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The never-ending pandemic. Supply disruptions. Inflation. Fluid teams. More transformational and complex projects than ever. How can project teams succeed in the challenging, volatile environment of 2022? In one word – adaptability.
Strictly waterfall approaches are too inflexible. Strictly agile approaches aren’t robust enough. Elemental Projects CEO Kestrel Stone who explains how project managers must gracefully weave together tools and techniques from both worlds to achieve project success.
Adaptability seems to be the talk of the town – what does adaptability in project management mean to you?
Kestrel: Put simply, adaptability is the ability to adjust to change. But it's more than that for project managers and their organisations. It’s pre-empting change, responding appropriately and being able to pivot and thrive no matter what.
What’s driven the increasing focus on adaptability in project management?
Kestrel: The main drivers have been rising project complexity and unprecedented macro forces. In the past, it was possible to successfully run a project in a linear fashion. But the pace of change and the inherent complexity in projects today means project managers must embrace the right blend of traditional and agile techniques to deliver their projects successfully. Throw in a pandemic that turned the world upside down, the rise of IT, global supply chain disruptions, climate change and political unrest, and we’ve had the perfect storm.
Is best practice thinking evolving for this new world?
Kestrel: The adaptability needed by project managers is certainly reflected in leading global standards, including the ICB4, which points to complex problem solving (Resourcefulness), dealing with major issues (Conflict & Crisis), and grit (Results Orientation). The recently-released 7th Edition of the PMBoK® Guide is a dramatic departure from previous editions – reframing Risk as Uncertainty, suggesting models for responding to complexity, and calling out guiding principles around systems thinking, collaboration, and adaptability. This global trend is visible here in Australia, too, with the AIPM standard for senior project managers (CPSPM) focussing on critical leadership skills, such as engagement and influence, over technical project management skills.
What about stakeholder expectations? Are they driving the need for adaptability?
Kestrel: Definitely. Clients and sponsors used to expect their projects to be delivered on time, on budget, and to a specification that could be clearly documented in a contract scope of work. Now, clients expect the delivery team to flexibly partner with them and respond without exorbitant variations to regular scope changes as the landscape around them shifts and their stakeholders’ needs evolve in response to those macro forces. They expect delivery partners to anticipate and respond to the complexity they’ll face, transparently sharing in the pain and gain of risks, issues, and opportunities along the way. Time, cost and quality have become hygiene factors. With additional competing constraints such as transparency, wellbeing, and sustainability, the iron triangle is looking more like an octagon.
So how can project managers choose the optimal delivery approach?
Kestrel: A difficult question to answer! The next generation of successful project managers will need the savviness to select the right development approach to suit their project. They’ll need to artfully combine the best tools and techniques from all approaches to dodge the crunch zones. Like when fixed-price contracts (requiring scope definition upfront) meet agile product development methodologies (requiring iterative scope definition throughout). This simple elemental model might help project managers identify the appropriate delivery type based on their project and sector:
Are hybrid delivery approaches the way of the future?
Kestrel: It depends on the project or work package. Complex projects and programs will increasingly adopt a hybrid delivery approach where predictive and adaptive methodologies are both used to their best advantage. For example, a major hospital upgrade might use a predictive delivery approach involving work breakdown structures, Gantt charts, and other traditional tools and techniques for the construction of buildings, roads, fit-outs, and other physical infrastructure. But for software development, change management, process architecture, and community consultation, they’ll draw on adaptive (Agile) delivery approaches, which enable stakeholder feedback and adaptation of the plan with each iteration.
What’s the best way to build adaptability or encourage it in your team?
Kestrel: Developing adaptable project managers takes a safe environment that exposes them to the challenges and opportunities they’ll face in their role. Project management simulations are a powerful way to develop these skills. They challenge thinking while testing resilience and leadership skills under pressure. People learn through failure. The trick is to make that process fun, safe and non-career-limiting. In our training programs, we take a layered approach to developing adaptable project managers. We start with a simulation, then introduce new skills through group work on a case study project, then transfer those skills to real, work-based projects using work-based tools and templates. Personal and peer coaching are also powerful levers for the development of emotional intelligence and leadership capability. Our BSB50820 Diploma of Project Management integrates all these elements.
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