The Complexity Web

 

Just as a spider’s web is complex when you look at it up close, so are organizations. Dependencies go in every direction, and these introduce uncertainty and add risks to projects. In this environment, PMO leaders must be prepared manage sweeping change and facilitate the C-suite’s strategic decision making.

This month’s PM Network article on complexity offers some tips on how to do that. One way is to use tactical information to create a story that helps executives make the call. Another way is to break down large portfolios into a series of mini-portfolios divided by business areas.

The Caribbean region is way more than a tourist resort. Its developing nations are striving for economic growth, but first need to upgrade infrastructure. Our profile of the region finds a lack of project management maturity is making it difficult for these countries to streamline their development of energy, water and transportation facilities.

Talent shortage getting you down? Many companies are looking at passive candidates—those who might be open to a job move but not actively searching. Finesse and personal connections can help your organization connect with these candidates. Cultivating this passive talent could help organizations fill gaps.

One of two case studies in this issue provide insights into how project managers turned a design by renowned architect Frank Gehry into curvaceous quarters for the University of Technology Sydney’s business school. The other, PM Network’s cover story this month, tells how a project team built an 8.5 megawatt solar power plant on an island in the midst of a national park in Japan.

The big, noticeable project opening this month’s Edge section portrays the first-ever effort to thoroughly hand-clean the Colosseum in Rome. Elsewhere in Edge, learn about projects in the up-and-coming field of virtual reality; see what cities are doing to improve bus and bike transit; read about the growth of medical hacking attacks and the cybersecurity projects being launched in response; see how the team completing the FIFA World Football Museum closed the project despite controversy surrounding FIFA; and read how teams are developing early-warning systems for earthquakes.

Voices is the part of PM Network where experts, executives and practitioners get to speak. This month it includes an interview with Peter Taylor, PMP, head of the global PMO for Kronos, discussing the value of the PMO and how it is measured. Our innovation columnist Kareem Shaker, PMI-RMP, PMP, talks about the importance of solid risk management when working on an innovative project. Uncertainty can be managed by being sure the project aligns with the organization’s risk appetite.

Our practitioner writers help you get it done in “Getting It Done: Project Management in Action.” This month your colleagues talk about managing millennials, working with project teams in Russia and estimating pitfalls in construction projects.

Did you know…if your native language is español or Português and you are a member of PMI, we have you covered! You can read the current and recent issues of PM Network in your language.