Planning, Tracking, and Reducing a Complex Project’s Value at Risk

Uncertainty, risk, and rework make it extremely challenging to meet goals and deliver anticipated value in complex projects, and conventional techniques for planning and tracking earned value do not account for these phenomena. This article presents a methodology for planning and tracking cost, schedule, and technical performance (or quality) in terms of a project’s key value attributes and threats to them. It distinguishes four types of value and two general types of risks. The “high jumper” analogy helps to consider how high the “bar” is set for a project (its set goals) and therefore how challenging and risky it will be. A project’s capabilities as a “jumper” (to clear the bar and meet its goals) determine the portion of its value at risk (VaR). By understanding the amounts of value, risk, and opportunity in a project, project managers can design it for appropriate levels of each. Project progress occurs through reductions in its VaR: Activities “add value” by chipping away at the project’s “anti-value”—the risks that threaten value. This perspective on project management incentivizes generating results that eliminate these threats, rather than assuming that value exists until proven otherwise.

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Differences of the Project Management and Program Management

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.1030-1032.2547 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 1030-1032 ◽

pp. 2547-2550

Author(s):

Hai Xie

Keyword(s):

Project Management ◽

Systems Engineering ◽

Program Management ◽

Project Managers ◽

Project Management Office ◽

Program Manager ◽

Complex Projects ◽

Decision Making Capacity ◽

Cross Project ◽

Project Level

Program management is the process of managing several related projects, often with the intention of improving an organization's performance. In practice and in its aims it is often closely related to systems engineering and industrial engineering. The Program Manager has oversight of the purpose and status of all projects in a Program and can use this oversight to support project-level activity to ensure the overall program goals are likely to be met, possibly by providing a decision-making capacity that cannot be achieved at project level or by providing the Project Manager with a program perspective when required, or as a sounding board for ideas and approaches to solving project issues that have program impacts. Typically in a program there is a need to identify and manage cross-project dependencies and often the PMO (Program or Project Management Office) may not have sufficient insight of the risk, issues, requirements, design or solution to be able to usefully manage these. The Program manager may be well placed to provide this insight by actively seeking out such information from the Project Managers although in large and/or complex projects, a specific role may be required. However this insight arises, the Program Manager needs this in order to be comfortable that the overall program goals are achievable.

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Fuzzy-interval modification of the earned value method in manufacturing digitalization project management

MATEC Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/matecconf/202031102023 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 311 ◽

pp. 02023

Author(s):

Daria Korenkova

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Project Management ◽

Methodological Approach ◽

Recommendation Systems ◽

Digital Transformation ◽

Earned Value ◽

Complex Projects ◽

Fuzzy Interval

The specifics of managing complex projects of digital transformation of the industry are considered, the problems of decision making in conditions of uncertainty, insufficient formalization and structuring of tasks are disclosed. A methodological approach to the fuzzyinterval assessment of the indicators of the mastered volume in the management of production digitalization projects is proposed. Directions for the implementation of the proposed approach in expert and recommendation systems are determined.

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Tension Awareness of Stakeholders in Large Technology Projects: A Duality Perspective

Project Management Journal ◽

10.1177/875697281704800102 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 48 (1) ◽

pp. 19-36 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Albert Boonstra ◽

Marjolein A. G. van Offenbeek ◽

Janita F. J. Vos

Keyword(s):

Project Management ◽

Electronic Health Record ◽

Management Practices ◽

Project Managers ◽

Health Record ◽

Large Hospital ◽

Complex Projects ◽

Electronic Health

This article analyzes the tensions evolving from project management dilemmas and how they relate to stakeholders in large technology projects. The study addresses an organization-wide electronic health record implementation in a large hospital. It adopts a duality lens in exploring whether and how these tensions materialize through stakeholder voices. In contrast to traditional linear and unitarist thinking in project management, duality thinking may lead to project management practices that acknowledge, appreciate, and accommodate the tensions originating from dilemmas inherent in complex projects. We propose three stakeholder roles that can contribute to project managers’ tension awareness and inform duality management.

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We're not in Kansas Anymore, Toto: Mapping the Strange Landscape of Complexity Theory, and Its Relationship to Project Management

Project Management Journal ◽

10.1177/875697280703800206 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 38 (2) ◽

pp. 50-61 ◽

Cited By ~ 107

Author(s):

Terry Cooke-Davies ◽

Svetlana Cicmil ◽

Lynn Crawford ◽

Kurt Richardson

Keyword(s):

Project Management ◽

Lived Experience ◽

Management Practice ◽

Project Managers ◽

Human Beings ◽

Team Members ◽

Complex Projects ◽

Scientific Disciplines ◽

Intractable Problems ◽

Complex Responsive Processes

Both practitioners and researchers in the field of project management have referred to problems caused by complexity or problems of particular significance to complex projects. In different scientific disciplines investigations into the behavior of complex dynamical systems are revealing insights that, taken together, amount to a challenge to the prevalent Cartesian/Newtonian/Enlightenment paradigm from which the practice of project management has emerged. Concepts such as nonlinearity, emergence, self-organization, and radical unpredictability have major implications for the uncodified paradigm that underpins project management practice and research. Taken together, they amount to a complementary way of thinking and talking about projects and their management that might shed new light on intractable problems that appear to plague certain areas of project management practice. One strand within complexity studies that holds particular promise is complex responsive processes of relating, a means of talking about how human beings interact and learn and how their interactions evolve over time and across space. A new program of research, of which this paper forms part, will apply this conceptual framework to the lived experience of project teams, including executive sponsors, project managers and project team members.

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Artificial intelligence applications for project management

Connectivity ◽

10.31673/2412-9070.2020.054855 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 146 (5) ◽

Author(s):

O. V. Polonevych ◽

◽

I. M. Sribna ◽

V. R. Mykolaychuk ◽

O. M. Tkalenko ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Artificial Intelligence ◽

Project Management ◽

New Technologies ◽

Stakeholder Management ◽

Project Managers ◽

Team Members ◽

Software Products ◽

New Methods ◽

Complex Projects ◽

Opening Up

According to statistics, most projects (especially in the field of IT) are completed late, with budget overruns, or not completed at all. That is why new methods are being developed and the possibilities of applying new technologies for project management are being considered. The most promising in this regard is the use of artificial intelligence. The concepts and algorithms of artificial intelligence are widely discussed in terms of their potential for automation in business, industry and society. At first glance, project management seems less suitable for automation due to the inherent uniqueness of projects by definition. However, artificial intelligence is also opening up new possibilities for project management applications. This article will provide an overview and assessment of how artificial intelligence can be used in project management and how it can help project managers in their day to day work. A list of the main software products for project management, in which artificial intelligence technologies are integrated, with an indication of their functionality is given. It’s safe to say that with the advent of artificial intelligence, project managers will be able to optimize their efforts to accelerate the success of their product. At this point, the evolution of project management using artificial intelligence and bots is just beginning, but soon it will really change the way we manage projects. The analysis shows that the use of artificial intelligence technologies for project management will be especially effective in cases of complex projects that involve processing and analyzing large amounts of data for decision making. Obviously, using artificial intelligence will automate mundane, simple tasks like estimating an hour, scheduling a project, assigning the most effective team members, distributing risky information on a project, etc. But in terms of team management, conflict management, stakeholder management, artificial intelligence is not will replace the human qualities of the project manager.

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