The integration of ideation and project portfolio management — A key factor for sustainable success

Effective management of single projects is no longer sufficient. In today's business market, proactive management of the whole project portfolio has become increasingly important for achieving long-term success and competitive advantage. At the front end of projects, opportunities are discovered, ideas are created, and the foundation for later project, portfolio, and, eventually, corporate success is laid. This paper contributes to the project management body of knowledge by combining the front end view on projects with the holistic view of managing project portfolio landscapes. It focuses on establishing a framework for conceptualization of the relationship between ideation and project portfolio management in product development environment by relating ideation portfolio management, front end success, and project portfolio success, and lays the groundwork for further empirical research. The overarching topic I address is the conceptualization of how ideation can facilitate and sustainably improve portfolio success in the product development environment in the long-term.     

Florence Duomo project (1420–1436): Learning best project management practice from history

This paper narrates the project management of the construction of the Florence Duomo by Filippo Brunelleschi in the fifteenth century. This was the most significant dome project in Europe in 1300 years, and possibly the most significant, innovative and complex project of the Renaissance era (Colombo and Lanzavecchia, 1997). It still stands as the largest brick dome ever built. In order to achieve what seemed technically impossible at the time, Brunelleschi researched and adapted the construction and project management of the Pantheon in Rome in the second century. The paper allows us in turn to learn both product and process innovation from this case study, both of which are essential to contemporary project management practice. The case is valuable in understanding key drivers of project management success, and illustrates the substantial potential for learning, and therefore knowledge transfer, from previous historical projects and experiences.     

Complex project management as complex problem solving: A distributed knowledge management perspective

Traditional project management (PM) privileges planning and downplays the role of learning even in more complex projects. In contrast, this paper draws inspiration from two organisations that were found to have developed complex PM expertise as a form of complex problem solving (CPS), a practice with implicit learning because complex projects are unable to be completely specified in advance ( Hayek, 1945). Central to this view of complex project management as a form of complex problem solving is the governance challenge of knowledge management under uncertainty. This paper proposes that the distributed coordination mechanism which both organisations evolved for this contingency can best be characterised as a ‘common will of mutual interest’, a self-organising process that was fostered around project goals and paced by the project life cycle ( Kogut and Zander, 1992). The implications for theory, research, and practice in complex PM knowledge management are examined.     

A project sponsor's impact on practice-based learning within projects

Drawing on a longitudinal action research case study analysis of project-based learning, this paper seeks to advance a deeper understanding of a project sponsor's impact on practice-based learning activity within a project. It represents a first case examination of the interface between a sponsor and practice-based learning phenomenon within projects. The reported findings argue for the project sponsor role to be acknowledged as dynamic and interactive and a dramatic influence on project practice-based learning. It also implies that a sponsor confronts some significant dilemmas in successfully stewarding such learning. Moreover, through such endeavour, the sponsor may also become an agent for organizational learning. The findings generated also encourage further investigations into the nexus between the sponsor and other social phenomenon within projects.     

The effects of schedule-driven project management in multi-project environments

Prior work has affirmed the importance of studying project management in multi-project environments. A challenge in these settings pertains to the need to share skilled resources across concurrent projects when project management is schedule-driven and resource capacity is fully committed. To probe into this problem, we use a system dynamics simulation grounded on in-depth fieldwork with a high-performance truck developer. We simulate the effects of capturing resources allocated originally to one project so as to speed up another product development project that started late. Our central contribution is to illuminate how a schedule-driven project management policy can lead to a vicious cycle that degrades the organization's capability to meet the planned project milestones in the long-term. Whilst capturing resources can ensure that a tardy but ‘business-critical’ project is delivered on time, if the organization has no free resource capacity and is also not recruiting more staff, this practice harms the schedule performance of the projects deprived from resources. Further, the workforce's productivity gradually deteriorates as the frequency with which staff switches back and forth between projects increases. These effects compounded cause delays in all the subsequent projects, irremediably degrading the organization's capability to deliver projects on time reliably.     

The management of project management: A conceptual framework for project governance

For an organization to create optimal value from its investment in projects there must be a clear link between the outputs created by the projects and the requirements of the organization's business strategy. This means that organizations that have a structure in place for aligning the project deliverables with their organizational goals will be better placed to realize their investment in projects, and achieve the value defined by their business strategies. This paper examines existing research, ideas and concepts of project governance and enterprise project management, and offers a framework to build on current theory development and practice. Synthesizing existing literature of project/program management, governance and portfolio management, this paper proposes four key elements to improve the performance of projects and hence create value for organizations. These four elements are (1) portfolio management: focused on selecting the right projects and programs to support the organization's strategy, and terminating ones that no longer contribute to the business success of the organization; (2) project sponsorship: providing the direct link between the executive and the project or program manager, focused on the whole project lifecycle; (3) Project Management Office (PMO): providing oversight and strategic reporting capabilities; (4) projects and program support: the effective support and management of projects and programs are the measures of an effective governance system. The purpose of the framework described in this paper is to provide guidance to organizations in the development of effective project governance to optimize the management of projects.     

The project workplace for organizational learning development

This paper conceptually examines how and why projects and project teams may be conceived as highly generative episodic individual and team learning places that can serve as vehicles or agents to promote organizational learning. It draws on and dissects a broad and relevant literature concerning situated learning, organizational learning, learning spaces and project management. The arguments presented signal a movement towards a project workplace becoming more organizationally acknowledged and supported as a learning intense entity wherein, learning is a more conspicuous, deliberate and systematic social activity by project participants. This paper challenges conventional and limited organizational perceptions about project teams and their practices and discloses their extended value contributions to organizational learning development.     

Knowledge integration in IPPD project: role of shared project mission,mutual trust,and mutual influence

Project integration is an important management issue related to product development performance outcomes. Design, development, production, and commercialization of new products and services require a project team's ability to acquire and integrate different knowledge bases of internal capabilities, customers, and suppliers. A literature gap exists regarding critical drivers of knowledge integration and shared knowledge in product development projects that needs to be identified and scientifically validated. Based on goal setting, social exchange, and information processing theories, the current study identifies antecedents of knowledge integration in terms of a shared project mission, mutual trust, and mutual influence, and investigates key relationships among these antecedents to determine the effect of knowledge integration on integrated product and process development (IPPD) project outcomes. Proposed hypothetical relationships among these constructs were tested on primary data collected from 191 respondents (OEM project managers and team members, suppliers, and customers) from IPPD projects from the U.S. automotive industry. With regards to the antecedents of knowledge integration in IPPD projects, our results indicate a statistically significant positive association between shared project mission, mutual trust, mutual influence and knowledge integration. Further, our results indicate a positive relationship between knowledge integration and performance outcomes measured in terms of IPPD project success and IPPD product success. Our results also indicate a partial mediating effect of mutual trust and mutual influence between the relationships of shared project mission and knowledge integration. Discussion of our empirical results, limitations, and recommendation for future studies in the area of knowledge integration in the area of IPPD projects are also provided.     

电力设计企业项目管理信息化建设的探索与实践

在市场激烈竞争和信息化迅速发展的浪潮中,如何做好设计、做好管理成为每个电力设计企业迫在眉睫的问题。通过项目管理信息化平台的实施,将有助于企业实现规范化运营和精细化管理。系统阐述了电力勘测设计项目全过程的协同管理平台建设的理论支撑、功能框架及实施的效果。该平台以市场跟踪、项目开发、客户关系管理为起点,以计划控制、资源调配、工时管理为核心,以互提资料、设计校审、产品验证、质量控制为基础的。平台的建设以现代化的项目管理理论为指导,结合电力设计企业的实际情况,建立了满足各种工程项目、各个阶段的标准化的模板库和规范化的流程库,通过对多项目的多维度管理,实现了人、财、物等资源的最大化组合利用。     

Exploring the politics of project learning

Competitive advantage for project success will only be realized when project team members effectively access, absorb and apply the multiple learning opportunities that exist within and across projects and, manage the political dimension effectively. These items as individual entities are important project variables to be addressed. Both are also linked. In making a contribution to understanding this nexus, this paper combines and explores case study research findings from ‘within a project’ and ‘across projects’ from two countries, which illuminates some ‘central agitators’ of politics impacting project learning. These revelations have implications for both practitioners and project management researchers.     

HRM in project groups: The effect of project duration on team development effectiveness

The literature has found contradictory results regarding the impact of human resource management on project success. This paper focuses on one important human resource management process – team development – to investigate its importance in the project environment. Results show that most team development practices that work well in the operational business environment do not have a significant influence on project success. However, project duration was found to moderate the relationship between team development and project success: the effectiveness of team development increases in longer projects. The paper identifies and analyzes team development practices that have a positive impact on project success exclusively in long projects.     

探索建设工程项目采购管理模式

随着市场经济的发展,对建设工程项目而言,设备和耗材的采购费用占工程项目总价的60%以上。采购管理已然成为了项目管理的一个重要组成部分,与工程项目建设有着密切的联系,是工程项目建设的物质基础。论文对建设工程项目采购管理模式进行了探讨。     

Software development project success and failure from the supplier's perspective: A systematic literature review

In this paper, we consider software development project success and failure from the supplier's perspective. First we clarified concepts in order to be able to exclude review articles on in-house projects, continuous services, the customer's perspective, and software product development, with the aim of providing valid results for supplier firms. We divided success criteria into project success and project management (PM) success, and, in seven articles, identified three success criteria from the supplier's perspective: customer satisfaction, short-term business benefits, and long-term business benefits. In contrast, no definition of software development project failure was found. Articles were found in seven different journals, showing that knowledge on software development project success from the supplier's perspective is fragmented. This impedes the growth of knowledge on this topic.     

工程项目成本管理之陋见

针对工程项目成本管理的重要性,就如何进行科学的成本管理进行了论述,指出应结合本地区本企业的技术装备和管理水平,采取相应的方法和实际措施,才能全面实现项目管理目标,使企业在竞争日趋激烈的浪潮中健康发展。     

Fundamental uncertainties in projects and the scope of project management

This paper builds on discussions that took place over a series of meetings in the UK of the Rethinking Project Management Network. The management of uncertainty is seen as a necessary condition for effective project management. Sources of uncertainty are wide ranging and have a fundamental effect on projects and project management. These sources are not confined to potential events, and include lack of information, ambiguity, characteristics of project parties, tradeoffs between trust and control mechanisms, and varying agendas in different stages of the project life cycle. Common project management practice does not address many fundamental sources of uncertainty, particularly in ‘soft’ projects where flexibility and tolerance of vagueness are necessary. More sophisticated efforts to recognise and manage important sources of uncertainty are needed. Such efforts need to encompass organisational capabilities, including some aspects of organisation culture and learning.     

Does risk management contribute to IT project success? A meta-analysis of empirical evidence

The question whether risk management contributes to IT project success is considered relevant by people from both academic and practitioners’ communities already for a long time. This paper presents a meta-analysis of the empirical evidence that either supports or opposes the claim that risk management contributes to IT project success. In addition, this paper also investigates the validity of the assumptions on which risk management is based. The analysis leads to remarkable conclusions. Over the last 10 years, much has become known about what causes IT projects to fail. However, there is still very little empirical evidence that this knowledge is actually used in projects for managing risks in IT projects.     

深圳“中海·月朗苑”项目定位研究

项目定位是房地产开发项目取得成功的关键环节。结合“中海·月朗苑”项目,从区域市场、项目SWOT 及整体定位策略、客户定位、产品定位和价格定位等5 个方面进行分析,探讨了房地产开发项目定位的基本方法。项目定位的系统研究,确保了“中海·月朗苑”项目开发目标的实现,也为其他项目的开发定位积累了经验。     

浅析施工项目成本管理与控制

针对施工企业在工程建设中实行项目成本管理是企业生存和发展的基础和核心,阐述了施工项目成本管理与控制中存在的主要问题,提出了完善项目成本管理与控制的有效途径,达到增收节支的目的.     

Psychosocial aspects of project work: a comparison between product development and construction projects

Different project goals provide different prerequisites for project work and team processes. Two important aspects of project goals are technological certainty/uncertainty and adequacy of goal definition. Product development projects and construction projects are different in these respects. The study explores differences between the two types of projects with regard to psychosocial aspects of the work situation. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire study (n=98). The items in the questionnaire were designed to investigate social processes, individual work environment, and input/output factors. Results indicate that there were more developed team processes in the product development projects, and that co-workers on such projects experienced development of professional skills to a greater extent. In general, social processes requiring conceptual co-operation and communication were less pronounced in the construction projects investigated. The paper discusses how the differences found between the two kinds of projects can be related to work settings. Possible implications for future research are considered.     

A consideration of reflexive practice within the critical projects movement

This paper offers a theoretical commentary on some of the new directions in project management theory offered by the critical projects movement. Specifically it examines the implications of a specific approach to knowledge – dialectics – that is implicitly mobilized within this movement. It examines the dialectic provenance of much of this thinking: dialectics is afforded an implicit importance within critical project management as it offers a more reflexive approach to both understand and manage projects. In pursuing this examination, this paper positions the critical projects movement within a broader set of critical studies of reflexive management. We examine how these understandings of reflexivity might inform project management itself and help shed light on some important assumptions that critical project thinkers will need to address whilst using dialectic thinking. The aim is to open up new debates within these modes of thinking, and to encourage further explorations of their implications for understandings of practice amongst those interested in more reflexive approaches to project management practice and research.