Flexible Project Research Articles

Метод Agile в управлении проектами: реализация метода, компетенции команды и руководителя проекта

The article outlines the study of approaches to project management: classical or traditional project management and flexible project management methods. Agile project management is analyzed using the Scrum methodology, which is a variety of Agile approach. The main stages of the above approaches are presented, their features, scope and advantages are revealed. The features of team management in traditional and flexible projects are considered. There has been developed an algorithm for choosing and actualizing a project management approach, which reflects the essence of flexible and traditional project management. At the present stage of development, the external environment is characterized by high variability, so the flexible project management becomes a factor in the competitiveness of the organization. There have been analyzed the competencies of the project manager and team members, which are necessary for efficiency of Agile methodology. It has been defined that the members of the project team must have flexible competencies. Flexible competencies are understood as a set of knowledge, abilities, skills, personal characteristics, motivational and value aspects that contribute to the effective operation of the employee within the flexible project team. The flexible competencies of the team members are: creativity, adaptability, ability to self-government and self-organization, openness to new things, learnability, self-criticism, involvement, tolerance to other positions, broad specialization and versatility, trust and openness, stress resistance, communication skills, etc. The requirements for the head of a flexible project are: T-Shaped competence type (the expert level in one's professional field and the extensive knowledge in the related fields), temporary competence, emotional intelligence, leadership qualities and developed communication skills

Project flexibility and creativity: the moderating role of training utility

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study project management performance measures by analyzing how training utility affects the relationships between mutual trust, social interaction and creativity as well as mutual trust, social interaction and flexibility in projects.Design/methodology/approachUsing training utility and organizational support theory, eight hypotheses were developed. Responses from 279 project management professionals in the USA were collected. The hypotheses were then tested using partial least squares (PLS) and regression with the PROCESS macro approach.FindingsThe results suggests that the communication environment indeed has an important role in fostering creative and flexible project managers. Additionally, the study shows that organizations can actively improve the influence of the communication environment on project management creativity through training efforts. Interestingly, these findings may not hold for project manager flexibility.Practical implicationsIn today's project management world, organizations need project managers who quickly adapt to changing project management scenarios. To do this, project managers need to be creative, generating new and novel ideas, as well as flexible when converting ideas into action. Organizations often possess large amounts of knowledge, and project managers rely on good communication practices to access this knowledge in response to the required changes in the project domain.Originality/valueThe study includes contributions to theory and empirical research in project management by analyzing the critical role training utility has on the firm communication environments and its outcomes. The study shows that organizations can take an active role by investing in resources to promote flexibility and creativity in projects.

Коучинг як ефективний інструмент управління проєктними командами

Анотація. В умовах цифрової революції в економіці та менеджменті відбуваються активні зміни. Стабільні вертикальні бізнес структури замінюють гнучкі горизонтальні організаційні структури. Актуальними стають питання проектного менеджменту. І вже не окремий співробітник, а команда стає базовою ланкою успішних проектів. В цих умовах постає проблема удосконалення роботи проектного менеджера.
 В статті розглянуто методи підготовки та ефективного управління проектними командами. Зазначено, що широкого розповсюдження набуває неформальна освіта у вигляді коротких бізнес-тренінгів та коуч-сесій. Розглянуто як змінюються функції керівника проекту від традиційного керування до Agile-коучингу. Зазначено, що особливість Agile-коучингу в тому, що керівник безпосередньо бере участь у роботі. Він обирає демократичний стиль керівництва: питає поради у команди, дозволяє команді шукати власне рішення. В такий спосіб поліпшується внутрішня комунікація, зменшується напруга та кількість конфліктних ситуацій, покращується процес виконання проектів. Мислення кожного учасника групи корелюється з цінностями методології гнучкого управління проектами Agile.
 Підкреслено, що рівень майстерності Agile-коуча залежить від його рівня емоційного інтелекту. Підвищення рівня емоційного інтелекту призводить до покращення здібностей коуча. Розглянутий інструмент має перспективи у сучасному проектному менеджменті.
 У статті зазначено, що застосування інноваційного гнучкого методу Agile-коучу дозволить організовувати ефективну команду. Професійний Agile-коуч здатен мотивувати гнучкі організаційні структури до успішної реалізації проектів, мотивувати до вивчення нового та допомагає впоратися з опором до нововведень. Саме в умовах невизначеності, багатозадачності, запровадження інноваційних заходів та постійний змін на зміну класичному управлінню в менеджменті має приходити Agile-коучинг управління проектними командами.
 Ключові слова:проектні команди, управління проектними командами, коучинг, Agile-коуч, компетентність, проект, навчання.

Вплив організаційних структур управління на ефективність використання гнучких методологій управління проєктами при виробництві технологічних продуктів

Introduction. The article considers the influence of organizational management structures on the effectiveness of flexible project management methodologies. At the end of the twentieth century, more and more companies began to use informal flexible management structures, which emerged with the development of adhocracy. Purpose. The purpose is to determine and highlight the level of effectiveness of organizational management structures when using flexible project management methodologies. Results. The search for smart alternatives to bureaucracy began several decades ago. The development of the Internet has led to the creation of networking organizations that have increasingly used the adaptive Agile model. The modern market increasingly dictates the conditions aimed at rapid adaptability and flexibility. Usually, the choice of optimal organizational management structure depends on the business environment where the company operates. The use of Agile, when working on projects, involves a preliminary assessment of the operating structure of the company, its level of culture. Understanding the importance of each team member in the organizational structure of management, cooperation between them contributes to the effectiveness of flexible project management methodologies. Many companies are starting to operate on the basis of flexible management, although this policy is not suitable for all types of structures. Very often, in order to implement the Agile principles, it is necessary to start with the company’s departments that innovate and work on various company development projects. The principles and values of flexible project management methodologies run counter to the usual bureaucratic hierarchy, which provides the unquestioning subordination and control, where corporate culture remains unchanged. Conclusions. Possibilities of changes and ensuring the effectiveness of the implementation of these methodologies are impossible without changes in the traditional corporate culture, which established principles that have been formed over the years. Often, changing the culture of the enterprise implies that everyone does everything, which is why such companies give birth to a friendly team, which in terms of efficiency and implementation of new ideas, is an ideal organizational form. However, it should be noted that before giving teams in the organization more autonomy, you need to make sure that all employees see opportunities for the development of the organization in one direction.

Resource-constrained multi-project scheduling with activity and time flexibility

Project scheduling in manufacturing environments often requires flexibility in terms of the selection and the exact length of alternative production activities. Moreover, the simultaneous scheduling of multiple lots is mandatory in many production planning applications. To meet these requirements, a new resource-constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP) is introduced where both decisions (activity flexibility and time flexibility) are integrated. Besides the minimization of makespan, two new alternative objectives are presented: maximization of balanced length of selected activities (time balance) and maximization of balanced resource utilization (resource balance). New mixed integer and constraint programming (CP) models are proposed for the developed integrated flexible project scheduling problem. Benchmark instances on an already existing flexible RCPSP and the newly developed problem are solved to optimality. The real-world applicability of the suggested CP models is shown by additionally solving a large industry case.

Model and methods of forming the competencies of a flexible team
 of a sustainable enterprise project

In recent years, the concept of sustainable development has gained popularity, which
 is also reflected in project management. For the development of sustainable project management, the task of forming a project team that is able to provide the criteria for sustainability-a
 balance of economic, social and environmental indicators and effects, both in the current period of time and in the long term. The hypothesis proved in our study is that flexible teams are
 best suited for sustainable projects. However, the scientific and practical problem is that there
 are no recommendations on the competence of the flexible team of a sustainable project. The
 purpose of the research is to substantiate the set of competencies of a flexible team of a sustainable project and suggest ways to form them. The research methods were a functional analysis of the activities of sustainable project teams and an expert survey of project managers. Functional analysis of activities was carried out in 16 project teams of 12 enterprises.155
 managers and specialists of project teams of different enterprises in Russia took part in the
 expert survey. A model of competencies that provide both classical project management functions and team functions for sustainable and flexible project management is proposed. It is
 proved that in order to ensure project sustainability criteria, team members must have such
 competencies as planning, monitoring and achieving environmental, social and economic
 indicators of sustainability, the ability to promptly take into account the dynamic interests of
 different stakeholders, and the ability to manage the project in the context of environmental
 and social responsibility of business. It also shows the impact on the effectiveness of projects
 of such competencies as the ability to combine different functions, be interchangeable team
 members, timely and qualitatively modify their competencies to meet the dynamic factors of
 the project environment. In other words, the role of team flexibility as a factor of project performance has been proven. There are defined the main directions of formation of these competencies through project communications, team building, formation of project culture and
 project thinking, and formation of skills for sustainable project management.

Práticas curriculares coletivas de professores do 1º Ciclo da Educação Básica de Portugal

The article brings to debate the production of teachers’ curricular practices in school daily life, specifically teachers of the initial years of schooling, and aims to analyze how articulate practices of teachers of the 1st Cycle of Basic Education in Portugal are producing collective curricular practices. For this, concepts of curriculum as a social and historical construction, recognizing teachers as educational agents in its configuration and in school everyday practices are mobilized. The data were collected through interviews with school teachers from a city in the north of Portugal, as well as document research on the policies they signaled and analyzed from the perspective of Discourse Theory. This analysis allowed to identify that teachers were able to produce, over the years and from the Autonomy and Curricular Flexibility Project, curricular practices that forged approximations to professional solidarities.

Fostering posterity and socio-economic transformation through the prism of indigenous languages in youth training: A participatory approach

This paper reviews thee mediating role of indigenous languages in vocational skills and national development in the Zimbabwean context. In the wake of the current outcry for jobs, employment creation and entrepreneurship the need for new strategies to revive industry by focusing on community resources has become imperative. Youths need to turn to themselves as repositories of skills required for operationalising dormant and fledgling industries. In pursuit of this new strategy they need the expertise of local artisans. The initiative, adopted in the spirit of national consciousness, should yield an indigenous brand of technology. It is from this perspective that the paper argues for a fresh, broader approach to youth training, through the identification of a national programme that encourages skilled artisans to use indigenous languages as vehicles for imparting industrial skills to out of school youths. The envisaged formal programme can be implemented through the identification of industrial bases that would tap the industrial skills of out of school youths, under the tutorship of local skilled artisans. For more effective implementation the proposed blueprint argues for the liberalization of instructional media. Trainers and trainees would switch on to their preferred language in skills’ acquisition. Such a flexible project, sustained through collaborative engagement, between skilled artisans and youths, would go a long way towards enhancing the latter’s creative potential, by fostering familiarity with the terminology required by a particular industry. Further, the article envisages learners’ progressive training programmes that motivate vocational training graduates to apply modern technology to productive processes demanded by the respective communities. The study concludes by emphasizing that the achievement of national goals for entrepreneurship and youth empowerment/employment requires the adoption of new strategies encapsulated in the Education 5.0.blueprint.

Unveiling assumptions through interdisciplinary scrutiny: Observations from the German Priority Program on Climate Engineering (SPP 1689)

The interdisciplinary exchange in climate engineering research offers a unique opportunity to make assumptions more explicit for such research projects. While making assumptions explicit is the standard in all disciplinary sciences, some assumptions in the context of societal challenges can only be usefully unveiled, discussed, and verified from the perspective of other research disciplines. Results from successful interdisciplinary collaborations are then more accessible and more generalizable to actors beyond the confines of the academic community. We aim to illustrate how interdisciplinary exchange helps to unveil assumptions in research endeavors and why this is important for successful interdisciplinary collaborations. We therefore follow different stages of the German Priority Program on Climate Engineering (SPP 1689), which we use as an example case of a successful interdisciplinary project. SPP 1689 focused on risks, challenges, and opportunities of Climate Engineering from the perspectives of numerous disciplines. Major results were that the initial assessments of technologies had to be sobered, the consideration of trade-offs is crucial for the potential assessment, and governance issues appeared larger than previously considered. From the reflections of SPP 1689, we conclude with three lessons learned: (1) The project profited from egalitarian organizational structures and communicative practices, preventing the predominance from single disciplines. (2) Within the project continuous efforts were undertaken to foster interdisciplinary understanding. In addition, the flexible project structure allowed for the accommodation of research needs arising as a result of these exchanges. (3) SPP 1689 offered early career researchers a platform for professional exchange on common challenges and best practices of being a part of an interdisciplinary research project.

The dynamics of repairing multi-project control practice: a project governance viewpoint

This paper examines the development of enabling control practice, within flexible project governance. Enabling control would interactively help reach the objectives set for multi-project new product development (NPD) management and, especially support the different managerial actors involved. Previous research does not adequately cover the dynamics and interplay between different managerial actors in developing management control for multi-project NPD. This paper responds to the question: How can actors interactively repair multi-project control practice within project governance? The paper takes advantage of a longitudinal action research endeavor (2009-2014), featuring research interventions on developing project control in subsequent NPD projects. The researchers collected empirical data from 130 documented project meetings, workshops, and interactions, and the data were qualitatively analyzed to identify critical steps in multi-project control practice repair. First, as a contribution to the project management literature, we show how the repair effort, as organizational interplay, may effectively, and temporarily or permanently repair inoperative NPD control practice in subsequent projects. Second, we contribute to the literature on enabling control by showing how repairing multi-project control system can be a starting point for centralized control repair, requiring commitment from different management levels. Third, by bridging the two research areas, we identify possibilities for further research.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT DURING INFODEMIC OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The subject of this article is the transformation of project management systems, programs and project portfolios in the context of the interaction of the infodemic and pandemic in the COVID-19 environment. Infodemiс, ahead of the pandemic, is filled with rumours, conjectures and speculation at the first stage, creating an atmosphere of fear and panic. At the same time, Agile methodologies, systems of knowledge and competencies of project and program managers come to the fore in project management. The basis of the changes lies in changing the decision-making paradigm in the management of projects and programs in the "infodemiс - pandemic" system. The goal is to study the models of interaction and mutual influence of the pandemic (infodemiс) information support during the development of the COVID-19 pandemic for the application of modern methodologies of flexible methodologies in managing projects and programs at all levels of the state and society. The key challenges to a successful project and program management are Agile Transformation. Today there is an intuitive transition to the use of flexible project and program management methodologies, which does not bring the expected results. The research results allowed the authors to build a model of interaction "infodemiс - pandemic). This model can be used to analyse the mutual influence of the information envelope in each country on the distribution of the coronavirus and project management to minimize the negative consequences of the pandemic. Conclusions: This article explores the phenomenon of "infodemiс" that occurs during the global crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is proposed to apply the Agile transformation of the project management system and pandemic programs, taking into account the influence of informational "noise" in the mental space of global society. The model can significantly improve project preparation by transforming Agile management with a focus on stakeholder value systems. At the same time, it is important to use the opportunities to accelerate and increase the effectiveness of project implementation using Agile umbrella tools such as Kanban, P2M, Kaizen and others. Disinformation, which includes false claims about a "cure", conspiracy theory and misleading information about the spread of the virus will expand. The effectiveness of the response to control this "infodemiс" is likely to vary from country to country and will depend on public confidence in the authorities. New developments, including the detection of outbreaks of the virus in almost all countries of the world, the publication of epidemiological data and the start of clinical trials of the vaccine, are likely to lead to new misinformation, which will hamper efforts to control the pandemic.

Simultaneous structuring and scheduling of multiple projects with flexible project structures

We study the problem to simultaneously decide on the structures and the schedules for an entire portfolio of flexible projects. The projects are flexible as alternative technologies and procedures can be used to achieve the respective project task. The choice between different technologies and procedures affects the activities to be implemented and thus the precedence relations, i.e., the structure of the project. The different projects have given due dates with specific delay payments and compete for scarce resources. In this situation, project structure decisions and scheduling decisions are highly intertwined and have to be made simultaneously in order to achieve the assumed objective of minimizing the delay payments for the entire project portfolio. The problem is formally stated and solved via novel and problem-specific genetic algorithms. The performance of the new algorithms is evaluated with respect to speed and accuracy in a systematic and comprehensive numerical study.

Using an adaptive approach to making gatekeepers accountable to internally displaced persons in Mogadishu, Somalia

ABSTRACT Since the mid-1990s, informal power structures in the form of self-established gatekeepers have emerged within internal displacement areas in Mogadishu, Somalia. Through action research, this article explores the enhancement of accountability of these gatekeepers against the formal governance system in Mogadishu. By aligning project designs to the political economy and using a flexible approach, the driving factors of these gatekeepers’ enhanced accountability can be identified. In order to contest these informal power structures, a flexible and adaptive project that constantly aligns with the local political economy offers more opportunities in enhancing accountability in difficult environments.

An exact algorithm for the flexible multilevel project scheduling problem

Single project scheduling has received far more attention than have schedules of project portfolios or multi-projects. This lack of scheduling techniques is especially true for flexible portfolios, such as agile, hybrid and extreme project portfolios, which require flexible project structures. While multilevel project scheduling algorithms already exist for deterministic multilevel project structures, they are not able to handle flexible structures. This short paper wants to fill this gap. A matrix-based multilevel multimode project scheduling (M4PSP) algorithm is proposed to schedule flexible multilevel projects.

МЕТОДИ УПРАВЛІННЯ КОМУНІКАЦІЯМИ В ПРОЕКТАХ

The effectiveness of the process of solving contemporary social problems is greatly enhanced by the application of models and methods of project management. Projects that have many stakeholders and project team members from various industries have gained considerable popularity and are called distributed. Higher education institutions often introduce “flexible projects” into the educational process, which, when preparing specialists for different industries, contribute to the formation of their respective competences. The process of implementing such projects goes through mini-cycles and involves a complex and extensive communication system, especially with the external environment. The purpose of the work is to choose the method of communication management in different types of projects. The features of communication management in flexible projects are defined in the article and the analysis of existing methods of communication on the example of environmental educational projects is carried out. The method of expert evaluation has identified effective methods of communication in flexible projects, namely educational, environmental and scientific, since the success of their implementation is the basis for the further formation of a stable internal environment of our country. For educational and scientific projects, the most effective are the written methods of communication, while the implementation of environmental projects, electronic communications are the most successful. KEYWORDS: COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT, FLEXIBLE PROJECTS, ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS, EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS, RESEARCH PROJECTS, COMMUNICATION PROCESS.

УПРАВЛІННЯ ЕКОНОМІЧНИМ РОЗВИТКОМ ТЕРИТОРІЙ: ПРОЕКТНИЙ ПІДХІД

The urgency of the research topic is due to the need for rapid response of regions to changing environmental processes in the context of the spread of digitalization and active introduction of innovative technologies. It has been determined that in the modern market economy project management becomes a necessary factor in ensuring the competitive advantage of many regions. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the need for a project approach to the management of economic development of territories. Based on the use of methods of analysis, synthesis, scientific abstraction and logical generalization, trends in the evolutionary development of project management have been identified. It has been substantiated that project management forms advantages and unique competencies that are necessary for highly efficient and successful functioning of territories in a competitive market environment, in the realities Науковий вісник Мукачівського державного університету, 2020 140 of the new economic situation, which is characterized by significant speeds and dynamics of change in certain areas. It has been proved that one of the new alternative directions in the development of project management is flexible project management. It is determined that at the level of regional management the project approach can be used both for the implementation of individual projects and in the implementation of targeted programs. It has been proved that an integral part of the successful implementation of regional projects is the formation of a system of training methods and tools of project management. The foreign experience of project management application at the regional level has been analyzed and three key models have been revealed: american, european, canadian. The key principles of using the project approach to the management of economic development of territories have been identified, namely: systemicity, integration, balance, dynamism, decomposition, competence. The practical significance lies in identifying the features of the project approach to regional development management, which must be taken into account: openness and publicity of regional projects; increased control over the targeted use of local budget funds for regional projects; the complexity of assessing the effectiveness of the regional project; difficulties in setting priorities and differentiating regional projects. Key words: economic development, project management, regional development, flexible management methods, regional projects, project approach

Ability to Use Flexible Project Management in the Hotel Business

The article discusses the possibilities of implementing flexible project management methods to ensure the effectiveness of projects in the hospitality industry. The Project Leader should encourage each participant to abandon his or her approved behavior model in order to promptly resolve any issues that may arise during the implementation of the project and to respond to internal objections. As the hotel business is customer-centric, providing end-to-end services is not possible through standard management of individual customer requirements. Therefore, this study aims to determine the feasibility of using the methodology by identifying several criteria for project management (APM) in the hotel business.

Risk Identification and Responses of Tunnel Construction Management during the COVID‐19 Pandemic

The COVID‐19 pandemic has brought about significant influences to the world, including tunnel construction. Based on the analysis of 12 tunnel construction projects, this paper identifies the specific risk factors related to the COVID‐19 pandemic, e.g., men, materials, machines, methods, social environment, and political epidemic prevention pressure. Among these risk factors, worker availability, site accessibility, shortage of construction materials, and inadequate epidemic prevention materials caused by the lockdown policy are the most fundamental challenges encountered by the projects. Social panic and epidemic prevention policy requirements are key issues needed to be addressed before the resumption of construction work. The special circumstances caused by the COVID‐19 pandemic called for flexible project management and coordination skills to raise suitable and effective response strategies, while local governments make substantial contributions in solving the difficulties. Although these measures have resulted in higher project costs, their effectiveness in catching up with project schedules is worthy of recognition. The findings of this study enrich the risk categories of tunnel construction and the risk response strategies from the perspective of a global pandemic. It implies that future construction schemes including design, budget, supply chain, and project management should consider the possible influence of an epidemic.

Four stages of making project management flexible: insight, importance, implementation and improvement

Abstract Increased project complexity, project dynamics and changes in clients’ requirements are a few examples that suggest the necessity for flexibility in project management in order to deliver successful projects. Despite the fact that literature suggests adding flexibility to project management, there is no existing framework that provides a practical method for adding flexibility into the practice of project management in the construction industry. Therefore, this research is aimed at proposing a practical framework that helps practitioners in embedding project management flexibility into their project management practice. The research question is as follows: how to embed flexibility in the practice of project management in the early project phases? To answer the research question, four sub-questions have been formulated, which have been separately researched. The main question is answered by proposing a flexibility framework. This framework comprises four stages: understanding the current situation, practitioners’ perspectives on flexible project management, choosing enablers to become flexible and applying selected enablers to improve project performance. The framework is validated using the examples given by practitioners from 24 cases. Considering the movements towards flexibility and adaptability concepts, this research fills the gap in literature by providing a practical framework for project management flexibility. Moreover, it provides a step-by-step guideline for practitioners to embed flexibility in practice.

Survive IT! Survival analysis of IT project planning approaches

Despite the emerging importance of IT projects and the application of new flexible project management approaches, such as agile and hybrid methodologies, there are still many unsuccessful projects. Therefore, it is important to study which risk factors have the highest influence on the success and survivability of IT projects, how they are related to each other, and which project planning and management approaches can mitigate project risk the most. The goal of the study is twofold. On the one hand, a new risk analysis tool is proposed that handles the project flexibility and the dependency of the risk factors at the same time. On the other hand, with the proposed risk analysis tool, the effects of project management approaches for scheduling performance and risk mitigation are analyzed. With the proposed risk management tool, we determined the level of flexibility that allows flexible project management methods to gain advantage over traditional methods. In addition, we answer whether it makes sense to apply flexible planning for non-IT projects.