Softening the Edges of Project Management
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Softening the Edges of Project Management - using S5stems Diagrams to form' a project
Jim Howell and Gill Ragsdell Priect management has a reputation fisrfiwouring the use of
hard' approaches such as Gantt charts, work breakdown rinicture and, network analtsis. These approaches work from 1/ic premise 1/ial 1/ic project that is lo he undertaken, is well defined and understood b)' t/iose inca/red; 1/ial il is simpiy a (ase of working out the nw3I /jicíent was of reaching an agreed end point in ternis of huaget, qua/its and time. In reality, this
limited value during the early stages of project formation. The authors suggest that there is a requirement to initiate a fbrming stage where
stakeholders are able to work towards developing a ccmmon understanding of the project. This paper shares the experiences of the first author, in partnership with a colleague, with a medium sized
is of/en riot 1/ic care. Businesses ai-e increasing/p recognising the
ealue of an initiai erploratory phase in which a project is frrmed. This short paper introduces a case stuqy from the Jinancial sector in which ssstems diagrams were used to assist a business in the project Jirmation stage. Lessons/or practice
business in the financial sector to illustrate how systems diagrams can be used as a vehicle to aid the
ai-e drawn out and the i-ole ofspstems diagrams is considered.
forming of a project. In doing so, there was a 'softening' of some of the sharp edges of the
-ooOoo-
traditional hard approaches to project management. The paper is structured so as to provide some of the background of the case study organisation and then goes on to describe the process by which the project was formed. In parallel, a critique of the value o! the use of diagrams with this particular organisation is developed. Practical aspects, primarily, are discussed although theoretical issues arc raised in an attempt
Introduction lt is
do not accommodate multiple perspecti\'es. Hence, traditional tools of project management are unlikely to support a process in which diverse views can be taken account of; they are therefore likely to be of
well kno\sn that prect managcmcnt (PM)
techniques have evolved from endeavours in thc domains of the defence anti engineering industries and are now commonly utilised in business generally. Techniques such as the work breakdown structure (\VBS). dependency tables, Gant charts and others are proving useful to businesses as they seek to manage projects within the constraints of time, quality and cost. However, these techniques are not only reductionist in nature hut also tend to
to develop a research agenda in
this
area. A
summary brings the paper to a close.
Background
assume that the project is well defined, with known objectives and parameters. They also assume that the project team members have a common understanding of the project, rather like the unitary perspective that is assumed of stakeholders involved in a hard systems approach.
The organisation in which this exercise was undertaken is a long established
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