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Aspects of Complexity
Book

Aspects of Complexity

Managing Projects in a Complex World

Terry Cooke-Davies
Project Mgmt Inst., 2011

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

This outstanding small volume draws from seminars on “Complexity in Project Management and the Management of Complex Projects” that the Project Management Institute sponsored in São Paulo, Sydney, Atlanta and Malta. Editor and project management consultant Terry Cooke-Davies used material from these seminars to assemble an elevated, thoughtful and well-documented treatise on the effective management of complex projects, complete with recommendations from the field – including the unusual advice to take a “fire-ready-aim approach” to project management. Given that the book’s chapters come from an array of experts, it has some unevenness and spots of stiff styling, but it is a strong package nonetheless. getAbstract recommends it to project managers, line managers and academics who study how leaders succeed with complex projects – or don’t.

Take-Aways

  • CEOs must deal with project complexity, but many don’t know how to manage it well.
  • The strategic importance of a large, complex project often outweighs all the other undertakings in a corporation’s portfolio.
  • Complex projects are difficult to administer because of their size, ambiguous nature and inherent uncertainty.

About the Author

Terry Cooke-Davies, chairman of Human Systems International, is a visiting fellow at the Cranfield School of Management.

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