach to the project management Centre of Excellence in a UK government department (O’Leary & Williams, 2008)

O’Leary, Tim; Williams, Terry: Making a difference? Evaluating an innovative approach to the project management Centre of Excellence in a UK government department; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 26 (2008), No. 5, pp. 556-565.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2008.05.013

The UK has rolled out the ambitious programme of setting-up IT Centres of Excellence in all its departments. Focal point of these Centres of Excellence are Programme Offices.

The role of these Programme Offices has been defined as: Reporting, Recovering & Standardising.
The objectives for the programme offices are monitoring and reporting the status of the IT initiatives in the department, and implementing a structured life cycle methodology. This methodology ties in with a stage-gate framework that needs to be introduced. Additionally hit-teams of delivery managers have been set-up to turn-around ailing projects.

O’Leary and Williams find that the interventions seem to work successfully, whereas the reporting and standardisation objective has yet to be fulfilled. Moreover the authors analyse the root causes for this success. They found that the basis of success was:

  • Administrative control of department’s IT budget
  • Leadership of IT director
  • Exploitation of project management rhetoric
  • Quality of delivery managers

Tailored task forces: Temporary organizations and modularity (Waard & Kramer, 2008)

Montag, Oktober 20th, 2008

Tailored task forces: Temporary organizations and modularity (Waard & Kramer, 2008)

Waard, Erik J. de; Kramer, Eric-Hans: Tailored task forces – Temporary organizations and modularity; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 26 (2008), No. 5, pp. 537-546.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2008.05.007

As a colleague once put it: Complex projects should be organised like terrorist organisations – Autonomous cells of highly motivated individuals.

Waard & Kramer do not analyse projects but it’s fast paced and short lived cousin – the task force. The task force is THE blueprint for an temporary organisation. The authors found that the more modularised the parent company is, the easier it is to set-up a task force/temporary organisations. Waard & Kramer also found that the temporary organisations are more stable if set-up by modular parent companies. They explain this with copying readily available organisational design principles and using well excercised behaviours to manage these units.

The more interesting second part of the article describes how a company can best set-up task forces. Waard & Kramer draw their analogy from Modular Design.

„Building a complex system from smaller subsystems that are independently designed yet function together“

The core of modular design is to establish visible design rules and hidden design parameters. The authors describe that rules need to be in place for (1) architecture, (2) interfaces, and (3) standards. The remaining design decisions is left in the hands of the task force, which is run like a black box.
In this case Architecture defines which modules are part of the system and what each modules functionality is. Interface definition lays out how these modules interact and communication. Lastly, the Standards define how modules are tested and how their performance is measured.

From organising as projects to projects as organisations (van Donk & Molloy, 2008)

Dienstag, Oktober 7th, 2008

From organising as projects to projects as organisations (van Donk & Molloy, 2008)

van Donk, Dirk Pieter; Molloy, Eamonn: From organising as projects to projects as organisations; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 26 (2008), No. 2, pp. 129-137.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2007.05.006

van Donk & Molloy use two case studies to analyse the antecedents of a chosen project structure. Based on the work of Minzberg (1979) the authors identify five different forms of projects which can be mainly distinguished by their coordination mechanism

  • Simple structure → direct supervision
  • Machine bureaucracy → standardisation of processes
  • Professional bureaucracy → standardisation of skills
  • Divisionalised form → standardisation of outputs
  • Adhocracy → mutual adjustment

The authors identify which antecendents impact the choosen project structure

  • Age and size
  • Regulation and sophistication of the technical system
  • Environmental stability, complexity, market diversity, hostility
  • External control
  • Internal power

Post-project reviews as a key project management competence (Anbari et al., 2008)

Mittwoch, September 17th, 2008

 Post-project reviews as a key project management competence

Anbari, Frank T.; Carayannis, Elias G.; Voetsch, Robert J.: Post-project reviews as a key project management competence; in: Technovation, Vol. 28 (2008), No. 10, pp. 633-643.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2007.12.001

George Santayana was the wise guy who said: „Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.“ At university I learned that 2 strategies exist to make an organisation remember it’s past – Internalisation and Codification. While internalisation usually happens anyway and an organisation only needs to keep track on who did which projects in the past, so that he can be interviewed, the codification bit is tricky.

Anbari et al. describe which interest are held by which stakeholder group and how that is going to impact any knowledge management or lack thereof. The authors also outline useful techniques and critical aspects, plus when project reviews are most usefully held during the project lifecycle.

Furthermore, the paper discusses where post-project reviews fit into the project life cycle and project management processes. It assesses how such reviews can assist an organization in improving the manner in which its projects are conceived, planned, implemented, reported, and evaluated.

Finally Anbari et al. outline a 3-fold growth model for organisations
(1) Vicious circle = no real reviews
(2) Functional circle = reviews which no one knows about
(3) Virtuous circle = reviews everybody knows.

Project Management Practice, Generic or Contextual – Reality Check (Besner & Hobbs, 2008)

Dienstag, August 12th, 2008

Tool usage in different types of projects

Besner, Claude; Hobbs, Brian: Project Management Practice, Generic or Contextual – Reality Check; in: Project Management Journal, Vol. 39 (2008), No. 1, pp. 16-33.

Besner & Hobbs investigate the use of project management tools. In a broad survey among 750 practitioners, they try to find patterns when different tools are applied to manage a project. They authors show that tool usage depends on the factors

  • Organisational maturity level of project management
  • Project similarity and familiarity
  • Level of uncertainty in project definition
  • Internal customer vs. external customer
  • Project size and duration
  • Product type

Among these factors the last one is the most interesting. Besner & Hobbs grouped their sample into three legs according to product type a) engineering & construction, b) IT, and c) business services.
So where do IT projects fall short compared to their counterparts in Engineering and Construction?
One area is the vendor management (bidding documents, conferences, evaluations) which is a strong point in E&C but a weak one in IT. Another area is the cost planning (financial measurements, cost data bases, top-down/bottom-up estimation, software for estimating costs) and in execution IT projects show lesser usage of Earned Value Techniques and Value Analysis.
[Fair enough – I do think – the intangibility of IT projects makes it difficult to apply these concepts unbiased and meaningfully].

Effective Project Sponsorship – An Evaluation of the Role of the Executive Sponsor in Complex Infrastructure Projects by Senior Managers (Helm & Remington, 2005)

Montag, August 11th, 2008

Success Factors for Project Sponsors

Helm, Jane; Remingtone, Kayne: Effective Project Sponsorship – An Evaluation of the Role of the Executive Sponsor in Complex Infrastructure Projects by Senior Managers; in: Journal of Project Management, Vol. 36 (2005), No. 3, pp. 51-61.

Helm & Remington used a Grounded Theory approach to explore the role of Project Sponsors in semi-structured in-depth interviews. They identified 9 success factors:

  1. Seniority
  2. Political knowledge & savvy
  3. Connect project and organisation
  4. Battle for the project
  5. Motivate team
  6. Partner with project team
  7. Communication skills
  8. Compatibility with project team
  9. Provide objectivity and challenge project

We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto – Mapping the Strange Landscape of Complexity Theory, and its Relationship to Project Management (Cooke-Davis et al. 2007)

Montag, August 11th, 2008

Complexity Theory and Project Management

Cooke-Davis, Terry; Cicmil, Svetlana; Crawford, Lynn; Richardson, Kurt: We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto – Mapping the Strange Landscape of Complexity Theory, and its Relationship to Project Management; in: Journal of Project Management, Vol. 38 (2007), No. 2, pp. 50-61.

Cooke-Davis et al. describe the origins of Complexity Theory as it has emerged from the fields of Life Science, Physical Science, and Mathematics since the 1960s. The authors apply  a selection of interesting concepts first described by Complexity Theory onto Project Management. Among those are Non-Linearity, emergence of organisation, states of chaos vs. stability, stability & fractals, radical unpredictability, complex responsive processes.

What does this mean for project management? Firstly, project managers should be aware of patterns of communication and relating on the project and should engage themselves in these. Secondly project members need to learn to tolerate anxiety and to cope with not having control over the project. The authors recommend a goal driven, enabling organisation instead of a control focussed management.

Directions for future research in project management: The main findings of a UK government-funded research network (Winter et al. 2006)

Montag, August 11th, 2008

Directions of future research in project management

Winter, Mark; Smith, Charles; Morris, Peter; Cicmil, Svetlana: Directions for future research in project management – The main findings of a UK government-funded research network; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 24 (2006), No. 8, pp. 638-649.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2006.08.009 

To start with Winter et al. give a short overview of the research history. In their conceptualisation of project management’s history research started as a hard systems model forked afterwards into two different foci (1) execution and (2) organisational design. The organisational design stream developed into research of ad hoc & temporary organisations. This stream forked into 4 different streams a) subsequently focussed on major projects and lately on a management of project’s framework, b) analysed strategic decisions, c) viewed projects as information processing entities, and d) researched critical management.

Winter et al. outline 3 distinctive directions for future research – Theory ABOUT, FOR, and IN practice. Theory about practice should focus on complexity theory. The theory for practice on social processes, value creation, and a broad concept of project management. The theory in practice should create practitioners who are reflective practitioners and not merely trained technicians.

Determinants for external communications of IT project managers (Müller 2003)

Montag, Juli 14th, 2008

 Determinants of Communication

Müller, Ralf: Determinants for external communications of IT project managers; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 21 (2003), No. 5, pp. 345-354.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(02)00053-4

Müller analysis empirically the determinants of external communication of IT project managers in a business-to-business market. The study is based on the concepts of Media Richness Theory (which postulates that the richer the medium the more effective the communication) and Transaction Economics.

Müller finds no evidence for an influence of the organisation’s structure. The risk in the project has a negative impact on communication frequency and communication contents in general. Specifically he finds that higher risk increases communications frequency and preference for face-to-face meetings whilst decreasing the preference for written reports.
Relational norms have a positive influence on communication frequency, media, and contents.

No Project is an Island (Engwall, 2003)

Mittwoch, Juli 9th, 2008

No Project is an Island

Engwall, Mats: No project is an island – linking projects to history and context; in: Research Policy, Vol. 32 (2003), No. 5, pp. 789-808.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0048-7333(02)00088-4

I read this article for it’s research implications. Engwall starts with the argument that a project’s success is not independent of the project’s context and the organisations history of previous projects. There is one great point in his argument: Projects become increasingly difficult if they are innovative. BUT innovativeness of a project does not depend whether the project manager has done something similar before, it depends on how new the sponsor thinks his project is.

Engwall’s implications are clear: extend the scope of research time wise and department wise. Furthermore he makes his stand for an open systems approach in researching projects.

Are we any closer to the end? Escalation and the case of Taurus (Drummond, 1999)

Dienstag, Juli 8th, 2008

Taurus

Drummond, Helga: Are we any closer to the end? Escalation and the case of Taurus; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 17 (1999), No. 1, pp. 11-16.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(97)00074-4

The Taurus Project is a great case study. First of all it is a failed IT project. It took the project some 500 million GBP and 5 years to fail. And secondly it was a visionary project overhauling the IT of the London financial market. Drummond examines the route to failure. In this article she applies Escalation Theory aka Escalation of Commitment or the Vietnam War Syndrome as it was labelled in Freakonomics.

What did Drummond see? A destructive progression, i.e., one sub-optimal decision leading to another sub-optimal decision, that leading to another sub-optimal decision and so on. This effect was reinforced by an effect first found by Kahnemann & Tversky. They showed that gradual deterioration in a condition is usually underestimated and goes unnoticed. [Therefore addicts need an intervention]

What are the lessons learned?
Avoid the Garbage Can Effect. Don’t let the solution dictate the problem. Especialy if you have a keen vendor.
Make progress tangible. On Taurus experienced managers where struggling with controlling and managing the project because progress in IT systems‘ development can not be touched.
Engage in Second-Order Thinking. First-order thinking is solving the problem with the usual problem solving patterns, aka ‚more of the same‘. This does not help in deteriorating conditions. To break that vicious cycle second-order thinking is needed, which basically examines the assumptions of given decisions, plans, requirements, solutions.
And lastly balance power and responsibility. Politics and outside over steering destroyed the power and responsibility balance in this case. Project Managers had huge responsibilities but no decision power whatsoever to really solve the problem. Even if they saw recognised the problem and asked for project cancellation earlier than it was acknowledged by the project board.

Rethinking Project Management: Researching the actuality of projects (Cicmil et al. 2006)

Dienstag, Juli 8th, 2008

Rethinking PM

Svetlana Cicmil, Svetlana; Williams, Terry; Thomas, Janice; Hodgson, Damian: Rethinking Project Management – Researching the actuality of projects; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 24 (2006), No. 8, pp. 675-686
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2006.08.006

Cicmil et al. describe their idea for the future direction of project management research. The authors outline 3 ideas they had in mind when thinking about project management. (1) projects are complex social settings loaded with conflicts, (2) project management practice is a social conduct, (3) Heidegger’s Da-Sein.  With this starting point Cicmil et al. describe their methodological considerations which are rooted in pragmatic epistemology. They argue that in this tradition non-quantitative research can build epistemic theories.

Moreover Cicmil et al. outline quality criteria/standards for Actuality Research. It needs to fulfil practical reasoning, sense-making and thus it can explain hard to quantify concepts of emotions, power, tensions, negotiations, and political agendas. Finally they highlight topics for future research which are suited to be explored using an Actuality Research approach.