CHAPTER 11
Applying Complexity Thinking to Highly Innovative, Urgent Projects

An urgent project that demands an innovative solution and has an aggressive scope and schedule is another type of complex project. In this chapter we recommend management techniques that can help you and your team manage the complexities involved while establishing and maintaining an environment of adaptability, innovation, and creativity.

WHAT MAKES HIGHLY INNOVATIVE, URGENT PROJECTS COMPLEX?

Urgent projects, by their very nature, are different from what we consider to be traditional projects. Traditional projects are usually started with a defined scope, budget, and timeline, and an attempt is made to follow a prescribed methodology. Urgent projects are seldom started this way. For urgent projects, time is critical for project success; delays mean a high probability of project failure. Crisis situations such as war and natural disasters are examples of urgent projects.

NONTRADITIONAL PROJECT STARTUP METHODS

Urgent projects come in two varieties: those that are planned and deemed to be top priority and those that are unexpected—i.e., they were not planned or budgeted but suddenly arise because of an unforeseen critical event. Whether planned or unexpected, urgent projects usually have several things in common: Cost is not an issue, time is of the essence, and they receive top priority for resources across the organization.

HIGH STAKES

Examples of urgent projects abound in the intelligence community. Whether developing an innovative new device for the agents in the field or a faster, better way to collect and analyze intelligence information, the stakes are high. Cost and process are of no concern, but time and accuracy are critical.

High-stakes projects involve numerous complexities:

• There is little time to experiment, create, innovate, or ensure that we have the “best” solution—the team must act quickly to resolve the burning need.

• The team strives to produce an environment for the project that is free from demands or dependencies on any other groups, projects, or business units; thus, the inevitable interrelationships and dependencies are often not discovered until the new product is in the field.

• Multiple urgent project teams operating concurrently run the risk of duplicating efforts, or even worse, fielding solutions that are disharmonious instead of complementary, possibly leading to confusion, mistakes, and misinformation.

HOW TO LEAD HIGHLY INNOVATIVE, URGENT PROJECTS

Fixed deadlines almost always add risk to projects because the time factor is interdependent with other competing demands, including project scope, quality, risk, and cost. Economists have been warning us for years that success in the 21st century is contingent on our ability to produce innovative products swiftly to meet growing demands in emerging markets. The fiercely competitive marketplace has imposed a grinding sense of urgency on almost all innovation projects.

For urgent projects to succeed, they need a project team that operates like a special task force, staffed with handpicked members who are focused solely on resolving the crisis swiftly. Procedures are simplified, if not abandoned completely, and senior management is highly involved and supportive.¹ Our recommendations center on the differences between leading planned urgent projects, which usually involve innovation, and managing unplanned urgent projects, which are usually driven by unexpected events.

PLANNED URGENT PROJECTS

To make planned urgent projects successful, we are able to take the time to set up the appropriate infrastructure. Critical steps include:

• Establish permanent, flexible innovation teams

• Assign the best resources

• Time-box the effort.

Establish Flexible, Permanent Innovation Teams

Although planned urgent projects can originate from any business unit, they are often managed through special units that transcend typical organizational boundaries and are focused on innovation, emerging markets, and new business ventures. These special operations teams are flexibly structured and highly connected via the Internet and periodic face-to-face meetings. To succeed these groups need executive support from the highest levels of the organization—and full funding. Some organizations establish the innovation teams as a separate new product development division, while others establish one “urgent project team” that spans all divisions and works on projects that meet predefined criteria.

Assign the Best Resources

Team members on urgent projects must have the skills, information, and motivation to make decisions with little data and to adapt to change quickly. They must also be able to move freely from project to project as priorities change. Flexible and agile project management, business analysis, and systems engineering procedures and tools, along with a project sponsor who is available in real time, all combine to provide the foundation for this flexibility.

Time-box the Effort

While we all hate fixed deadlines, a time-boxed schedule increases the level of urgency the project team feels and forces decisions to be made quickly and efficiently. Most innovation teams are given a fixed time within which to design and deliver new products. A few years ago, most urgent projects were expected to be completed within 18 months. Now it seems that urgent project teams are under constant pressure to deliver even faster.

Structure the time-boxed schedule into a series of iterations, each marked by the completion of a major deliverable. Conduct reviews after each iteration to ensure the quality of the deliverables and to move quickly into the next iteration. This approach frees the team to focus on the work needed to complete the current iteration only. To meet time pressures, eliminate all “nice-to-haves” and unnecessary features. Initially, deliver the minimum workable solution to test the viability of the concept in the marketplace.

UNEXPECTED URGENT PROJECTS

For unexpected urgent projects, the initial environment is truly one of chaos. A sense of urgency imbues everyone—project team members and stakeholders alike—with a clear focus and a strong motivation to perform. Consider the rescuers after a major disaster. Firefighters and paramedics are highly trained and skilled; nevertheless, events (such as Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 attack) occur for which we are woefully unprepared. The essential elements of success when an unexpected urgent situation arises include establishing and maintaining a sense of urgency and implementing proven critical practices.

Establish and Maintain a Sense of Urgency by Adapting to the Situation

What happens in unplanned, urgent circumstances? Often, routine procedures are abandoned and teams form around anyone who shows leadership. Teams form and re-form according to the need, sometimes following protocol, sometimes making it up as they go along—adapting to their environment. It is no secret that really urgent projects can be carried out in record time using unconventional, sometimes radical techniques.

Management techniques we recommend for urgent, unstable situations with a high degree of uncertainty include:

• Staff the project with flexible, high-performing team members who welcome unorthodox practices

• Make it clear to team members and stakeholders that time drives all decisions

• Become involved at the management level only in dire situations.

Implement Proven Critical Practices

In a recent article in Project Management Journal®, entitled “Managing Unexpected Urgent Projects,” Stephen Wearne, PhD, of the University of Manchester, UK, presented his findings from a study of six unexpected, urgent projects. The projects were diverse, across the globe, urgent, and highly successful. The projects Dr. Wearne studied were (1) launching the UK nationwide digital television transmission system in six months; (2) constructing an emergency river excess flood diversion system in two weeks; (3) installing a temporary deck structure spanning ruptured portions of a major highway bridge in seven weeks; (4) constructing a temporary power line 9.8 km long and connecting work to restore the power supply in 17 days; (5) restoring the tracks, power, and signaling systems over a main rail line in two weeks; and (6) sustaining seven months of work to sift, make safe, and remove 1.6 million tons of rubble, hazardous structural elements, and other wreckage to search for survivors, identify remains, and clear the 9/11 site.³

These projects demonstrate some of the practices that have proven to be successful in managing unexpected, urgent project. Indeed, the leadership team should consider these success factors for any complex project:

• Assign full-time, temporary teams. Teams from the study included contractors and consultants who were welcomed for their contribution to decision-making and problem-solving.

• Use twinned leadership. Relationships with stakeholders, outside authorities, and the news media were handled by a sponsor executive while the project manager focused on project execution.

• Insist on face-to-face decision-making. Traditional, hierarchical procedures were replaced with regular meetings attended by top managers who had the authority to make cost-related decisions and oral commitments.

• Deploy all available resources. Approved plans and budgets were developed during the work as needs arose. Suppliers and contractors were employed as partners, which allowed everyone to focus on meeting needs rather than protecting against risks. Cost-based rather than price-based terms of payment were used in all contracts.

• Employ a proactive communication strategy. The teams anticipated challenges involving stakeholders and the media, and they proactively established steering committees to agree on priorities, tasks, and roles and responsibilities.

• Support teambuilding. Managers and stakeholders recognized the value and necessity of building team relationships while the work was underway since there was no time to address this issue in advance.

• Monitor changing perceptions of urgency. Cost was not considered a factor in upfront decision-making based on the urgency of the projects. However, as other priorities arose, project managers found that perceptions of urgency lessened over time. To avoid subsequent criticism for inappropriate expenditures, project managers should be alert to changing perceptions and manage expectations accordingly.

TABLE 11-1. Approaches for Managing Planned and Unplanned Urgent Projects

NOTES

1. Peter W. G. Morris and Jeffrey K. Pinto, The Wiley Guide to Managing Projects (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2004), 1280-1281.

2. Ikujiro Nonaka, Knowledge Management: Critical Perspectives on Business and Management (London: Taylor and Francis, 2005).

3. Stephen Wearne, “Managing Unexpected Urgent Projects,” Project Management Journal ® (December 2006). Online at http://www.allbusiness.com/management/4110865-1.html (accessed February 2008).