The bare minimum?

What we have learned in our research over the last decade is, that one size of project management does not fit all projects anymore. The management approach has to be adapted to the complexity, the environment, the amount and wishes of stakeholders to just name a few. The main question that we have dealt with in this course is how to cope or to master complexity. And like always, there is not just one perfect solution. It is most of the time a mix of experience, compromises and circumstances that helps you in deciding how to deal with the actual situation and the circumstances. What we have learned however is that adaptation is best described by scaling the amount and the level of the activities rather than skipping activities. What we can learn from the management of small projects is that all activities have to be performed but the extent and intensity can be adapted to the context of the project. What we have furthermore learned from our research is that there is no silver bullet: there is not just one activity that, when applied, delivers a successful outcome.

However, there are a number of necessary activities that enable a successful outcome, unfortunately these are necessary and not just sufficient. The activities that we have seen to fall in this category are: team building, defining and aligning on a shared goal, timely involvement of all parties in the project and active goal monitoring. A number of these activities can most of the time be captured in an opportunity framing session at the early start of a project. In this session also a first attempt to assess the expected complexity (footprint) can be done together with a decision on the preferred way of managing the project. Another essential element in the opportunity framing session will be making the start of a risk register, one of the most essential elements in successfully managing your project. A risk register is made early in the project but will have to be monitored and updated on a regular basis. At least once a month, preferably more often. This is our experience and our view based on research predominantly done within the process industry.