Impacts of Complex and Uncertain Environments in Project Planning

This article discusses the impacts of complex and uncertain environments in project planning, including difficulties and intricacy in effectively executing a project, high degree of project failure, possible resource wastage, and life-threatening incidences in some projects. It also explores the major sources of complexity and uncertainty in projects, both internal and external, and the key principles in addressing complexity in planning processes.

COMPLEX PROJECT MANAGEMENT
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COMPLEX PROJECT MANAGEMENT
The impacts of complex and uncertain environments in project planning
For the last few decades, project management has persistently gained popularity due to its effectiveness in
result delivery. Nonetheless, it is important to note that the results delivery of any project management
activity is solely dependent on the level of complexity and uncertainty. Due to the increasing popularity
as hinted, different scholars have defined Complexity and uncertainty in different ways. Although the
definitions may have a sense of variance, a pivotal point of view may be developed. Complexity and
uncertainty refers to a property of a project which makes it problematic and complicated to understand,
forecast, and control (Bosch et all. 2011, p.728)
From the basic definition, it is typical that the primary impacts of complex and uncertain environment in
project planning are difficulties and intricacy in effectively executing a project. In other words, complex
and uncertain environments lead to high degree of project failure, possible resource wastage, and life-
threatening incidences in some projects. In addition, complex environments may also prolong the project
management activities beyond the expected completion date. Research studies have revealed a high
degree of project complexity in the oil and gas industry due to interdependencies od many sub-projects,
the sizes of the firms, and the environment in which the operate in including the level accidents
(Flyvbjerg 2009, P.360
The major sources of complexity and uncertainty in projects, both internal and external
Before taking any step in addressing project complexity and uncertainty, it is important that a project
manager understands the core causes of complexity and uncertainty. Picking an insight from the
definition of complex projects, complex project sources may be categorized into four major classes.

These include the project size, sub-project interdependencies, project variety and project context-
dependence.
Compl
ex
project
Project interdependenciesThe project size
Elements of project context
Project variety
Understanding project complexity from the size, the bigger a project, the more complex and uncertain it
is. Large projects require more resources and also engage many stakeholders. This implies high chances
of controversial and contradicting interests from the stakeholders. This is evident in the oil and gas
industry where there are considerably stakeholders and many departments involved.
Project interdependencies is yet another factor that defines projects complexity. Situations where the
success/ failure of a sub-project solely affects the subsequent project, it is definitely increases chances of
complexity. Research cites BP deep water project, where petroleum is extracted. There are typically many
subprojects and the levels of accident are prevalent.
As it is evident in the preceding visual, project variety and the elements of a project also affects the level
of difficulty, uncertainty and riskiness of a project.
The key principles in addressing complexity in planning processes
in addressing project complexity during the planning phase, it is important to familiarize with the
complexity models before developing a strategy of how to address. Firstly, large projects involve large

number of stakeholder and in this case, it requires effective stakeholder management. In other words,
there must be operative and effective coordination of stakeholders ( Vidal Marle and Bocquet 2011,
p.727). This should be streamlined towards organizational interests rather than personal interests, good
conflict resolution skills, and efficient communication skills. Complexities arising from interdependencies
require effective planning and integration of projects, drawing schedules with typical levels of keenness.
The oil and gas industry are more prone to project complexity due to its high levels of interdependencies,
the variety, elements and the environment of operation. In summary, complex projects can be addressed
by means of understanding the causes of complexity and addressing all accordingly.

List of reference
Bosch-Rekveldt, M., Jongkind, Y., Mooi, H., Bakker, H. and Verbraeck, A., 2011. Grasping project
complexity in large engineering projects: The TOE (Technical, Organizational and Environmental)
framework. International Journal of Project Management, 29(6), pp.728-739.
Flyvbjerg, B., 2009. Survival of the unfittest: why the worst infrastructure gets built—and what we can do
about it. Oxford review of economic policy, 25(3), pp.344-367.
Vidal, L.A., Marle, F. and Bocquet, J.C., 2011. Measuring project complexity using the Analytic
Hierarchy Process. International Journal of Project Management, 29(6), pp.718-727.