Managing Complex Projects and Programs: How to Improve Leadership of Complex Initiatives Using a Third-Generation Approach

Book description

AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH FOR MANAGING COMPLEX INITIATIVES

With the increasing demands of the global business environment, many leaders observe that their organizations struggle to manage complex strategic initiatives. Managing Complex Projects and Programs examines why and offers a solution.

Drawing on the insight of experienced executives and program and project managers from a diverse range of real-world industries, Managing Complex Projects and Programs:

  • Examines the common reasons for poor performance of modern projects and programs

  • Introduces new guidelines and an innovative leadership framework for solving performance issues

  • Provides organizations with a roadmap for redefining the roles of project and program management professionals

  • Whether you are a current program or project manager, a student of program or project management, or an executive seeking to prepare your organization for a complex and uncertain future, Managing Complex Projects and Programs will challenge you to rethink your approach for managing strategic initiatives and ensuring your organization's success

    Table of contents

    1. Preface
    2. Acknowledgments
    3. Part 1: Professional Project and Program Management—Yesterday and Today
      1. Chapter 1: The Exhilaration and Exasperation of Project and Program Leadership
        1. Leading Projects and Programs
      2. Chapter 2: The Emergence of Project Management: First-Generation Programmatics
        1. Project Management’s Beginnings
        2. Project Management Processes
        3. A Growing and Challenging Profession
        4. Organizational Responses
      3. Chapter 3: The Evolution of Project Management: Second-Generation Programmatics
        1. Phase-Gate Approaches
        2. Circumstance-Specific Approaches
        3. Current Perspectives and Needs
        4. An Identity Crisis
        5. A Time for Action
      4. Chapter 4: Rethinking the Roles and Responsibilities of Project Management Professionals
        1. The Exasperados
        2. Programmaticists and the Management of Complexity
        3. A New Credo
        4. Understanding Project and Program Complexity
        5. Reactions to the Complexity Framework
        6. Use of the Complexity Framework
      5. Chapter 5: Stakeholder Views about the Roles and Responsibilities of Programmaticists
        1. Diversity of Views
        2. Three Conceptions of a Programmaticist’s Role
        3. Adoption and Value
        4. The Need for Different Kinds of Programmaticists
      6. Chapter 6: Modern Problems with Traditional Management Models
        1. The Two-Party Fully Governed Project Oversight Model
        2. Limitations of the Model
        3. Problems with Background Documents
        4. Problems with Operational Decision Making
        5. Problems with Strategic Decision Making
        6. Unsatisfied Needs for Expertise
        7. A Search for Solutions
      7. Chapter 7: Adaptations of the Traditional Two-Party Fully Governed Project Oversight Model
        1. Stakeholder Stories
        2. Organizational Growth
        3. Portfolio Expansion
        4. Increased Project Size, Uncertainty, and Complexity
        5. Challenges Ahead
      8. Chapter 8: Moving Forward
        1. Other Approaches
        2. Downsizing the Organization
        3. Transferring Governance
        4. Redefining the Role of a Programmaticist
        5. Building a Centaur
        6. Elements of an Improved Project Oversight Model
      9. Chapter 9: Leading Complex Endeavors
        1. The Journey So Far
        2. Leadership That Resolves Complex Problems
        3. Critical Leadership Roles
        4. Adaptive Leadership and the Outcome Sage–Programmaticist
    4. Part 2: The Promise and Practice of Third-Generation Programmatics
      1. Chapter 10: A New Perspective on Programs and Program Management
        1. From Adaptive Leadership to Program Management
        2. What Is a Program, Really?
        3. Redefining Program Management
        4. Redefining Projects and Project Management
        5. Is It a Program or Is It a Project?
        6. Barriers to Acceptance
      2. Chapter 11: Introducing Third-Generation Programmatics
        1. The Complexity-Management Roles of Project and Program Management
        2. Defining Third-Generation Programmatics
        3. Roles and Responsibilities in the Three-Party System
        4. Benefits Expected from the Third-Generation Programmatics Approach
      3. Chapter 12: The Decision to Implement Third-Generation Programmatics
        1. Choosing Between Two-Party and Three-Party Systems
        2. Challenges Faced When Implementing Third-Generation Programmatics
        3. Establishing Departments of Program Management and of Programmatic Science
      4. Chapter 13: Developing Programmatic Leadership Competencies
        1. The Needs of a Leader
        2. Defining “Appropriate” Leadership Behaviors
        3. Insights from Research on Program Management Competency
        4. Leadership Challenges
        5. Defining “Ideal” Leadership Systems and Behaviors
      5. Chapter 14: Becoming a Third-Generation Programmatics Organization
        1. Applying the Principles of Third-Generation Programmatics
        2. Twelve Questions to Answer
        3. Deciding to Use a Third-Generation Programmatic Oversight System
        4. Life, Viewed Programmatically
        5. Final Thoughts
    5. Afterword
    6. Glossary of Newly Introduced Terms
    7. Suggested Readings
    8. Index
    9. End User License Agreement

    Product information

    • Title: Managing Complex Projects and Programs: How to Improve Leadership of Complex Initiatives Using a Third-Generation Approach
    • Author(s): Richard J. Heaslip
    • Release date: September 2014
    • Publisher(s): Wiley
    • ISBN: 9781118383018