3. • Project planning, especially in
the “idea to plan” phase,
depends on some stabilities.
• Many projects, however, involve
variant “truth” or don’t come
with repeatable conditions / use
cases / situations.
• Project management is about
flexing practices to achieve
outcomes.
Which domain?
3
7. Simple
• Environments are always “in
motion” even in apparently
simple order.
• When simple order breaks
down, it’s like falling off a cliff
into chaos.
• Others expect project
managers to work using simple
order even when they don’t.
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8. Complicated
• Interdepartmental conflict often
throws apparently simple
domain projects into the
complicated domain.
• Seek “good enough”
outcomes: if the outcome must
remain complicated it can’t be
rigid.
• Go to the complex domain to
test alternatives.
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9. Complex
• Goal is multiple safe-to-fail
experiments. Even failures
advance the overall project.
• Must be managed at a higher
level than the activities. This is
agility as opposed to AGILE.
• Complex domain requires
“blessing of order” before
stabilizing into the simple.
9
10. How best to proceed depends on where you are
10
11. Steering mechanisms should differ depending on what domain is in
play. Permanent mechanisms should reflect the size of the mix.
Sponsor
Steering
Committee
Governance
Board
Sponsor
11
13. Putting it All Together
• Plans are only as trustworthy as their match to reality. Set expectations
accordingly.
• Project management appears to be a function of simple order, but it’s not. It’s
a function of the complex domain (i.e. inherently less ordered).
• Getting the right steering mechanism is crucial especially on large-scale
endeavours.
• What matters is progress, but its form changes as the domains change.
• Perhaps leadership should transition to take advantage of personal style and
domain you’re now in?
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