The diversity of projects in the age of agility

Professor Darren Dalcher on the value of not having a universal best approach to projects.

Darren Dalcher Hon FAPM is Professor in Project Management at Lancaster University Management School

Projects come in different shapes and sizes. They are initiated, defined and deployed in diverse settings, requiring approaches that are sympathetic to the specific context and unique characteristics of each situation. The direct implication of the situated and highly contextual nature of projects is that they defy explicit recipes and best practice formulae.

The seventh edition of the APM Body of Knowledge is therefore predicated on the recognition that there is a diversity of potential approaches for structuring project work. It acknowledges that organisations operate in dynamic contexts, increasingly characterised by uncertainty, novelty and turbulence. The shift in emphasis from a culture of delivery towards an ethos of value merits greater prominence for the role of the manager in appreciating the context, selecting and shaping the approach, and assuming responsibility for the outputs, outcomes and benefits of project work, as well as the long-term impacts.

Responsible managers are increasingly expected to make informed choices. The choice of approach depends on multiple factors, including the expected levels of uncertainty, novelty and risk appetite. The scenarios they encounter range from highly predictive situations that assume that knowledge regarding the context is well-established and stable to highly adaptive settings, replete with features of volatility, fragility, ambiguity and turbulence.

The choice is largely influenced by the availability of knowledge. More predictive approaches rely on knowledge being available at the start, allowing work to proceed in a sequential manner, while adaptive contexts imply that new knowledge is created as the work progresses, which is then used to inform and guide the remaining effort. It must be obvious that there is no universal best approach. Project professionals select the most suitable arrangement for their specific context, often combining and merging features for different phases, tranches or parts of the initiative, thereby forming a unique hybrid approach.

Where does agile fit in? This is not a simple answer… The term ‘agile’ is often invoked in conversations regarding radical management and the transformation of organisations in novel and uncertain contexts. Yet, agile seems to mean different things to different people, resulting in many different practices, ideas and concepts clamouring for attention. In practice, identifying what they have in common can be problematic.

Agile often implies small, autonomous cross-functional teams working in short iterative cycles on relatively small tasks that aim to deliver little chunks of value to customers. The approaches harness the power of iteration and continuous learning to acquire insights and innovate faster. Agile approaches combine different sets of practices that endeavour to enable teams to optimise their performance. The collection of practices can be utilised to support fast, furious and focused experimentation. Agile can thus provide the means for small and rapid iterations in more adaptive contexts, where less is known upfront. Such focused achievement can be nourished in small autonomous teams, but becomes a management challenge when organisations look to scale up the work of a multitude of independent teams operating in close proximity with great levels of dependence between their expected work products.

The APM Body of Knowledge recognises that there is little value in trying to identify a particular agile stance or a specific set of practices that typify agility. Instead, there is a growing realisation that hybrid approaches enable a pragmatic mix of philosophies, fusing together elements from predictive and adaptive perspectives to create new models or approaches.

Truly agile thinking employs and combines iterative, incremental and evolutionary elements, with linear aspects, to fit the context and needs of a project, avoid rigidity and enable much-needed governance and oversight. Blending, merging or mashing of approaches, ideas, principles, practices and methods applies equally to programmes and portfolios, and to organisational or business agility. Ultimately, organisations can become more responsive, innovative, flexible and resilient through the pragmatic tailoring and blending of approaches, thereby respecting, acknowledging and celebrating the diversity, differentiation and distinction inherent in project settings.

THIS ARTICLE IS BROUGHT TO YOU FROM THE Summer 2022 ISSUE OF PROJECT JOURNAL, WHICH IS FREE FOR APM MEMBERS.