Measuring the Project Management Complexity: The Case of Information Technology Projects

Rocio Poveda-Bautista,Jose-Antonio Diego-Mas,Diego Leon-Medina

doi:10.1155/2018/6058480

Abstract

Complex projects require specific project management (PM) competences development. However, while no complex projects have standards that are recognized to guide their management, complex projects do not have guides to deal with their complexity. To lead complex projects to success, this complexity must be measured quantitatively and, in our opinion, project management complexity assessment should be based on existing PM standards. In this work, the main project complexity assessment approaches based on PM standards are analyzed, observing that International Project Management Association (IPMA) approach is the closest to a tool that can be used as a complexity quantitative measurement system. On the other hand, several authors have shown that the inherent complexity of specific kind of projects must be measured in a particular way. The main objective of this research is to propose a project management complexity assessment tool for IT projects, providing a Complexity Index that measures the impact that complexity factors inherent to IT projects have under a specific complexity scenario. The tool combines the use of complexity factors defined by IPMA approach and the use of complexity factors found in the literature to manage inherent complexity of IT projects. All these factors were validated by expert survey and the tool was applied to a study case.

Highlights

Complexity theory was applied to project management in the 90s, the discipline of complexity project management was unofficially launched at the 20th International Project Management Association World Congress in Shanghai [1]
It includes complexity factors adapted to this particular industrial sector since it is considered that the development of projects in this sector is more prone to failure than in other sectors, due to the complexity of its projects
The tool combines the use of complexity factors defined by International Project Management Association (IPMA) approach to measure complexity of any kind of project and revised following a systematic literature review and the use of new complexity factors found in the literature to manage inherent complexity of Information Technology (IT) projects

Summary

Introduction

Complexity theory was applied to project management in the 90s, the discipline of complexity project management was unofficially launched at the 20th International Project Management Association World Congress in Shanghai [1]. Following Bosch-Rekveldt et al [2] who argue that specific complexities in projects might require specific competence development, inherent complexity within projects must be studied in a particular way. In this sense, it is worth highlighting what Williams [3] pointed out, which indicates the increase in the complexity of projects as one of the main causes of project failure. What does complexity means in project management? A complete review has been recently published which summarizes the development of this concept and the factors that affect project management complexity [6]. Some other authors have developed similar work prior to this one [7, 8]

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Conclusion