Understanding Complex Project Management

The assignment delves into the intricacies of managing complex projects. It analyzes various factors contributing to complexity, including stakeholder expectations, budgetary limitations, and tight deadlines. The document aims to clarify the criteria for classifying a project as 'complex' and emphasizes the unique challenges faced by project managers in such situations.

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COMPLEX PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Concept of complex project management..................................................................................3
Complex project.........................................................................................................................4
Causes....................................................................................................................................4
Environment...........................................................................................................................4
Properties................................................................................................................................5
Project manager role..................................................................................................................5
Tools.......................................................................................................................................5
Techniques.............................................................................................................................7
Project Cases..............................................................................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Project management can be considered as an application of the methods, processes,
skills, knowledge and experience to achieve the objectives of the project. In general, it can be
stated that a project can be considered unique and undertaken to achieve certain objectives,
which are planned. This could be easily be defined within the terms of outcomes, outputs or
benefits. A project is termed as successful if it archives the objectives about the criteria of
acceptance within an agreed budget and timescale. The concept, which distinguishes normal
management with project management, is that the project management have a finite timespan
and a final delivery. Project management needs technical skills and certain type of people
with management skills and good awareness of the business framework. Nearly all small
projects and large projects exhibit the characteristics of complicity. It can be stated that the
complexity in a project management process can be due to the factor of the risk factors,
which are associated with it (Kerzner and Kerzner 2017).
The main aim of the report is to take into consideration the concept of the complex
project management. The reason, which is applicable behind a project, is termed as a
complex project are majorly discussed in the report. In a complex project scenario, the role of
the project manager is very much important. Few of the case studies are also taken into
consideration in the report, which puts forward the aspect, which is related to complex
project.
Concept of complex project management
The concept of complex project have many parameters, variables involved into it.
Complexity of a project cannot be defined as the size of the project; it can be seen in most of
the large project scenarios the complexity factor does not exist. If the different parts of the
project can work independently without interacting, it cannot be termed as a complex project.

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In this concept, the best practice that should be followed is making the different teams work
together parallel without taking much concern on what other team are working upon. The
task is executed independent. Secondly, it can be stated that complexity cannot be same as
project risk and uncertainty. Preparing for the factor of uncertainty can be considered to be
very much crucial in the aspect for example if the project in proper condition takes 4 days to
execute and on the other hand 9 days to execute in worst conditions, having a bugger plan is
very much important. The factor of the complexity is directly related with the concept of
interactions. It is well known that the issue which with the complexity can be caused by
some technical system of interacting physical components. However, the sources of
complexity may come from various sectors, which are stated below:
 Technical complexity: The concept of the interaction related to the components of the
system may cause inter dependencies among the various tasks in the project.
 External complexity: The project in many cases may touch multiple market segments
and can be influenced by the factor of regulation in multiple domain and regions.
 Actor complexity: Many of the stakeholders who are interested in the project may have
different dimensions and different wanting relating to the project, which may be
contradictory. In this case, one stakeholder can influence another stakeholder.
The sources, which are related to the complexity, can be various, uncertain and very
much dynamic. The difficulty, which is faced in defining the concept of complexity, can
be minimized through the identification of the key drivers, which are related to it. Key
driver’s definition can be considered not so easy taking into consideration field, which are
related to the project management or in any other domain. The main problem, which is
faced in this scenario, is the lack of agreement on the drivers of complexity and
understanding, which is very little between the drivers. The environment and the context
of the project factors, which change the drivers of the project. Considering any project the

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complexity of the project can be composed of many complexities for example distinction,
which can lead to efficient management of the project.
Complex project
Causes
 The project usually have a large number of systems that need to be matched and put
together or matched with a number of interfaces.
 This type of project usually contain many details relating to how the project should be
executed.
 The project requires efficient control, coordinating and monitoring from the start to end of
the project.
 These type of project deals with intricacy, which can be very much difficult to specify
onto how to reach the project goals and the time, which would be involved in it.
 The project require logical link due to the factor that a complex project usually encounters
revision which is made periodically and with the factor of interrelations between the
different activities it becomes difficult to update the schedule successfully in an efficient
manner.
Environment
The concept of project environment mainly includes the latest state of art technology
in which the project are based upon. The factors, which can be included in the scenario, are
social, economic and political setting. These factors affect the organizing, planning, staffing
and the concept of directing which is mainly directed and is the responsibility of the project
manager. These environmental aspects represent a set of complex inter- dependent
relationships, which directly and constantly react with the project as it is brought into reality.
It can be stated here at almost all projects impact the environment in some way or the other

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and this can be true for infrastructure projects. Therefore, in order to make a project
successful all these factors should be taken into consideration.
The above stated factors can change during the projects execution project. This is due
to the factor if the project takes a number of years to complete and is brought in the phases of
on stream. This majorly translates into a high degree of risk, which is uncertain about the
surrounding of the project because of the external environment. The environment in each and
every project us not the same. The project environment is likely to be determined by three
considerations namely:
 The manner of the application and the technology.
 The service and the product, which is result of the project.
 The physical location of the project.
Properties
When relating to the properties of a project management system, which are termed as
complex it can be stated that difficult project could not be termed as complex project. There
are many factors which are involved in this scenario that a project can be stated as complex.
The following points would explain what are the properties related to the project being
complex:
 Numerous moving part: Many of the projects have multiple work streams and strands,
which makes them complex. The project have multiple tasks in hand whose proper
execution could be a problem.
 Project timeline: Project timeline can be considered as one of the most vital aspect in
any project management scenario. Short timelines and immovable dates can make the
project complex. There can be many factors, which can make the timeline of the project
difficult to reach for example unavailability of the developers when relating to software

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development project. In some cases, it can be seen that in order to reach the time
constraints the projects quality are compromised.
 Involvement of many stakeholders and team: Complexity in the concept of the project
can arise due to the involvement of more people. This can also be from the end of the
customer where there are more than one stakeholders. These stakeholders are involved in
the concept of the project. There can also be a mix group of supplier
 Budget and other constraints: During the initiation of the project, the budget of the
project is taken into consideration. If the budget of the project is not taken into
consideration or not meet it can lead to increase in the complexity. The budget of the
project can affect the organization as well as the stakeholders. The organization is liable
to be answerable to the stakeholders about why the budget constraints are not meet.
Project manager role
Tools
The tools, which are related to the concept of the complex project, can be helpful in
this type of project management scenarios (Lientz and Rea 2016). In this case, the project
managers play an important role based on the past knowledge. They decide how to proceed
with the project and what approach should be used for the project and the best time to use
them. The tools, which can be used, are stated below:
Work breakdown Structure
The main purpose of the Work breakdown Structure can be helpful in planning the
project by means of breaking down the project into different parts. This is mainly done to
make the project more manageable and smaller to work with. WBS provides a task in the
form of detailed list, which is to be performed in the project. This facilitates in delivery better
scheduling, costing and resource planning for the project. The concept of the Cost breakdown

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structure lists each item, which is classified, and its expenditure for the project in order to get
more detailed estimation relating to cost.
The benefits, which are related to the use of WBS, are:
 Can be helpful in scheduling and sequencing of the project of different events, which
improves the effectiveness of how the time is calculated. For example, the most efficient
sequence, which can be used to accomplish activity, can be understood.
 Can be used to delegate and allocate responsibility to directly accomplish different
activities or task, e.g. greater accountability through better control.
 Improves resource efficiency and planning of how the consumption of the resources
should be done for example accurate forecast of the project staffing to save cost.
 It can be used for the basics of financial “exception reporting” for example actual
allowance of the budget and forecasting the cost of project accurately.
 Can be used for the purpose of management of risk for example identify risk as an
ongoing process for monitoring risk, which are related to the project.
Gantt chart
A Gantt chart can be considered as a horizontal bar, which can be used for project scheduling.
Over time, each block represents an activity. The actual performance is recorded in real time,
which is compared with the estimated time. This process is very much essential for achieving
completion of the project. Taking into consideration an IT project the Gantt chart comprise of
start data, end date and duration of each of the task.
The following pints states why the concept of Gantt chart is used as a tool:

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 It can be utilized for planning of the time scale of the project. Time scale in any project is
very much vital as if the time is not matched it can affect the overall working of the
project.
 It can be applied for the estimating the resources which are required for the project.
 It represents a graphical representation of the schedule of task which has to be completed
 It does not work for complex project it mainly suits situation where the tasks or activity
are small (De Leoz and Petter 2014).
Critical path analysis (CPA) or network analysis
Taking into consideration projects, which are lengthy, and complex the Gantt chart
does not work well. In large project a high factor of high interdependency between the
various tasks do exist. In this case, it can be stated that a task cannot start until other task in
the queue are completed (Weiss, Newell and Swan 2017). The concept of Gantt chart are less
desirable due to the factor that it does not display or indicate the interdependencies. The
network analysis can directly display the concept more logically involving timing and
sequence of each of the activity related to the project. The task communicate independently
and more effectively for complex and large projects.
The following points states why the concept of Critical Path analysis can be used as a tool:
 The interdependent relationship, which exist among different activity in a project, is
clearly stated.
 Effective management of time can be achieved from the concept of good visual
communication.
 Arranges activity and tasks into a sequence, which is optimum relating to the different
events in the project. This allows the project to be completed in a more efficient manner
and within the time framework.

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 The time, which is related to the elapsed time or estimated time, can be calculated very
easily.
 It highlights the float time relating to all the activity of the project for example the amount
of time, which a task can slip from the estimated time. Each activity has a slip time,
which is involved into it. This is due to the factor that each of the task has to be
completed within the completion time, which is planned; otherwise, the elapsed time,
which is related to the project, will not be achieved easily (Ahern, Leavy and Byrne
2014).
PERT (Project Evaluation and review technique)
The technique, which is related to the PERT helps in the process of estimation of the
project (Serra, C.E.M. and Kunc 2015). This process can involve any sort of uncertainty,
which can be seen during the process of predicting the task duration. In this technique, the
project manager can estimate the worst, best and most probable time duration relating to the
activity and then take into consideration the average completion time.
The advantage, which can be achieved from the technique, are:
 Resources can be allocated and planned quite easily for example staff planning, budget
estimation and so on.
 Directly identifies the interrelationship between the different activities and the task.
 It can be stated that it is a good communication tool relating to planning and good
communication (Weiss, Newell and Swan 2017).
Techniques
The techniques, which can be used by the project manager in order to execute the
processing of a complex project, are stated below:

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 Understanding the complex scenario: If there is an organizational complexity due to the
factor of the number of secondary committees, the project manager must deal with it. This
would directly reduce the number of background documents and presentation, which has
to be prepared by the member of the team. In some cases, the number of approval that is
needed in the execution phase can be reduced also.
 Embracing whatever complexity exists: Sometimes within the framework of the project
management which is complex unpredictability can lead to opening of new opportunity.
The project manager should be able to take the opportunity at the right time that would be
beneficial for the organization.
 Identification of the expert: The project manager responsible for the overall working of a
project as well as take into consideration the risk factors. When there is any sort of risk,
which is exposed into the project it is the duty of the project manager to get the right
expert who could deal with the problem and resolve the problem.
 Reduction of the complexity: In the cases of the project being declared as complex, it
should be the role of the project manager to reduce the complexity of the project. There
can be different measures, which can be implemented which could reduce the complexity
related to the project (Ahern, Leavy and Byrne 2014).
Project Cases
Case study 1: ICT Household statistics
The main aspect of the CS case study is to provide technical assistance, which can
enhance the capacity of the national statistical system, which can produce ICT statistics. This
also enhances the awareness between the policy makers regarding the importance of the ICT
statistics in the concept of monitoring and evaluation. This can project can be stated as a
complex project which includes many stakeholders (Fleming and Koppelman 2016).

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Argument
Different beneficiary countries took advantage of the concept. This concept was
introduced to collect data related to the ICT Household statistics. The concept helped in the
increase of the availability of the statistics and increase in the reply to the ITU
questionnaires’.
Case study 2: Deployment of video conference
The project aims to invite different representatives of the CIS region to take active
part to directly implement the process of video conference. This project would be
incorporating high level of decision making in different countries. This coordinate the
policies related to productivity, development and governance.
Argument
The project was a huge success with successful implementation of the concept of
video conference in the following countries.
 Republic of Armenia
 Republic of Moldova
 Russian federation
 Kyrgyz Republic (Ahern, Leavy and Byrne 2014)
Case study 3: Natural disaster early warning system
In this project, the main emphasis was to prevent the natural disaster by means of
implementing an early warning system. This would be directly incorporating information
dissemination and public safety.
Argument

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In this project, there can be three stages of implementation, which are:
 Identification of the stakeholders including the local level scenario
 Identification of the location of the project
 Identification of the suitable premises where the project can be implemented and
started (Schwalbe 2015).
Conclusion
The report can be concluded on a note that a complex project has many factors, which
are involved into it. Taking into consideration, a complex project the project manager has
some vital tasks. Few of the factors which are involved in the concept is the pressure form the
stakeholders, the budget constant and the time framework of the project. It can be stated that
a project cannot be easily be defined as a complex project, the main factors which involve in
a project being complex Is that it expands to a bigger area which comprise of difficult in the
factor of budgeting and timing.

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References
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problem solving: A distributed knowledge management perspective. International Journal of
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Ahern, T., Leavy, B. and Byrne, P.J., 2014. Complex project management as complex
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