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Book Review: Managing Complex Projects: A New Model

Complex adaptive systems are systems composed of diverse and interconnected parts, with the capacity to change and learn from experience. Typical examples include the stock market and ant colonies, although the former may sometimes appear to be resistant to learning. While many managers have long contended that their projects are complex, there has been a growing interest in ideas related to complexity theory as a way of understanding and reasoning about the characteristics and dynamics of projects. Treating projects as complex adaptive systems may thus offer the potential to derive new insights about the nature of projects and to develop fresh methods for dealing with their intricate aspects. Managing Complex Projects: A New Model is the first book to adopt the lens of complexity from a project practitioner perspective. Kathleen Hass contends that conventional project management processes are often overwhelmed by the complexity of project environments leading to challenged projects. Indeed, traditional project management models simply don’t work when projects are strategically important, highly visible, politically charged, and riddled with constraints and conflicting expectations. As projects become ever more demanding, the stakes get higher and the resulting failures more spectacular. Success requires a new way of thinking about projects. To guide readers through this uncharted territory, the book is divided into four parts. The first part sets the scene by exploring the nature and terminology of complexity theory and introducing a new model and framework designed to determine how to tackle a project based on the level of complexity. The second part is concerned with identifying and assigning appropriate project leaders for complex projects. The third part follows by exploring the choice of project cycles; the fourth part, which forms the bulk of the book, matches the selection of an appropriate management style to the level of complexity in a project environment. The value of the book starts with the development of a new perspective and the insights that emerge. The two-page framework developed as a matrix in the early part, which is also included as a card pullout, covers 11 dimensions of complexity. These range from time and cost and team size to the volatility of requirements, level of change, and politics. The dimensions encompass the Project Management Institute’s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)—Fourth Edition Knowledge Areas as well as the priorities expressed in the work of the Standish Group. It is a useful tool and starting point for characterizing projects and diagnosing the complexity dimensions. The skill set required for delivery is also changing. Rather than focusing on selecting excellent managers, delivering successful complex projects is concerned with leading diverse teams involving experts and specialists. The book distills the required competencies using previously published criteria. The project cycles cover the various levels of complexity and are mainly derived from the IT literature. They range from the waterfall model to evolutionary prototyping and extreme project management. However, the truly useful discussion emerges in the nine chapters dedicated to the different dimensions of complexity, which range from large, longduration projects to highly innovative urgent projects, and from ambiguous business problems to large-scale change initiatives. The specific tactics relate the techniques to each dimension recommending the use of stage gates and rigorous risk management in some contingencies and time-boxing and edge-of-chaos management in others. The nine chapters are peppered with vignettes, short case studies, quotes, and recipes for success. Each offers a comprehensive discussion of the key concerns with ideas and advice on how to mitigate them. The book is unique and full of good ideas and insights. It is useful in making sense of many project situations. Nonetheless, there are a number of small niggling issues. The first part of the book distinguishes between complex, complexity, and complicated, only to flout the distinctions in subsequent discussion. The discussion is grounded in IT environments. This results in biased dimensions whereby a project lasting longer than 6 months is characterized as highly complex. The frameworks offered add value. They may need to be tailored and adjusted to suit alternative domains and sectors, but they do provide an excellent starting point. The different scenarios give a solid grounding in the challenges as well as suggestions for mitigating their impacts. The book would suit practitioners looking to improve their success rates as well as students searching for practical tools.