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I'm a Managing Complexity Person in Projects.

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Projects are a form of enterprise where individuals or teams engage in the planning and execution of activities in order to reach specific goals/aim. Today projects are increasingly important because organizations continually need to relate to and engage in change processes to adapt to and compete in changing conditions. Project organization has an increasingly important role in all forms of organizations both private, public, NGO etc.

Projects as a form of work practice has consequences for both the work itself and for the products of the work process therefore it is important for everyone engaged in planning, design, development etc. to understand what projects are and how the project organization and process influences the product of a project.

Further projects today can often be characterized as complex. That is that understandings, processes and goals might be more or less uncertain and ambiguous throughout the project process and therefore resembling research processes more than standardized sequential or stage gate processes reflected in classic project management thinking. The complexities are evident both in internal and external conditions of the projects and on many levels of organization and planning. Challenges are related to for example learning, knowledge production and sharing, cooperation, power, ethical aspects etc.

Complexity in projects demands tailored understandings, techniques and processes for understanding and handling them. Understanding and handling the conditions/contexts of complex projects, therefore, is one of the key competences both for project managers but also for anyone participating in complex projects.

In understanding and handling complex projects new perspectives and forms of interaction are needed. The new perspectives for understanding complexity are e.g. sense making and socio-material approaches. New forms of interaction are e.g. Agile project management methods and participatory approaches.