Leading Complex Projects

Managing a complex project means not only having fantastic project management skills, but also understanding how to deal with the chaos of today's workplace. Technology, requirements, partnerships, and competitive strategies are continually updating and transforming and a strong project manager must learn how to adapt to these changes while leading the project to successful completion. This class will help you master dealing with these complexities and lead with success.

Learn to determine the level of complexity of your project, develop tactics to manage that complexity, and discover strategies for taking your project team "to the edge of chaos" where innovation and creativity happen. Avoid being caught off guard by change, and prepare yourself with ways to optimize your team's performance and manage the unknown.

In class activities that comprise 75% of this course, you will practice determining complexity and learn how to keep your approach flexible to manage the constant adjustment of complex projects in today's workplace.

Students pursuing a university-recognized and/or accredited certificate in Canada or continuing education units in the US must attend at least 90% of class time, participate in class exercises and section-knowledge checks, and score at least 70% on an end-of-class, multiple-choice assessment.

What You Will Learn

• Systems thinking and project management
• Chaos theory and project management
• Skills needed to lead a complex project
• Complexity theory and how to assess your project complexity
• Right structure for complex projects
• Assessing risk for complex projects

Audience

Project managers, IT project managers, project leaders, senior project managers, and program managers who have senior responsibility for high-risk, high-dollar, high-reward projects and programs.

Prerequistes

Course Outline

1. The Complex Project

• Systems Thinking
• Chaos and Complexity Theory
• How these relate to project management

2. Leading Complex Projects

• Skills required
• Complex project competency self-assessment
• PMI competencies
• Start personal mastery plan

3. Fundamentals of Complexity Theory

• What is complexity?
• Types of complexity
• Fitness landscape
• Chaos as it relates to complexity theory
• Complexity theory
• Linear and non-linear systems
• Complex adaptive systems

4. Assessing Your Project Complexity

• Complex project toolkit
• Elements of project complexity
• Organization breakdown structure
• Work breakdown structure
• Use the complexity assessment tool (CAT)
• Strategies of planning and managing complex projects

5. Structuring Your Project for Success

• Selecting the right project management methodology
• How to incorporate that methodology into your current processes

6. Risk Planning and Management

• Types of risks in complex projects
• Approaches to identification
• Risk assessment and response planning

7. Leading Complex Projects

• Assess your leadership competencies
• Applying adaptive leadership to complex projects
• Communicating a vision
• Implementing strategies to encourage innovation and build a cohesive team
• Types of personal behaviors and how to get the most out of people
• Identifying techniques for leveraging complexity

Hands-On Activities:

• Develop Your Personal Mastery Plan
• Assess Project Complexity
• Stakeholder Analysis and Planning
• Risk Identification and Response Planning
• OBS

Course Labs