6 Program management ComPlexitY
© 2011 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Dening Project Complexity and Its Key Factors
In 1996, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) sponsored
an Advanced Research Workshop focusing on the topic of Managing
and Modeling Complex Projects. e workshop was based on the fol-
lowing premises: Projects are becoming complex, traditional project
management methods are proving inadequate, and new methods of
analysis and management are needed (Williams 1999).
e rst step in attempting to develop tools and techniques to man-
age complex projects is to dene what a complex project is. Baccarini
(1996), citing work done in the construction industry, proposes that
project complexity be dened as something with varied ...