1 Introduction

Making sense of the

‘Life is one big project.’ The trick is in managing it.
All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law.

project context

Principles
Managing the project process: 1 What is and is not a project needs to be defined so that we know
the 4-D model whether the practices known as ‘project management’ (PM) are
D1: relevant.
2 Project management has a fundamental role in modern organisations
and the careers of the people working in them.
D4: D2: 3 The past 70 years of PM development should be understood to help
Develop it Design it understand the current state and the opportunities for the future.

D3: Learning objectives

Do it
By the time you have completed this chapter, you should be able to:
➔ identify the definitions of a project and the task of management within
a range of projects
➔ demonstrate the importance of successful project management to
individuals, organisations and economies
➔ recognise the development of the modern subject along with some of
the challenges and limitations.

Contents
Introduction 3
1.1 Basic definitions 4
1.2 Importance of successful project management to an organisation
and to you 10
1.3 Project management past and present 14
Summary 19
Key terms 20
Project management in practice: Four managers with distinctly
different roles 20
Topics for discussion 22
Further information 22
References 23
Copyright 2021. Pearson.

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 Introduction 3

Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015 the United Nations Member States adopted
17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).1 These
replaced the Millennium Development Goals, and
focused on major worldwide targets to be achieved
by 2030 as part of the Agenda for Sustainable
Development. These include ‘No poverty’, ‘Zero
hunger’, ‘Gender equality’, ‘Clean water and
sanitation’, ‘Affordable and clean energy’, ‘Sustainable
cities and communities’, ‘Responsible consumption and production’, ‘Climate action’ and ‘Peace,
justice and strong institutions’.
The UN call these goals a ‘universal call to action’, and they represent a huge challenge for the
planet in a relatively short period of time (15 years). Few would argue that these are incredibly
important issues, yet the action necessary requires coordinated policies and implementation
across the globe. The Sustainable Development Goals Report (2019)2 showed that progress was
being made in some areas, but the UN Secretary General warned bluntly that, ‘It is abundantly
clear that a much deeper, faster and more ambitious response is needed to unleash the social
and economic transformation needed to achieve our 2030 goals.’
Projects can range from the small and relatively mundane, to those that impact the very fab-
ric of our civilization. Getting them right matters. If your new kitchen is late or over budget,
that is exasperating, but it is unlikely to be life-threatening. The SDGs, on the other hand, are a
different order of magnitude entirely, both in terms of significance, and difficulty. Despite the
obvious differences, both have similarities. We are looking to take our aspiration, be it a home
improvement or ensuring quality primary school education, and turn it into reality. Individuals,
organisations and governments turn ideas into reality through projects.

Introduction

The Sustainable Development Goals represent an enormous challenge, yet it is difficult to bring
together the relevant stakeholders without such a guiding set of goals and ways to track progress. At
the time of writing the latest report still makes it clear that there is significant work to do, but ongoing
data points highlight successes and shortfalls. Of course, none of this is easy. More straightforward
pieces of work regularly fail, and the press internationally usually carries a plentiful supply of pro-
ject failure stories. It would be tempting to believe that all projects fail. Indeed, there are well-cited
studies, notably Standish Group’s Chaos reports,3 that show how the majority do not meet their
initial objectives. Yet this ‘project’ approach to carrying out work continues to gain in popularity for
individuals, corporations and governments.
The SDGs illustrate some of the features that we will see as being applicable to a wide range of other
projects. They have a finite duration, with an end date of 2030. They involve a vast array of interlinked
activities carried out by an incredible array of people. There are measurable outcomes, but success
is dependent as much on perception as reality – what people believe about the SDGs matters. All the
work has to be carried out while countries face their own particular challenges. The consequences of
failure are frightening, but human beings naturally focus on the here-and-now far more easily than
the far away or life decades hence.

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 4 Chapter 1 Introduction

We will explore success and failure and some of the reasons for each in future chapters. For now,
this is a good example of the art and science of managing a project and the importance of projects in
general to the world in which we live. The nature of the SDGs means that many forms of innovation
are required by the individuals and project teams involved. In later chapters we will address the many
opportunities as well as the challenges that come with projects.
In this chapter, we will begin with definition, stating what constitutes ‘a project’ and ‘project man-
agement’. This is vital as it is possible, quite literally, to frame almost any activity as a project. Indeed,
we can go as far as to say that the opening quotation of ‘Life is one big project’ – ‘life’ does fit many
of the accepted definitions of ‘a project’. The challenge is more aptly stated as ‘finding what is not a
project’ so that it is possible to discuss with some clarity the range of human activity that this covers.
In the case of organising work to support the sustainability goals, there are many issues that require
significant coordination. We will explore the role of a project manager in outline here and the careers
of project managers. Second, projects are important. They represent a significant part of all economic
activity, being important to the individuals who carry them out, their organisations and, in many
cases, society as a whole. Lastly, project management as a subject is developing fast. By understand-
ing its history and the opportunities for the future development of this subject, we hope to show that
rather than being fixed, pre-determined or staid, there is a lively conversation around how we should
run projects in the future that is worth joining, as we certainly do not have all ‘the answers’ and as the
statistics show, there are plenty of problems for projects.

1.1 Basic definitions

Does it matter what activities do and do not constitute projects? Almost any activity can
be claimed to be a project. One practitioner put it to us very simply: ‘a project is whatever
I call a project’. One step on from this is the most basic of accepted definitions: a project
is a task that has a beginning and an end. This is insufficient, as the two examples below
will demonstrate.

Environmental health manager

The role of the environmental health department in a local authority (a county council in this
case) includes visiting food premises (restaurants, cafés, school canteens and mobile cater-
ing outlets) to determine whether the practices that they are following in the preparation,
storage and serving of food meet legal requirements. Inspectors have considerable powers
(including closure of the premises) where deficiencies are identified. The manager of the
department was convinced that he was a project manager. Each inspection lasted for several
hours and was, therefore, an activity with a start and a finish. QED in his view it was a project.

Delivery Team leader – UK Ministry of Defence – ship procurement

The prime role of the team leader is the management of the process from initial concept or
identification of a requirement for a new capability, through the stages of approval, devel-
opment, delivery into service, ongoing maintenance and finally disposal. The role is central
to integrating the requirements (both current and future) of users, while making sure any
equipment is compatible with other technology being used across the military. The provi-
sion of what is termed through-life support is vital, with upgrade paths being required for all
equipment. The duration of the project was that of the ship. In the words of one team leader:
‘. . . end to end, this is a 60-year project.’

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 1.1 Basic definitions 5

Both an inspection and the ship’s life have a beginning and an end. However, it is not
useful to define either of these as projects. Consider the requirements for managing each
of these tasks. The first is relatively straightforward and would not require the input from
the kind of approaches that will be discussed as ‘project management’ – they would simply
be too cumbersome and costly for such a task. The process that was followed each time
(arrange visit, visit, report and follow up) was the same and each inspector was visiting
one or two premises a day. This was operations rather than project management.
It was, however, only one part of that manager’s role. Other parts included planning
and executing the response to public health issues, such as an outbreak of a particular dis-
ease (e-coli poisoning, for example). These were fortunately rare events and each one had
its own characteristics. They also had to be pre-planned, so that no time was wasted when
they did occur. Other projects included regular initiatives to highlight particular aspects
of public health – such as an autumn campaign of promoting influenza vaccination. The
role of this manager was therefore split between the general management associated
with the ongoing activities and the project management of both initiatives and reactions
to ‘crises’. He was advised to look to operations management as a subject to help with the
management of the day-to-day tasks, but to build a relevant knowledge base and set of
practices for the projects he ran.
The second case is a hugely complex task that will change significantly in nature over
the 60-year period. Each part (e.g. designing the ship, building it, trials, hand-over, main-
tenance, refurbishing and disposal) is a project or series of projects in its own right, with
each project needing appropriate management. This task is clearly very different from
that of the inspections.
It clearly does matter what we call projects, as when they have to be managed, it is use-
ful to know something about the approach that should be taken to the management task.
To help clarify this task, a comparison of the following definitions is useful.
Association for Project Management (UK’s largest professional body for project man-
agers), 2019: A unique, transient endeavour undertaken to bring about change and to
achieve planned objectives.
Project Management Institute (one of the world’s largest professional associations),
2017: A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, ser-
vice or result.
British Standard 6079, 2019: Temporary management environment, usually under-
taken in phases, created for the purpose of delivering one or more business outputs or
outcomes.
PRINCE2 2017 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments – UK government standard for
project management): A temporary organisation that is created for the purpose of deliv-
ering one or more business products according to an agreed business case.
Some common themes are evident here:
1 Unique: the exact project has not been performed before. The project has a degree of
novelty, in terms of time, place, team carrying out the task, product or service being
provided. However, something like it has almost certainly been done by someone some-
where before. For this reason, projects are said to have aspects of uniqueness.
2 Temporary: the project does have a beginning and an end, as in our earlier definition,
and requires a group of people to carry out the task (the establishment of a temporary
organisation). When the project finishes, the team moves on. The financial resources
available to the project are also temporary and almost always finite – when the project
is completed the funding ceases.
3 Focused: the task of the project is to deliver a particular product, service or result (the
specific mission). This is not to say that every project starts out with a complete and
clear idea of exactly what will be achieved and how.

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 6 Chapter 1 Introduction

PRINCE2 2017 says that projects require the production of a specific business case.
While this is evident in many organisations (and required for UK government-funded
information technology (IT) projects), there are still many areas where this is not appro-
priate. For instance, when an earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck the Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011, disabling the cooling systems for the plant, it
started the second worst nuclear disaster in history. In addition to the task of bringing the
reactors back under control, was the humanitarian project to help people (mainly local
residents) whose lives had been changed forever by the disaster. There was not the time
to prepare a business case and indeed, given no financial return was envisaged, it is inap-
propriate to use this term, and the more generic notion of achieving a particular mission
is more useful. It is useful to look further than this, with the mission being a means to an
end. We say that projects are undertaken to deliver benefits. This characteristic is evident
in both commercial and non-commercial projects.
In many relief projects, both for this disaster and others, relief workers often remark
that, ‘We don’t know what we will encounter until we get there.’ This illustrates a further
characteristic of many projects – that of emergence. The high-level benefits that the
projects were undertaking were known (save lives), but the exact objectives and means
to achieve them could be determined only once a certain amount of work had been done.
These included assessments of the needs of different groups of people (for instance, some
needed medical treatment, others needed shelter). Not all standards and processes recog-
nise this emergence. The language in PRINCE2 (delivering business products according to
an agreed business case) is inappropriate when the urgent requirement is to save lives. The
exact timescale, budget and tasks are all unknown at the outset, but project management
is still very much appropriate in addressing the evolving situation. Although disaster relief
is an extreme example, it is a fact that many projects start with a limited or high-level view
of what will constitute their performance measures and it is quite normal for such criteria
to evolve as the project progresses.
Related to this characteristic, uncertainty is another fundamental of projects. The
future cannot be predicted with certainty, and in many cases nor can the response to
activities carried out in a project. Where emergence referred to the requirements of the
project, uncertainty covers all of the environmental conditions in which a project has to
operate. For instance, there may be uncertainty about costs of people or materials, or
whether some part of the project is indeed achievable. We may not know how long tasks
being undertaken for the first time will take. All of these provide the project manager with
a major challenge: how they will work with such uncertainty.
A recent extreme example of this was the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. Managers’ plans
across the world were thrown into turmoil by the crisis. The immediate concern was, of
course, to safeguard lives, but projects were suddenly faced with massive uncertainty.
Economies were being put on hold, throwing business cases into disarray. How long would
this last? Weeks, months? Would the project still be viable afterwards? No one really
knew. Hotels or restaurants in the middle of construction became somewhat more doubt-
ful as the leisure and tourism industries ceased to function. As we will see within this
book, there is a need both to plan the project and control the work so that it meets that
plan, yet also a requirement to adapt to new circumstances should the situation need it.
This can be a delicate balancing act, requiring both an inward focus on doing the work,
while simultaneously looking out at the wider environment. Developing this judgement
is important for a successful project manager.
In addition to having uncertainty, projects have another characteristic – they usually
involve change. It used to be the case that an IT project such as an organisation adopting
cloud computing would be viewed as a technical implementation of a new computer-based
system. It is more usual now to consider it as an IT-enabled change project – the change
brought about by any new system goes beyond the technology, to impact the way that
people work.4

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 1.1 Basic definitions 7

The change issue leads us to another facet of projects – they are not machines but are
groups of people carrying out a (hopefully linked) set of tasks. We say that unlike a machine
that is real and tangible, a project is a social construction – it was literally devised by peo-
ple. It involves people and systems of people, both in the project team and associated with
the project as customers, for instance. It is intangible. This has implications for the way that
we consider projects.5 For instance, treating a project as a mechanical system that responds
easily to changes may be inappropriate. Because there are people and groups of people
involved, there are going to be complex, dynamic interactions between those people and
groups. The ‘people challenge’ is likely to be harder if the work includes a high level of uncer-
tainty and emergence, as this implies a lack of stability which people can find unsettling.
It is not just people though that interact through a project. Sometimes major changes
need to include the integration of the major, distinct, elements. Consider the introduction
of electric vehicles to replace petrol cars. There is an underlying technical challenge in
developing the technology (e.g. obtaining sufficient driving range from the batteries), yet
this needs to be considered in light of the bigger picture. Electric vehicles need an appro-
priate charging infrastructure if they are to be adopted. Cars without a widely available
charging network will remain a niche market, but neither governments nor private pro-
viders are keen to invest in a major network roll-out without a clear view of how many
users they need to support. The growth of infrastructure needs to be in line with demand –
if there is always a queue at the local charging points then few will upgrade their car.
The incentives need to be aligned so that consumers are offered solutions that are
practical. This needs to include the vehicle, its operation, and ongoing support such as ser-
vicing. If the change as a whole does not appeal, the new technology will not be adopted.
Uncertainty is a major factor here, and although organisations will develop plans, these
may need to be modified in light of events as they unfold.
The characteristics and their implications are shown in Figure 1.1. They either describe
the nature of the task (aspects of uniqueness, mission focused, involving change, having

o o
o o o
o o
o o o o
o ow
o o
o o
w

o o

Project characteristics

o o o o

o w
o o o
o o o o w
o
ow
o o o
o o

Figure 1.1 Project characteristics

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 8 Chapter 1 Introduction

emergence and uncertainty) or the means by which it is delivered (through a temporary

organisation, which is a social construction involving integration). Further exploration of
the means for delivery shows that this is rarely entirely random and that managers use
combinations or systems of activities, people and organisations to deliver the project. Such
a system of delivery is termed a process. The process is the main unit of analysis here.

A project as a process
The characteristics described above are useful to determine what is and is not a project.
Further description of a project comes from analysing the system of delivery, including
consideration of how activities in the project are identified, planned and executed, and
how issues such as change and uncertainty are handled by the project team.
There are significant advantages to considering projects in this way (see Real World box).
A basic classification of processes considers volume and variety.6 Volume is the quan-
tity of throughput for that process. For a petrochemical plant, this is very high, whereas for
a chauffeur service, it is low. The variety is the number of different variations of process
possible. For instance, a petrochemical process is likely to have relatively little flexibility,
while for a small operation such as the chauffeur service, the process will have far more
flexibility to respond to the needs of individual passengers.
The relationship between volume and variety is shown in Figure 1.2. As you can see,
there is generally an inverse relationship between volume and variety. For example, a
noodle bar has a high-volume, low-variety process – it provides a high volume of products
with very limited variety in the process for preparing the noodles and serving the custom-
ers. A strategic management consultancy, meanwhile, may operate at the other end of the
scale, providing a low volume of services, with the process tailored to the needs of each
client, and is therefore a high-variety process.

REAL WORLD Benefits of the application of process thinking

It is now possible to build a McDonald’s drive-through restaurant in

just 24 hours. One project went from ‘clear site’ to ‘open for business’
in less than 48 hours, including foundations. Whatever your views of
the proliferation of these outlets, they do represent a good case of
what can be achieved when the true level of uniqueness of a project
is assessed. The contractors who actually build the outlets are Yorkon
Source: Mark Richardson/Alamy

and Britspace, and they have done so over 300 times in the UK alone.
If each one had been considered to be a unique project, then we could
reasonably expect the build time to be very long – months would be
completely normal for such a space to be constructed. Recognising that
this was likely to be
a project that was
repeated meant that
it was worth the companies investing in finding ways to improve
the process. So, instead of trying to build a unique store on
Source: Alex Segre/Alamy

each site, the firms considered the opportunities for making the
building modular and manufacturing the modules off site. One
store typically consists of six modules and these are shipped to
the site and ‘assembled’ on site, rather than involving traditional
building techniques. Each time it was done, the processes for
carrying this out could be improved.

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 1.1 Basic definitions 9

Volume
A ‘Painting by numbers’
As . . . but . . .
First-timers

Reduced Repetitive operations

risk and Projects
uncertainty B

Variety

Figure 1.2 Volume versus variety and projects

The traditional project management area is low-volume, high-variety processes, where

the notion of uniqueness prevails. These are indicated on the figure as first-timers.
Examples of these are the first moon landing and the development of the first computer.
It is noticeable with the wider adoption of project management that individuals and organ-
isations are running projects, often over time periods as short as a few weeks or months,
and that these are being carried out on a regular basis as part of ordinary business activity.
Here, the end product may be different, but the process by which it is delivered is often
repeated over time. Two further scenarios are identified here. The first is where there is
some similarity to previous work, in terms of either the process followed or the product
being delivered. These are referred to in Figure 1.2 as ‘as . . . but . . . ’s, that is, as the job
we did last time, but with the following differences. The second of these is where there is
a high degree of commonality in both process and outcome. These are termed painting by
numbers projects7 because the process and the outcome are well known. The project team
has the task of following the path to the required outcome. Projects such as carrying out
a financial audit of a company will be project-based, but the processes and the outcomes
(a set of reports and accounts) are well known in advance. Marketing research projects
are similarly painting by numbers projects in many instances and the construction of the
drive-through also fits in this category.8
Moving away from considering all projects as first-timers can be beneficial. The more
like repetitive operations a project is, the less the risk and uncertainty. This is certainly
the view from many organisations who prefer the relative reliability that can come from
projects that are ‘painting by numbers’. However, it can be a considerable challenge for
many project managers to agree that their project is a ‘painting by numbers.’ There is
something about projects that are first-timers that many managers will insist on, possibly
for the allure of the more complex, difficult or risky, and therefore their skills as project
managers need to be appreciated.
The two example projects used earlier in this section are classified as shown in
Figure 1.2. The environmental health ‘projects’ are at the point marked ‘A’ on the dia-
gram, in the region where the primary area of interest is in repetitive operations rather
than projects. The 60-year product lifecycle ‘project’ is marked at point B, similarly outside
the projects area.
For the purpose of this book, a project is from one of the three of the categories of pro-
jects from Figure 1.2. However, the nature of the work may not always be as evident as
we would like. Sometimes it is not completely clear whether a particular undertaking is
a project or repetitive operations. Take, for example, training to win the Hawaii Ironman
Triathlon World Championships, quite likely the most gruelling sport going. The 2.4-mile

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 10 Chapter 1 Introduction

swim, 112-mile bike leg and 26.2 mile marathon will tax even the strongest athlete. Chrissie
Wellington has won this race four times, smashing numerous records in the process, and the
event will be the focus of many athletes’ training over the year. Is that a project? Probably.
Next consider Serena Williams, winner of 23 Grand Slam tennis singles titles. Is each Grand
Slam a different project? Likely not. They will be scheduled and planned for, but as part of
the annual cycle. These athletes are among the greatest of all time and have been hugely
successful in their chosen sports. Ultimately, we need to focus on the work being done and
the outcomes we achieve from our projects, rather than worrying unduly about specific
labels. There is a great deal of (sometimes rather esoteric) debate about the classification
of different pieces of work. This can indeed be interesting, but the value is in the work that
we do and the benefits we deliver, not necessarily what we choose to call it.

1.2 Importance of successful project management to an

organisation and to you

For many organisations, projects are fundamental to the way they operate. The major
management consultancies earn over 90 per cent of their revenues from projects. Whole
sectors of industry are project-based organisations (PBOs), including much of the engi-
neering and construction sectors, consultancy, many public-sector bodies and much of
the IT industry. Construction alone makes up in the region of 8 per cent of gross domestic
product in the European Union. Government, from local up to European Union level, car-
ries out a significant proportion of its business through projects. Projects are central to
our economies. So, just how important are they to an organisation? The Real World box
demonstrates the extent of the impact of project performance to one organisation.
An APM report9 in 2019 looked at the contribution of projects to the UK economy. Their
data showed over 2 million full-time equivalent workers (7.9 per cent of UK employment)
and over £150 billion of gross value added (GVA), representing 8.9 per cent of UK GVA.
Economically, it is estimated that project activity comprises c.35 per cent of GDP for some
countries,10 an indication that this is a significant field of activity. Nonetheless, numerous
industry bodies regularly lament that there is a shortage of project managers, indicating
that there will be a demand for project management skills for the foreseeable future.
The economic impact of project management is undeniable, but there is more to it than
just the numbers. It is not overstating it to say that project managers make the world a
better place. They do vital work, be it in the building of key infrastructure, developing new
products, implementing public policies, or helping disaster zones recover. This is impor-
tant, meaningful, work that improves real people’s lives. Managers we work with are proud
of what they do, and rightly so. Doing it well brings benefits to people faster and more
cost effectively. This is hugely positive and personally rewarding, but it is not always easy.

Projects and you – from accidental to professional PM

Who are these ‘project managers’? There is one group which has the title – these are rela-
tively easy to identify. Others examples are not so obvious. Organising a festival or a sport-
ing event is a project (Glastonbury in the UK, Oktoberfest in Germany, Tour de France).
Festival organisers may not give themselves the title of ‘project manager’, but many recog-
nise the skills base is highly appropriate for what they have to do. Similarly, for the medical
consultant given the job of managing the opening of a new local hospital, or a politician
the job of launching a new policy, PM is core to what they are doing.
For many years PM was regarded as the accidental profession – people got into it by
accident. Typical in this respect is the scenario described in Table 1.1. This role change,

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 1.2 Importance of successful project management to an organisation and to you 11

REAL WORLD Sometimes, it takes more than projects . . .

The product that has led to the revival of Apple Inc’s fortunes is the iconic iPhone.
Launched in 2007, like most new products its development was managed through
a portfolio of work – that is, a coordinated set of projects with a common goal.
These included:

1 The development of the hardware – from the electronics to the ‘look and feel’
of the product. The phone itself is refreshed regularly with new features, and is
now accompanied by a range of complementary products including the iPad
and the Apple Watch.
2 The development of the software – the user interface, and the firmware. Again,
this is updated regularly to add functionality.
3 The production set-up – tooling up to produce prototypes to production of the
final product and its subsequent upgrades. This now extends to a complex
worldwide supply chain and outsourced production capability.
4 Establishing the product ecosystem – the success of the product (and its
derivatives) was dependent upon the content that could be loaded onto it and
this has developed significantly over time. Apps, music, films, a network of
content creators – all of these add value. The newest incarnations of the hard-
ware offer far more than the original iPhone (and its predecessor, the iPod), Source: New Africa/Shutterstock
yet the fundamental offering remains similar.
5 The marketing – from identification of market needs to promotion of the product.

This is not all within Apple’s control. The evolution of the wireless networks on which the iPhone operates (now
at fifth generation, or 5G) enables vastly more, and faster, data than in 2007. The product evolution is to some
extent dependent upon this wider innovation so that new services can be designed and released.
While all of these aspects had to function together for the original product to be a success at its launch, the
collaboration and the projects did not stop there. In order to keep up with a highly innovative and competitive
market, there needed to be continual refreshing of the product, new versions and cost-reduction projects on the
existing versions. Ability to deliver this depends on Apple Inc’s ability to manage its projects, not just the ethos or
brand image of the firm. This is not only dependent upon its internal competence, but also on the ability to man-
age a multitude of external suppliers. In addition, Apple both drives and responds to wider industry innovation
(e.g. payment systems, and ongoing changing consumer expectations and behaviour). What will this look like in
five or ten years? It is unclear. So although long-term plans need to be made, these need to be flexible enough to
respond to world events and technology trends as they unfold.

Table 1.1 Accidental profession or profession of choice?

Accidental profession Profession of choice

Engineering Projects Manager: IT Programme Manager:

‘I did my degree in engineering and all ‘I started as a technical specialist, but was
my professional exams to get chartered. frustrated at how fast we could move things along
I still really want to be an engineer – it’s and so really wanted to be running the project.
the technology that I find really interesting. I did my first PM professional qualification and
But I was in the office one day and the MD then joined the programme management office.
walks in – “You OK to manage this next After a short time as a planner, I moved into
project?” he says. Couldn’t really say no.’ project management. I did further management
qualifications while working and recently
championed our change programme on excellence
in project management.’

from a technical role (in this case, engineering, but could equally well be from marketing,
finance, IT, managerial or any technical specialism) to a project management role, used to
be a transition that you were expected to achieve, often with little by way of development
and support. But this has changed. For instance, during the 1990s, around 10 per cent of

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 12 Chapter 1 Introduction

a class group of practicing managers being taught would have participated in formal train-
ing on project management. Today, it is more likely that most of the group will have that.
So how does this project management career fit with the traditional career path
structure?

PM and line management

Figure 1.3 shows a conventional management hierarchy, with the lines representing lines
of reporting or responsibility. At the head of each of the major functions or departments
within an organisation there will be functional or line managers. These managers have the
responsibility for the people who work under them in their departments.
A project manager may have a line-management role as well, but is responsible for
projects that may run across several functions. The figure shows the project manager being
responsible for people drawn from every function in their activities in relation to that pro-
ject. As we will see in later chapters, this is only one type of project organisational struc-
ture. Projects also take place within single functions and across multiple organisations. The
example of this internal project begins to illustrate the kind of organisational challenges
that project managers face – having to work across internal organisational boundaries.
The project manager’s role differs from that of the line manager in the nature of the task
being carried out. Table 1.2 establishes the major differences.

Board of directors

Line/functional
managers
Human resources

Purchasing
Operations
Marketing

Finance
Quality

Project
manager

Figure 1.3 Project organisational structure (for internal project)

Table 1.2 Project versus general management

General management Project management

● Responsible for managing the status quo ● Responsible for overseeing change
● Authority defined by management structure ● Lines of authority ‘fuzzy’
● Consistent set of tasks ● Ever-changing set of tasks
● Responsibility limited to their own function ● Responsibility for cross-functional activities
● Works in ‘permanent’ organisational ● Operates within structures which exist for the
structures life of the project
● Tasks described as ‘maintenance’ ● Predominantly concerned with innovation
● Main task is optimisation ● Main task is the resolution of conflict
● Success determined by achievement of ● Success determined by achievement of
interim targets stated end-goals
● Limited set of variables ● Contains intrinsic uncertainties

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 1.2 Importance of successful project management to an organisation and to you 13

As Figure 1.4 shows, the split between tasks that can be considered as maintenance
(maintaining the status quo) and innovation is changing. In the figure, the trend is for
the line AB to move downwards – increasing the degree of innovation activities required
from line managers. The result of this is a change in the role of line managers and a reduc-
tion in the difference in the roles of line and project managers. Indeed, as already stated,
this blurring of project management into general management provides for considerable
confusion. Reference back to the definitions of projects will show those activities that are
and are not project-based. Table 1.2 illustrates this.
Many managers today have both project-management and line-management responsi-
bility and it is frequently quoted that the project-related proportion is in excess of 50 per
cent of their time. Their line responsibilities (finance, marketing, design) involve them in
a variety of day-to-day activities plus longer-term projects. The skills and techniques used
in the line-management function will differ from those required in projects, as we shall
see. The more enlightened organisations will provide a basic skills grounding in the best
ways to run projects, and help, coach and mentor individuals in recognising and develop-
ing their project roles.
Lastly, there are many other professional roles associated with the project manager. We
see many organisations using project management offices (as in Table 1.1) or project sup-
port offices. These are additional functions, often included in the organisation in the same
manner as another internal function, alongside human resources, operations, finance and
marketing. This gives recognition to the importance and prevalence of the roles required
to support projects, described further in the next chapter. Indeed, we have seen four dis-
tinct career paths emerge in this area:
1 Project manager.
2 Programme manager.
3 Project or Programme support office manager.
4 Portfolio manager.
For a project manager, the addition of a project-management function in this way pro-
vides a route for promotion as they develop their skills, knowledge and experience in man-
aging projects. Without this, there is seen to be little continuity in the careers of project
managers and crucial knowledge can leave with a manager when a project is completed.
Career development could lead to positions of project director, programme manager, sen-
ior responsible owner, sponsor and others (we will be looking at these roles in more detail
in future chapters). However, it is clear that the main career paths do require fundamen-
tally different skillsets and approaches to managing.11

Role
Innovation

A Project
management

Line
management B

Maintenance

Figure 1.4 Innovation and maintenance activities in project and line management

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 14 Chapter 1 Introduction

1.3 Project management past and present

History
History should provide us with lessons that we can draw upon to improve our manage-
ment of the present and the future. That is, we should be able to learn from how humans
have managed projects since the start of civilisation. Projects are rarely totally unique and
should avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.12 However, there appears to be relatively
little that has been gleaned from millennia of this type of human activity – great construc-
tion projects, movements of people, engineering achievements and so forth. Perhaps the
evidence is there, just without obvious signs and indicators to the provenance of the ideas
that are so accepted today as ‘project management’.
There are other explanations for the apparent lack of learning. For one, the constraints
are hardly the same today as they were. One very successful civilisation – the Roman
Empire – did not have the same resource constraints that project managers face today. As
one historian pointed out, if they wanted any more resources to complete their projects,
they simply had to go and conquer the region that had those resources and take them.
Maybe this is more reminiscent of industrial practice today than we credit . . . In later his-
tory, we see that project timescales were much longer and expectations were much less.
For instance, construction of some of Europe’s great churches was accomplished over
many decades or longer. Lastly, we do have a ‘survivor bias’ for projects carried out by our
ancestors – we do not find so much evidence of their failures as of their successes.
For the present, the most identifiable influences on project management come from
work carried out in the 1950s. Obviously, small- and large-scale projects were undertaken
before the 1950s. Individuals managed events and other situations. The Pyramids were
constructed, wars were fought and products were developed, but not formalised as a ‘pro-
ject management process’ until this time. Table 1.3 shows the progression of ideas in this
area – from first-generation processes, developed for large engineering projects during
the 1950s to the 1980s, through the development of a much wider range of approaches
for many different projects in the 1990s, through to the third- and now fourth- and fifth-
generation processes of today. The features of each generation of project practices
are described.
During the 1950s, formal tools and techniques were developed to help manage large,
complex projects that were uncertain or risky. The chemical manufacturer Du Pont devel-
oped techniques (critical path analysis (CPA) – see Chapter 6) for scheduling maintenance
shutdowns at the company’s production facilities. In the same period, the defence con-
tractor RAND Corp. created its tool (Programme Evaluation and Review Technique or
PERT) for planning missile development. These tools focused almost exclusively on the
project-planning phase and there were no close rivals for their use. The methods survived
and became accepted practice. The principles of these will be the subject of the discussion
in Chapter 7.
The second-generation PM became evident in the 1990s, with an expanded array of
tools and techniques beyond those of the first-generation processes. This was accompa-
nied by the development of standards for PM processes in the US and Europe. Leading the
development of such standards have been the major professional associations – specifically
the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the US and the Association for Project Manage-
ment (APM) in the UK. The International Project Management Association (IPMA) was
founded in the 1960s as a networking group and since then has taken a greater coordi-
nating role between over 70 national professional bodies from around the world. The
emergence of PM as a recognised profession with definable knowledge requirements to
enter the profession began.

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 1.3 Project management past and present 15

Table 1.3 Historical development of project management

Time Development Generation

Pre-1950s No generally accepted methods or recognised

processes. Much industry-specific custom and practice

1950s Development of planning processes and numerical

methods for quantifying uncertainty in high-profile,
military projects, predominantly in the US

1960s Further development of techniques and wider

acceptance of their application. 1965 IPMA, 1969 PMI
founded First-generation PM
1970s Recognition of role of project manager in large-scale
projects, formation of UK’s APM (as now known)

1980s Continued interest in project management as a

formalised means to manage large-scale engineering
and construction projects

1990s Increasing recognition of role of standards in many

industries and the profession as a whole, more work
undertaken called projects13 beyond engineering and Second-generation PM
construction. PMI and APM publish their Bodies of
Knowledge14

2000s Widespread acceptance of need for developing

PM, burgeoning consultancy sector, further
professionalisation including minimum standards
required for taking the role of a project manager,
development of ideas beyond traditional tools and Third-generation PM
techniques.15 Rethinking project management takes
place.16 Development of lean and agile approaches
to PM. Programme management becoming norm in
organisations

2010s Building on the previous generations, it is now

acknowledged that contextually-dependent approaches
to PM are more important than one-size-fits-all.
New challenges posed by working in the cloud, Fourth-generation PM
crowdsourcing and increasing use of groups without
formal coordination mechanisms. Technology revising
traditional approaches

2020s Integrating agile (an iterative approach to organising

a project) and waterfall (a step-wise approach) (see
Chapter 2). Development of project leaders and project
entrepreneurs as well as project managers. Greater
integration of different approaches (lean, agile, theory Fifth-generation PM
of constraints). Identification and better management of
complexity. Use of AI and systems to guide planning and
help to manage project data. These ideas are discussed
in later chapters

The third-generation processes recognised the requirement for a strategic approach

to the design of the project process rather than the highly reactive approach that was
prevalent. The variety of practices evident under the heading of ‘project management’
increased significantly, with the best organisations and managers continuing to develop
new approaches and many more starting their ‘project management journeys’.
Conventional methods developed to manage large-scale, direct-value-adding projects
with timescales of years, such as heavy engineering, are too cumbersome when projects

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 16 Chapter 1 Introduction

require short timescales to exploit market openings quickly, in particular in an information-

based economy.
The third stage of project management emphasised the strategic role of projects,
especially those processes that the project manager must put in place to deliver the end
objective of the project and satisfy the needs of all the project’s customers. In this new
approach, project managers became project integrators, responsible for integrating the
required resources, knowledge and processes from the project’s beginning to end. This
third stage has also been greatly influenced by the changes that occurred in the context in
which modern projects operate. In particular, the ready availability of technology (espe-
cially communications technology) led to the emergence of virtual teams as a means of
running projects. Similarly, there was considerable development of powerful project plan-
ning software and the computer-processing power to support it. Both of these changed
the way that we worked in projects. In addition, as mentioned in the previous section, we
have seen the emergence of the career paths of project, programme, portfolio and project
support office managers.
Changes in work modes in some (certainly not all) industries in more recent times has
left managers facing what has been described as ‘the perfect storm of complexity,’ with
massive uncertainties and change in the requirements of some projects, no direct authority
over the people working in them, and the rise in outsourcing and offshoring of work. One
single approach to managing projects is never going to fit with this diversity of settings in
which work is carried out. If we consider what is happening in publishing, for instance.
While there is still demand for conventionally published books, the demands of electronic
publishing and the use of crowdsourcing mean that the traditional long publishing cycles
(this book, for instance, took 9 months from completion of manuscript to being on sale)
are incompatible. People working in such environments have different roles and expect to
be included in the decision processes, rather than responding to hierarchies. This fourth
generation of PM is a fundamental shift in thinking and acting for those involved, and is
termed ‘Project Management 2.0’ by some. Most importantly though, there is no explicit
rejection of PM 1.0 (previous generations of PM practice) as many of the principles still
hold; they just need to be applied in different ways that fit with the context in which peo-
ple are working. The requirement to manage a portfolio of potentially disparate projects
within an organisation requires a different set of skills, and careers can be developed
within this area where such a profession was barely recognised in earlier decades.
This consideration of the evolution of the subject brings us to the issues that practi-
tioners and academics are facing today. This is the fifth-generation of PM and opens up
a range of new challenges to which solutions are not evident. Multiple project manage-
ment approaches are now available, with no clear guidance on the optimum choice, or
how combination of choices may be identified. The greater scope of work in which project
techniques can be applied offers new opportunities as well as further questions, and the
role of new technology such as AI is the subject of much discussion with many opinions
regarding realistic benefits and potential pitfalls.17

Perennial issues
There are many areas where project management proves to be a huge challenge for indi-
viduals and organisations. Some of these are reflected in the list below:
‘Ready, fire, aim.’ A project is started with no clear objectives. The motto is ‘shoot first –
whatever you hit, call it the target’. While we accept that emergence is a characteristic
of projects, and some will be deliberately exploratory (but necessarily limited), this
approach to managing projects is not associated with any great success for the organi-
sation. However, if you do work in such an environment, setting your own targets at
the end of the project is the easiest method for the project manager, without a doubt!

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 1.3 Project management past and present 17

‘It’s all in my head.’ The project manager will set out with all the information in their
head. This may work well where the project is very small, but the lack of any system
will soon start to tell on the individual and the results if there are any problems or if
the scale of the project escalates. Here, the application of the structures and systems
will greatly help, enabling better-grounded decisions to be made and avoiding many
problems to which this approach will inevitably lead. It remains a challenge for many
individuals and organisations to move away from this usually random approach to
managing projects. This links to the next point.
‘We work in a nanosecond environment, we don’t have time to do this stuff.’ This was
a regular quotation from senior managers in fast-moving e-commerce firms in the late
1990s. Given the demise of so many of these, one can only speculate on the impact that
the lack of good project management had on those businesses. Undoubtedly, changes
to the basic practices of project managers are required under such circumstances, but
this is more adaptation than radical re-invention. This scenario is in sharp contrast to
the next one.
‘Project management – we have a procedure for that.’ Having procedures or a doc-
umented set of processes for projects provides a highly structured approach that is
favoured in some industries. Indeed, there are many where the slavish dedication to
highly restrictive methods is necessary as part of the requirements of customers (mili-
tary procurement and areas where safety considerations are paramount are two such
areas). The result is high levels of documentation (the procedures manual for projects
at one international bank ran to several thousand pages) and considerable bureaucracy
associated with it. Decision making can be very slow and the overhead costs associated
with such systems significant. This represents the other end of the formalisation scale
from the previous scenarios; it is a challenge for project managers to deal with this
high degree of formalisation and yet try to engender creativity into the project and the
people working on it. It is a constant theme among project management professionals
just how much formalisation is required in systems. While some will have the levels
specified by the requirements of the project, the vast majority, particularly for smaller
projects, require an approach that is more appropriate to the particular situation.
‘It’s all just common sense, isn’t it?’ Well yes, but that depends on what you mean by
common sense. If you mean ‘the obvious after it has been explained’,18 then possibly.
However, this statement usually just shows that things about which little or nothing is
known appear obvious, as exemplified by the bar-room philosopher with easy answers to
life, the universe and everything, if only they would listen . . . This is a great challenge for
project management today. The past 70 years of the subject will be shown to have pro-
vided a substantial knowledge base for project managers to use. The art is in knowing the
relevant parts of that base and tailoring that knowledge to the particular environment.
‘I’ve got the badge, therefore I am a project manager.’ The card-carrying project-
management expert is a relatively recent phenomenon. Short courses, including
PRINCE2, provide some knowledge, at the end of which participants take an exam. If
they pass it, they have the status of project management practitioner. This is regard-
less of whether they can actually apply any of the knowledge gained from their course
or its relevance to their context. Such courses are valuable as first steps on the way to
becoming a professional project manager and many people have benefited from them;
however, they are only a starting point.
‘We’ve done this lots of times before. It never worked then, why should it this time?’
Here we see the experienced project worker showing the exasperation that comes with
the application of many different approaches, only to be regularly confronted with the
same results – projects running late, over budget or delivering less than was required of
them. This is not at all uncommon, because organisations rarely address the real causes

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 18 Chapter 1 Introduction

of failure. The failures deserve more careful study – they are a significant opportunity
for learning and are generally very costly: to individuals, the organisation or both.
‘It won’t work here!’ Lastly, a challenge for new methods that have been developed in
other areas of business is to find how they might be applied with benefit to the project
environment. These must overcome this often-heard rejection of anything new as it
was ‘not invented here, therefore it cannot be of any relevance to us’. The pressure
for change in most organisations is such that ideas need to be brought in from wher-
ever possible and adapted for projects and then the particular application. Examples
of changes that are having an impact on the project environment include taking opera-
tions initiatives (including lean and agile) and applying the principles to the project
environment. There is no longer just one best way to run a project; now there are many
possible options (the real thesis of fourth and fifth generation / Project Management
2.0) and it is this choice of processes that will be discussed in subsequent chapters.
Overall, projects are a challenge to work in and the nature of that work for many people
is changing.

Academic subject
Alongside practice, what has been written and taught about project management has
evolved considerably over the recent past. At one time, a project management course was
a relatively novel addition to an engineering programme of study. Today, it is thriving
field of study and is taught extensively in management, engineering and science schools.
Further, there is a growing band of academics researching, writing, teaching and consult-
ing in the area, and more relevant papers appearing in a wide range of academic and
practitioner journals.19 The following Real World box describes a recent study that has
been influential both in setting out the current state of the art in project management and
in defining requirements for the future.

REAL WORLD Project X and the role of MSc content

‘Project X’20 was initiated by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority in the UK and funded via the Economic and
Social Research Council. Its remit is to investigate the issues within major government projects and, through rigor-
ous research, find ways of delivering savings in project delivery and enhance the project management capability
across government departments and industry. It has six key themes:

A - Defining value, understanding and measuring success and the identification of critical success factors
B - Front- and back-end management practices and their influence on project performance
C - Data quality and use and their connections to project performance
D - Assurance, reviews, reporting and governance and their connections to effective decision making
E - Capability & knowledge management
F - Spotlight on transformation

This is an important initiative, and highlights the ongoing commitment the UK government is showing to improv-
ing the delivery of major projects. Published reports (e.g. from the UK National Audit Office) highlight the difficulties
often faced within these pieces of work, and performance is often below expectation. Our experience teaching
and working with senior civil servants is that they are smart and dedicated individuals, but that their projects are
highly complex endeavours not amenable to any ‘prescriptive’ solutions. Although, as mentioned, there is a wealth
of excellent material on how to manage projects, it does need a wide set of skills and a willingness to embrace
the complexity they inevitably face.
To support both private- and public-sector managers in understanding the challenges and building a ‘toolkit’
they can deploy in a range of scenarios, many universities offer specific Masters courses in project management.

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 Summary 19

Although PM is often included within more ‘generalist’ MBA degrees, an MSc focused on the subject offers a more
in-depth learning experience. These can be sector-specific (e.g. construction or defence), part- or full-time, and
tailored for the experienced manager or those just starting out. Content varies significantly with institution. Key
PM elements are always included, but a range of other complementary aspects such as finance, leadership, or
systems thinking, can help develop a more ‘rounded’ approach. As we will see, effective project managers need
a solid understanding of the wider business environment in which they work.
The most powerful academic research into project management is both highly rigorous, yet also highly relevant
to practicing managers. It offers insight into, and explanations of, processes and outcomes. Additionally, it helps
practitioners conceptualise their work differently, and think more critically. Our experience is that this aids them in
dealing with the complexities they encounter and enables more nuanced solutions to be identified.

Summary

■ Projects are important issues to both individuals and organisations. There are some key
questions to be answered if we are to understand the meaning and potential of the subject
and profession of project management and the activity of managing projects today. The
first is: what is it? For some people, the image that is conjured up is of large-scale construc-
tion projects (for instance, High-Speed 2 or Crossrail rail projects in the UK). The second
is: what is the role of management in this? For many, project management is often asso-
ciated with its basic tools and techniques or a particular software package. These views
are limiting and do not do justice to the range or scope of project management today. To
counter the first point, project management is a live subject – going on around us all the
time, and not just in organisations that undertake large-scale projects. On the second
point, rather than just being a limited set of tools and techniques, it is also a true profes-
sion, with a growing recognition of its contribution to all walks of working life. The role
of project management covers the entire spectrum of management knowledge, making it
a broad-based study, not confined to tools and techniques or technical issues.
■ On a business level, there are projects ongoing in every organisation. These are vital as
they are the execution of all the visions, missions and strategies of that organisation. There
are many books and distinguished articles written on strategy, but relatively little on how
to deliver it. On a personal level, we all have a number of projects ongoing – pursuing a
course of study, buying a house or organising a holiday. The level of complexity differs,
the underlying principle of delivering the result at a given point in time is the same. At
a commercial level, the effectiveness of the project management process will determine
whether or not those projects play a role in providing a source of competitive advantage
(or even continued existence) for an organisation. But this is not usually the case, as the
opening of the chapter showed. There is a problem with projects and their management,
as demonstrated by the large percentage of projects that run late, cost more than was
expected, or fail to deliver what was required of them.
■ The first step on the way to understanding projects was their definition. This showed
that there was a considerable diversity in the characteristics of projects, and that these
require different approaches to their management. After we identified the nature of pro-
jects, the next discussion was to see how we arrived at the current state of the subject.
Having emerged from the ‘one best way’ era of project management, we are faced with a
large number of challenges, not least in terms of where the subject is going now. This is
both helped and constrained by the current knowledge base, with high-profile bodies of
knowledge being at the core of the professional discipline.

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 20 Chapter 1 Introduction

Key terms
accidental profession general management programme/project/
p. 10 p. 5 portfolio/project support
as . . . but . . . p. 9 generation of project office manager p. 13
Bodies of Knowledge and practices p. 14 project-based
standards p. 15 innovation p. 13 organisations p. 10
business case p. 6 maintenance p. 13 projects p. 4
change p. 6 mission p. 6 social construction p. 7
definition p. 4 operations management temporary p. 5
deliver benefits p. 6 p. 5 uncertainty p. 6
emergence p. 6 painting by numbers p. 9 unique p. 5
first-timers p. 9 career p. 12 volume and variety p. 8
focused p. 5 process p. 8

PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE

Four managers with distinctly different roles

1 The site manager of a housing development

‘I am in charge of the construction of the buildings you see around you [he gestured with his hand to
the mixture of partially and fully completed properties] and of making sure they go from this stage [he
indicates a pile of drawings and building schedules] to the point where we can hand them over to the
sales people to sell. Most of the work is supervisory, ensuring that orders are placed and materials arrive
on time, people turn up, do the job properly and get paid for it at the end of the week. There are always
arguments between the various tradespeople to resolve and problems just get dumped on the desk.
Some of the toughest problems come with the people you have to work with. Some of them will do any-
thing to try to get one over on you – they’ll tell you a job is finished when you can see it is only half done.
Unless you go and check it yourself you’re in trouble. Also, they don’t give a damn for my schedule.
How do you get a roofer, at four o’clock in the afternoon when it is raining rather heavily [not the words
actually used] when you know he has a long drive home, to get back on the roof and finish the job he is
doing so that other jobs which rely on this being completed can start at eight o’clock the following morn-
ing? It wouldn’t be the first time we had to block his car in with a pallet of bricks to stop him leaving.’

2 Implementing Total Quality Management – the Quality Director

‘The Quality Director was appointed with the brief to introduce Total Quality Management [TQM] to
the company. It was his responsibility to put the proposal as to how it could be done, and then to carry it
out. As he described at the outset of the project “[this] is one of the most complex projects that we could
undertake at this time”. The complexity came because the project would hopefully change the way that
everyone in the company thought and worked [i.e. both attitude and procedures]. This would have to
be done through consultation, training and the demonstration through piloting small-scale improve-
ment activities, that the move towards TQ was worthwhile. The initial phase as part of the proposal
process was to carry out a company-wide quality audit to determine attitudes, knowledge and current
practice. The results paved the way for the carrying out of targeted efforts where needed most. The first
phase of execution was to take the Board of Directors of the company on awareness training – showing
them how working under a TQ environment would benefit them, and what changes would be needed.
The next level of management were then trained, and so on, down the hierarchy until the middle

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 Project management in practice 21

management level. These managers then trained their own people – a process known as “cascading”.
The project to introduce the new philosophy to the company took several years, and has now moved on
to become an accepted way of working. The Quality Director was initially involved in the management
of the introduction process, where the employees and suppliers needed to be convinced that this was a
good route for the company to take. His role then became one of project sponsor of a variety of improve-
ment projects, which may be considered as subprojects of the main one.’

3 Manager in financial management system implementation

This was a manager responsible for a large-scale IT change. She was in charge of a multi-year piece of
work with numerous interlinked IT projects that needed to be completed to bring about an update and
consolidation of her organisation’s (rather old and previously fragmented) IT systems.
‘The main roles of the job include:
● organisation – from the design of the system to determining support issues and providing training;
● anticipation of future requirements of the system;
● monitoring of progress of the implementation;
● communication and information – providing progress reports to local team members and national
common-interest groups;
● audit – ensuring the housekeeping, procedures and system security are in order.
The initial system design work involved coordinating with external system designers, the providers of
the software and the in-house IT group. Our local area network [LAN] needed upgrading to run the new
system. Other organisational issues were the role that consultants would play in the system design and
training of users and the allocation of the budget between activities.
Anticipation was required as the requirements of the system would change over its life. For example,
higher-level monthly indicators of financial performance would need to be provided where they had not
been needed before. In addition, a management accounting system would be required to provide budg-
etary controls.
The monitoring system we used for the project was PRINCE2 2017. This provided a basic set of plan-
ning tools, and we filled in the blanks on the planning sheets. A team was set up to monitor progress
against the plan.
Training was one area where I was personally involved with the users, showing them how to use the
system. People are very frightened of technology and do not always grasp immediately ideas you think
are very simple. This is where the greatest attribute of the project manager was needed in plenty –
patience.’

4 Portfolio manager in Government

It is common practice to group projects with a common purpose into a portfolio. This allows a number
of benefits if managed well. The UK leaving the European Union in 2020, meant that UK could no
longer rely on trade deals established by the EU as its basis for trade. From 2017 onwards, a portfolio
of projects was established to begin discussions on trade with a raft of countries and free-trade bodies,
including the CPATPP (the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership).
This portfolio was under significant pressure to deliver, as ministers who had supported EU exit wanted
to be able to show the benefits of UK being able to negotiate its own deals in future.
The nature of international trade means that it is essential that there is coordination between the
various trade deals and is one of the reasons this particular portfolio leader was so important. The com-
mitment to a particular condition with one country may preclude a deal with another. So, while one
project or negotiation in the portfolio might be important, it needed to align with the others, both cur-
rent and future.
➔

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 22 Chapter 1 Introduction

The portfolio leader faced one other major challenge. The UK had been a part of the EU for decades,
and had not done any of its own trade deals. As a result, it did not have a pool of UK-based international
trade negotiators on which to draw. There was also a very limited departmental resource to support
such negotiations. The portfolio of projects therefore also included having to design a depart-
ment to provide the logistical and legal support.
The leader, an experienced and very senior civil servant, was faced with significant novelty in estab-
lishing the portfolio.

Points for discussion

1 Identify the title which might be given to the management role in each case.
2 Describe the role of the manager in each of the cases.
3 Describe the desirable characteristics of each manager.

Topics for discussion

1 Carry out an Internet search to find more examples but don’t carry the title. Do you notice any differences
of project success and failure. From your search, are in their roles?
there any common themes in each? What are the
6 Select a sector of interest. For this sector, identify
implications of success and failure in each case?
the likely pressures on project managers and the
2 Was the last Olympic and Paralympic Games a implications for them as a result of these.
success? Carry out a search of the news of the time
7 Find examples of projects that fit into each of the
and the relevant websites to identify the character-
categories of project – ‘first-timers’, ‘as . . . but . . . s’,
istics of the project management that led to the suc-
and ‘painting by numbers’. Briefly discuss how the
cess. Compare with the example of failed projects
category would influence how you would expect to
you found in the answer to 1.
manage the particular project.
3 Explain the differences between project and general
8 Consider the definitions of ‘project’ provided by
management.
each of the professional bodies. What are the similari-
4 In what you are doing at the moment, which parts ties and differences?
are ‘project’ and which are ‘ongoing or repetitive
9 Does it matter what we call a project?
operations’?
10 ‘A project manager should not have other mana-
5 Identify five managers that have the title ‘project
gerial responsibilities.’ Discuss.
manager’ and another five that are project managers

Further information

Organisations of interest Reference Material

Project Management Institute – see www.pmi.org for APM (2019), APM Body of Knowledge, 7th edition, Asso-
information about the Institute and referral to national ciation for Project Management, High Wycombe, UK.
organisations (known as Chapters). PMI (2017) A Guide to the Project Management Body of
The Association for Project Management (UK) – see Knowledge, 6th edition, PMI, Upper Darby, PA.
www.apm.org.uk. PRINCE2 2017 – see www.prince2.com for details asso-
International Project Management Association – see ciated with PRINCE2 and associated qualifications.
www.ipma.world (including a full list of national asso- Managing Successful Programmes, 5th edition (2020),
ciations and relevant websites). see https://www.axelos.com/best-practice-solutions/msp.

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 References 23

ITIL – see www.itil.org.uk – if you are involved in the IT Meredith, J.R., Mantel, S.J. and Shafer, S.M. (2015)
field, worth checking out ITIL’s standards and guides. Project Management: A Managerial Approach, 9th edi-
BS ISO 21500:2012, Guidance on Project Management, tion, Wiley, New York.
BSI Standards Publication. Morris, P. (2013), Reconstructing Project Management,
BS 6079:2019, Project management – Principles and Wiley, Chichester, UK.
guidance for the management of projects, BSI Standards Morris, P, Pinto, J.K. and Söderlund J. (eds) (2012),
Publication. Oxford Handbook of Project Management, OUP, Oxford.
Murray-Webster, R. and Simon, P. (2009) 50 Lucid
Other PM sources Thoughts: Shedding Light on Current Project Management
Project Management Today – www.pmtoday.co.uk Practice, Lucidus, London.
marketplace.pmi.org Pinto, J. (2019) Project Management: Achieving Competi-
www.apm.org.uk/book-shop/ tive Advantage, 5th edition, Pearson, New York.
www.apm.org.uk/resources/find-a-resource/ Shenhar, A. and Dvir, D. (2007), Reinventing Project
research-series Management, Harvard Business School Press, Harvard,
MA.
Podcasts Turner, J.R. (2014) Gower Handbook of Project Manage-
The APM Podcast. ment, 5th edition, Gower, Aldershot.
The Project Management Podcast. Turner J.R. (2014) The Handbook of Project-Based Man-
agement, 4th edition, McGraw Hill, New York.
Projectified (from PMI).
Turner, J.R., Huemann, M., Anbari, F., and Bredillet, C.,
HBR Ideacast (Harvard Business Review).
(2010), Perspectives on Projects, Routledge.
Books of interest
Journals of interest
Andersen, E. (2008) Rethinking Project Management,
International Journal of Project Management – published
Financial Times Prentice Hall, Harlow.
eight times a year by Elsevier.
Davies, A., and Hobday, M. (2005), The Business of Pro-
Project Management Journal – published six times a year
jects, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK.
by Wiley.
Hodgson, D. and Cicmil, S. (eds) (2006) Making Projects
International Journal of Managing Projects in Business –
Critical, Palgrave, Basingstoke.
published four times a year by Emerald.
Kerzner, H. (2017) Project Management, A Systems
PM Network – monthly publication of PMI.
Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling, 12th
edition, Wiley, Hoboken, New Jersey. Project – quarterly publication of APM.
Lock, D. (2013) Project Management, 10th edition,
Gower, Aldershot.

References

1 Available at unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/The- 6 For a fuller description of process and various classi-

Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2019.pdf fications, see Slack, N. and Brandon-Jones, A. (2019)
2 See sustainabledevelopment.un.org Operations Management, 9th edition, Pearson, Harlow.
3 See www.standishgroup.com 7 See Obeng, E. (1994) All Change: The Project Leader’s
4 See for example Coombs, C.R. (2015) ‘When planned Secret Handbook, FT Pitman Publishing, London.
IS/IT project benefits are not realized: a study of inhibi- 8 Turner, J.R. and Cochrane, R.A. (1993) ‘Goals-and-
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pp. 363–379. International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 11,
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‘Understanding community protest from a project man- 9 See Association for Project Management (2019) ‘The
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International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 35, management and projects to the UK’s economy and
No. 8, pp. 1444–1458. society’ at www.apm.org.uk/goldenthread/

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 24 Chapter 1 Introduction

10 Schoper, Y. G., Wald, A., Ingason, H. T., and Fridgeirsson, 15 See Hodgson, D. and Cicmil, S. (eds) (2006) Making
T. V. (2018) ‘Projectification in Western economies: Projects Critical, Palgrave, Basingstoke.
A comparative study of Germany, Norway and Iceland, 16 Winter, M., Smith, C., Cooke-Davies, T. and Cicmil, S.
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‘Attributes and Levels of Programme Management Project Management, Vol. 24, No. 8, pp. 650–662.
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12 Williams, T., (2008) ‘How do organizations learn les- You about Realistic Artificial Intelligence’, California
sons from projects—and do they?’ IEEE Transactions on Management Review, Vol. 61, No. 4, pp. 110–134.
Engineering Management, Vol. 55, No. 2, pp. 248–266. 18 We are indebted to Keith Sutton of Chelmsford Techni-
13 This phenomenon is known as Projectification after cal College for this definition.
Midler, C. (1995) ‘Projectification of the Firm: The 19 See ‘Further information’ for the main project manage-
Renault Case’, Scandinavian Management Journal, ment journals.
Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 363–375. 20 See www.bettergovprojects.com
14 PMI Body of Knowledge first published as a white paper
in 1987. First edition formally published 1996. APM
Body of Knowledge first published 1992.

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