Dynamic Project

Management

PRADEEP SANGAL

19TH NOV 2016

Project Management is the art of creating illusion that

any outcome is the result of a series of predetermined,

deliberate acts when, in fact, it was dumb luck.

-Harold Kerzner

0.00%

20.00%

40.00%

60.00%

80.00%

100.00%

120.00%

TOTAL CUMM %TILE PROGRESS PLAN

Conventional Project Management- Typical Plan

Dynamic Project Management – Funnel Plan

Application of Risk Management and change management along

with the traditional standard Project management approach.

Barriers to Dynamic Project Management

Misconceptions about Risk Management.

Difficulty in anticipating the future.

Scared to be transparent.

Reluctance to embrace changes.

Risky Misconceptions

1. Risks are threat to the projects.

Common Misconceptions about Project Risks

Risk is an uncertain event or condition that, if occurs, has a positive ornegative effect on a project objective.

Cheese Chase

“CHASE CHEESE WITH CAUTION”

2. Issues & Constraints are Risks

Common Misconceptions about Project Risks

Iceberg

“Risk Management helps to Sail through the icebergs smoothly ”

• Issues are known facts and are not risks.

• Issues are the un-resolved risks.

• Frequent occurrence of issues is an

indication of underlying Risks.

• Constraints are imposed limitations.

• Constraints compel us to be creative.

3. Risks occur without warning

Common Misconceptions about Project Risks

• There is no smoke

without fire

Smoke & Fire

• Look for the Signs • Don’t let your

Titanic sink

4. All Risks should be mitigated.

Common Misconceptions about Project Risks

• Negative Risks (or Threats)

• Avoid

• Transfer

• Mitigate

• Acceptance

• Positive Risks (or Opportunities)

• Exploit

• Share

• Enhance

• Acceptance

Spider’s Web

“When Spider webs unite they can tie up a lion.”

- African Proverb

“A PERSON WHO CAN FORESEE PROBLEMS/DIFFICULTIES AND IDENTIFY PROACTIVE SOLUTIONS WILL LIVE HAPPILY”

- Chanakya , Author of Artha Shastra

• Patterns are everywhere, train yourself to Identify Patterns

• Patterns and best known tool to anticipate future.

• Beware of: Black swan

Hallucination effect

Patterns of Things (POT)

TIME

• Past is factual and known. Future is unknown & uncertain.

• Speculating future events based on knowledge of past.

“While large organisations need foresight, they are also notorious in their bias for

short term thinking, sometimes rejecting or even suppressing foresight.”

- Tom Graves

Each knows the partial truth but all are wrong as whole

Whole cannot be known just by knowing the elements of the whole.

Individuals have strong opinions about their belief’s.

Many experience or read about an aspect or element of project

management and think they know it all.

Elephant in the Room

“ALL OF US ARE SMARTER THAN ANY OF US”

Let us Talk

Understand and eliminate the communication Barriers.

Communicating about risk reduces it’s chances of occurrence.

Risk communication should be part of your project communication plan.

Share regular update of project risks with all the stakeholders as a part of

project status report.

… It is much easier to cover up the problem than it is to identify & fix them.

- Amy summers.

Changes cause Risk, but changes are also required to manage Risk.

Rational & Not So Rational Mind

Emotional Decisions

• Decision taken out of Fear

• Decisions influenced by reward

• Ego’s

Biased Decisions

• Alpha Male

• Follow the herd

• Confirmatory Bias

• Present Bias

Rational Decisions?

• Intuitive & Fast

• Logical but slow

Sutras for Dynamic Project Management

• Proactive, transparent & integrated Risk management yields

better results.

• Anticipate, prepare and always look at the positive side of

the future.

• Embrace Change for the benefit of end user of the project

deliverables

Benefits of Dynamic Project Management

• Helps in developing more realistic plan

• Reduces crisis management.

• Encourages proactive risk management

• Provides a rational basis for better decision making.