A Novel Way of Project Management to Ensure Engagement for Successful Digital Transformation.

Abstract

The cultural step-change for a successful digital transformation in the Oil & Gas industry is a significant struggle. Under the pressure of executing projects with a lower budget and in time during this low oil price era, project management becomes a complex challenge. In addition, the endeavor in digital technology imposes a transition from traditional project execution to agile project execution which makes the transformation even more challenging. Thus, the objective of this paper is to present a novel way of project management called "Open Project Management" (OPM) using a digital platform that helps team members and employees to engage in the digital transformation process using social networking technology. The Open Project Management (OPM) approach is planned and organized to bridge the traditional project management (TPM) processes (plan-execution-control/monitoring-closing cycle), and the agile project management (APM) processes (short sprint iterations of planning-analysis-design-test-acceptance cycle), by focusing on the basic project building blocks: project deliverables. In the OPM platform, all project members and management processes are directly connected thru the project deliverables (either working packages or sprints). The OPM is flexible enough to switch between the traditional, the agile, or a blended approach. The open approach is aimed to empower employees by offering leadership through a self-management and ease execution work by sharing and collaborating with other project team members and project managers. To implement the OPM approach, a digital collaborative workspace platform is built to mimic familiar social media networks so that employees can perform their work within the system with minimal training. The OPM platform is comprised of 3 frameworks: i) project management, ii) project visualization and iii) project communications. These three digital frameworks combinedly allow every member to work in a collaborative way within the platform by integrating their work process and get quick feedback. The novelty of the OPM approach lies in creating autonomy, increasing transparency and more importantly engagement without face-to-face interaction for all stakeholders of the project execution. The OPM platform is an intelligent digital eco-system (iDES) that works like the traditional social media platforms, which allows employees bringing what they use in their personal lifestyle into work without adopting a new system. The workspace offers to create their work-image into the workplace, enhancing their motivation towards work and empower them. Such a project management strategy and the tool for successful implementation are essential to provide a transitional phase for employees to trigger the cultural step change required to implement digital transformation objectives.