External and internal flexibility – aligning projects with the business strategy and executing projects efficiently

Abstract

Flexibility represents a challenge in project management. For an increased understanding of project flexibility, a distinction between internal and external project flexibility is proposed. Internal project flexibility relates to flexibility within a defined scope – how requirements are to be met. External project flexibility refers to the adjustments in the project scope – what requirements are to be met. An external flexibility perspective builds upon a growing interest in the project owner perspective, highlighting the continuous alignment of projects with the business strategy. An internal flexibility perspective draws on the emerging approaches for project efficiency. This paper elaborates on these two different perspectives on flexibility in project management. A combination of qualitative and quantitative information has been used. Two main sets of data have been used, including frontend assessments of governmental investments and the analysis of a number of private and public projects.