Projects

v     All work is becoming project work

v     Many still hold the perspective that projects are linear, controllable or mechanical processes.  Some are, but most projects are not.

v     Successful complex, muti-stakeholder projects take on a “life of their own”, become agile and self-organizing to produce maximum results in changing environments.

v     Project leadership must develop the awareness to see what is happening in the project and its ecosystem.  Projects go through energy and productivity cycles.

v     No leader or team can see everything, so engaging all involved at key points is necessary.  Getting the whole system in the room increases intelligence and effective decision making.

v     Strategic leadership must develop new perspectives and often utilizes external resources at appropriate times to facilitate the next steps in the journey to a successful project.

v     I have worked with change leaders and their teams on complex projects to develop effective strategies and events to engage stakeholders and communities of interest at critical points in the project’s life-cycle.

I have facilitated key events, with teams and stakeholders, at different points in a projects life cycle.  Conception, team development, stakeholder interaction, the loss of momentum and energy and learning from experience are among those points when external facilitation can assist success.  Open Space Technology can be a “Project Accelerator”.  It can engage the leadership of those who have a stake in the outcomes or help the project team find its way through a difficult issue. 

See the article “Living Projects” for some perspectives on our changing view of successful projects.

One project has been to shift to the use of a call centre for initial information on financial services.  The speed of peoples lives and their over commitment to other projects meant that holding an event with key stakeholders was the best way to initially determine what might be the Frequently Asked Questions and where the answers could be found.  The very successful event gave a substantial boost to the project and the call centre.  This was again done with Starfield Consulting, where we have explored together the kinds of perspectives and approaches required to develop truly organic project management.

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Last modified: August 6, 2003