Mitigating Uncertainty in Complex Projects: System Engineer & PM Role

This essay explores the challenges of managing complex projects, focusing on the inherent uncertainty and the critical role of collaboration between system engineers and project managers. It highlights that traditional project management approaches often fall short due to the unpredictable nature of complex projects and the presence of "wicked problems." The essay emphasizes that while uncertainty cannot be eliminated, its impact can be mitigated through a strong partnership between system engineers, who focus on the technical functionalities, and project managers, who oversee the project lifecycle. Knowledge sharing and coordinated risk management are essential for delivering successful outcomes in complex projects, ensuring that both the project's functionality and its timely completion are addressed effectively. The essay concludes that the combined expertise of system engineers and project managers is crucial for navigating the complexities and uncertainties inherent in these projects.

Running head: COMPLEX PROJECT MANAGEMENT
COMPLEX PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1COMPLEX PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Introduction
The managing of complex project management is different from traditional project
management. There are some of the uncertainties involved in the process of the outcome of the
managing of the complex project (Crawford & Hoffman, 2011). In order to deliver the right
outcome in the complex project management the collaboration between the system engineer and
the project manager is needed to be done. The collaboration will enable the decision making
framework and the helps to add the value in the final project management (Crawford &
Hoffman, 2011). The need of the collaboration between the system engineer and the project
manager is to mitigate the effect of the uncertainty in the outcome of the complex project. The
cooperation between the system engineer and the project manager is important as it will help to
deliver the coherent and consistence outcome which will focus on the identified opportunities
and managing all the stakeholders.
Discussion
Main attribute of complex project management is the outcome of the project is uncertain.
The management cannot remove the uncertainty completely however there are certain steps
which can be taken in order to mitigate the effect of the uncertainty in the project. The central
argument of the project is the management o the complex project (Crawford & Hoffman, 2011).
On order to do this there are various aspects of the complex project management has been
discussed. It has been seen some of the changes during the development of the complex project
which cannot be solved analytically (Crawford & Hoffman, 2011). In this situation the
mitigation of the uncertain changes is needed to be considered.

2COMPLEX PROJECT MANAGEMENT
The main aspect of the complex project management is the presence of the wicked
problems. There are certain characteristics of the wicked problems (Crawford & Hoffman,
2011). Some of these characteristics are the absence of the stopping of the happening of wicked
problems, no trial and error method can be applied to solve these problems as they do not have
ant set of feasible solutions (Crawford & Hoffman, 2011). In order to deal with the wicked
problems certain steps are needed to be followed. Some of the steps regarding the managing of
the wicked problems are-
 Understanding the issue
 Gathering the required information regarding the problem,
 Developing the solutions by refining the problem.
The system engineers are concerned with the development of the functionality of the
different modules of the project (Crawford & Hoffman, 2011). On the other hand the project
manager is concerned about the development of the project through the life cycle of the project
along with the delivery of the project in a right manner and within the right time (Crawford &
Hoffman, 2011). In this case, the role of both the system engineer and project manager are
important for the delivery of the right outcome.
It can said that while managing the complex project, the knowledge sharing between the
project manager and the system engineer is important as it will help the to develop the right
functionalities of the project along with the delivery of the project in time.
It can be concluded form the discussion that the managing of the complex project needs the
management of the risks along with the implementation of the right functionality in the project.
The project manager will ensure that the project has gone through the project life cycle in a
proper way. The implementation of the functionality of the project is the concerned thing about

3COMPLEX PROJECT MANAGEMENT
the system engineer. It can be said that the proper management of the complex project can be
done with the cooperation of both the project manager and the system engineer (Crawford &
Hoffman, 2011). The responsibility of both the project manager and the system engineer are to
mitigate the affect caused by the uncertainty of project.
Conclusion
The discussion is about uncertainty of the outcome of complex project. The uncertainty
plays an important role in the managing of complex project and in this case, the management of
risk is important. In this case, the project manager plays an important role in the managing of the
project. Apart from that it can be said that the system engineer plays an important role for the
proper implementation of the different functionalities of the project. From the discussion it can
be said that the cooperation of the system engineer and the project manager is important for the
delivery of the right outcome of complex project and managing uncertainty of the project.
References

4COMPLEX PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Crawford, L., & Hoffman, E.(2011). Chapter 6: The Impact of Complexity on Project Cost and
Schedule Estimates. In: T. Cooke-Davies. ed. Aspects of Complexity: Managing Projects
in a Complex World. Atlanta, USA: Project Management Institute Book Service Center,
73-74.
Crawford, L., & Hoffman, E.(2011). Chapter 7: Beyond Competence: Developing Managers of
Complex Projects. In: T. Cooke-Davies. ed. Aspects of Complexity: Managing Projects
in a Complex World. Atlanta, USA: Project Management Institute Book Service Center,
87-98.
Crawford, L., & Hoffman, E.(2011). Chapter 3: Tools for Complex Projects. In: T. Cooke-
Davies. ed. Aspects of Complexity: Managing Projects in a Complex World. Atlanta,
USA: Project Management Institute Book Service Center, 29-30.
Crawford, L., & Hoffman, E.(2011). Chapter 2: Managing Projects With High Complexity. In:
T. Cooke-Davies. ed. Aspects of Complexity: Managing Projects in a Complex World.
Atlanta, USA: Project Management Institute Book Service Center, 15-17.
Crawford, L., & Hoffman, E.(2011). Chapter 5:Fear of Flying. In: T. Cooke-Davies. ed. Aspects
of Complexity: Managing Projects in a Complex World. Atlanta, USA: Project
Management Institute Book Service Center, 57-58.

5COMPLEX PROJECT MANAGEMENT