Executive's Guide to Project Management: Organizational Processes and Practices for Supporting Complex Projects

What Is a Complex Project Team?

Ideally a CPT is a team of 6–10 co-located and experienced professionals who are assigned 100 percent to the project and who can work without supervision. In practice these conditions are seldom met for several reasons:

• The project scope is too broad and complex to be adequately staffed by 10 person project team.
• Experienced professionals are distributed across several geographies.
• Many professionals possess scarce skills necessitating multiple project assignments.
• Some of the professionals will need management oversight.
• CPT professional development programs are not adequate.
• The supply of CPT managers and members is not aligned with complex project staffing needs.
• Complex project portfolios are too aggressive.

Leading the CPT is a complex project manager (CPM). The CPM is already a critical player in the complex global business community. Their profession is evolving into a rich profession whose competencies extend beyond the discipline of project management to a set of competencies that range from beginner to expert in related disciplines such as business analysis, information technology, and business processes. Not every CPM can be so endowed nor would it be reasonable to expect that to be the case nor would it be reasonable to try to develop such professionals. They are generalists or specialists and everything in between. And so that means the CPT position family must be broad and deep. This chapter will set out a definition of that family ...