Keeping Chaos Out of Complexity

  Complexity   PM Network  

Ambiguity is a part of every project. Pinning down the knowns and anticipating the unknowns starts in the planning stages and should be standard operating procedure every step of the way.

As the complexity of a project or program rises, though, elements and participants interact in increasingly unforeseeable ways—multiplying the potential for risks. A more risk-filled world may be on the way, with more projects bringing added complexity. According to IBM’s 2011 The Essential CIO survey, 57 percent of 3,018 global respondents expect more complexity and change over the next five years.

Those predictions of the near future are echoed in a 2011 Gartner survey of project management office (PMO) leaders: Thirty percent of respondents said the most significant driver of expected PMO changes over the next five years is the “need for leadership of complex initiatives that drive specific business goals.”

But keeping chaos out of complex endeavors, and therefore reducing the potential for risks, requires more than simply dealing with it on a case-by-case basis—and even more than relying on formally implemented strategies across the enterprise.

Think complexity

Beyond traditional project and industry knowledge, projects with added complexity call for organizations to take things to the next level by implementing processes specifically …

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