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How to avoid project failures driven by overoptimistic schedules? Managers often attempt to mitigate the duration underestimation and improve the accuracy of project schedules by providing their planners with excessively detailed project specifications. While this traditional approach may be intuitive, solely providing more detailed information has proven to have a limited effect on eliminating behavioral biases. We experimentally test the effectiveness of providing detailed specification and compare it to an alternative intervention of providing historical information about the average duration of similar projects in the past. We find that both interventions mitigate the underestimation bias. However, since providing detailed project specification results in high variance of estimation errors due to sizable over- and underestimates, only the provision of historical information leads to more accurate project duration estimates. We also test whether it is more effective to anchor planners by providing historical information simultaneously with the project specification or to provide the historical information only after beliefs regarding the project duration are formed, in which case planners can regress their initial estimates towards the historical average. We find that the timing of disclosing information does not play a role as the estimation bias is mitigated and the accuracy is improved in both conditions. Finally, we observe that the subjective confidence in the accuracy of duration estimates does not vary across the interventions, suggesting that the confidence is neither a function of the amount nor the detail of available information.

Since the early 1990s, the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank have led efforts advocating the use of economic tools in setting priorities for health spending in poor countries. But while these powerful global health institutions present economic management as the key to improving health, they often fail to implement even their own policies requiring the use of economic tools for health project planning. In these institutions, economic tools operate beyond application for decision-making, becoming simultaneously a site of tensions regarding sovereignty and sites of enjoyment for economists at development bank headquarters. This article traces the ways that economic tools are both deployed and left aside across development bank networks, and in the process are productive of both affect and power. Attention to frictions in the use of economic tools ought to help motivate more just global health governance, taking into account political considerations that are built into expert practice.

Ensuring the availability of adequate seed supplies of species and sources appropriate for restoration projects and programs necessitates extensive science‐based planning. The selection of target species requires a review of disturbance conditions and reference areas, development of a reference model, and consideration of specific objectives, timeframes, available resources, and budgets as well as the performance of prospective species in past restoration efforts. Identification of seed sources adapted to site conditions is critical to provide for short‐term establishment and long‐term sustainability. Seed zones and plant movement guidelines provide tools for sourcing plant materials with reduced risk of maladaptation. A seed zone framework also facilitates seed use planning and contributes to stability and predictability of the commercial market, thereby reducing costs and improving the availability of adapted seed supplies. Calculating the amount of seed required for each species is based on seed quality (viability, purity), seed weight, expected seedling establishment, and desired composition of the seeding. If adequate collections from wildland stands are not feasible, then seed increase in seed fields or use of nursery stock may be warranted. Adherence to seed collection and seed production protocols for conserving genetic diversity is critical to protect genetic resources and buffer new seedings and plantings against environmental stressors. Maintenance of genetic diversity becomes even more critical considering current or expected climate change impacts. Collaboration and partnerships can benefit seed selection and procurement programs through sharing of information, coordination in project planning, and increasing the availability of native seed.

Construction project scheduling is one of the most important tools for project managers in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. Construction schedules allow project managers to track and manage the time, cost, and quality (i.e. Project Management Triangle) of projects. Developing project schedules is almost always troublesome, since it is heavily dependent on project planners’ knowledge of work packages, on-the-job-experience, planning capability, and oversight. Having a thorough understanding of the project geometries and their internal interacting stability relations plays a significant role in generating practical construction sequencing. On the other hand, the new concept of embedding all the project information into a three-dimensional (3D) representation of a project (a.k.a. Building Information Model or BIM) has recently drawn the attention of the construction industry. In this paper, the authors demonstrate how to develop and extend the usage of the Genetic Algorithm (GA) not only to generate construction schedules, but to optimize the outcome for different objectives (i.e. cost, time, and job-site movements). The basis for the GA calculations is the embedded data available in BIM of the project that should be provided as an input to the algorithm. By reading through the geometry information in the 3D model, the proposed algorithm gets more specific information about the project and resources from the user and results in different construction schedules. The output 4D animations and schedule wellness scores will help the user to find the most suitable construction schedule for the given project .

An environmental scan (ES) is an efficient mixed-methods approach to collect and interpret relevant data for strategic planning and project design. To date, the ES has not been used nor evaluated in the clinical cancer genetics setting. We created and implemented an ES to inform the design of a quality improvement (QI) project to increase the rates of adherence to national guidelines for cancer genetic counseling and genetic testing at three unique oncology care settings (OCS). The ES collected qualitative and quantitative data from reviews of internal processes, past QI efforts, the literature, and each OCS. The ES used a data collection form and semi-structured interviews to aid in data collection. The ES was completed within six months, and sufficient data were captured to identify opportunities and threats to the QI project’s success, as well as potential barriers to, and facilitators of guideline-based cancer genetics services at each OCS. Previously unreported barriers were identified, including inefficient genetic counseling appointment scheduling processes and the inability to track referrals, genetics appointments, and genetic test results within electronic medical record systems. The ES was a valuable process for QI project planning at three OCS, and may be used to evaluate genetics services in other settings.

To attract a generation of workers and consumers who have never known a world without Wi-Fi, smartphones, or social media, organizations increasingly have no choice but to incorporate digital technology into every aspect of their operations and processes. The leaders of Hydro-X, a privately owned British enterprise, met the challenge of digital transformation by forming a knowledge exchange partnership with a local university and applying two business models to assess the current state of digital maturity at the firm and map out a strategy to improve it. Their experiences reflect the HINGE project planning methodology: Horizon scanning to evaluate the competition, Internal auditing, New model creation, Gap analysis, and Evaluation of options to determine next steps. As a result of their efforts, Hydro-X fostered an intrapreneurial spirit among its staff and refined its e-commerce platform to digitally target key audiences in order to tap into a new source of revenue.

Systems engineering (SE) and project management (PM) are two complementary disciplines that aim at achieving a common goal. In order for systems engineers and project managers to communicate efficiently, there is a need for a common language that balances system performance, quality, stakeholder expectations and needs, cost, and schedule. We use Object Process Methodology (OPM) as the basis for Project-Product Lifecycle Management (PPLM), where SE and PM are complementary parts of an overarching system. Since the project plan is one of the first artifacts that both SE and PM professionals should agree on, we compared Gantt chart, a commonly used method, and a PPLM project plan. We present a three-stage comparative research, investigating how differences between a Gantt chart and an OPM model-based PPLM project plan are perceived by mid-career systems engineers, who were graduate students in systems engineering academic programs. The outcomes indicate that the comprehension of information contained in the OPM model-based PPLM project plan is more easily grasped than the same information presented via the Gantt chart. The results suggest that PPLM has the potential to better clarify the intricate relationships between SE and PM involved in developing systems through projects. It can enable better understanding and communication between systems engineers and project managers, thereby improving decision-making, project outcomes, and product performance.

Given the difficulty that habitat managers face in controlling invasive species, assessing a project's feasibility before implementation can be a useful exercise. We describe efforts to eradicate a population of garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) from an area of the Adirondack Park, United States. We applied a retrospective assessment of the feasibility of the project using 2 different decision support tools, the Invasive Plant Management Decision Analysis Tool (IPMDAT) and WeedSearch. We modeled several scenarios in each tool by varying parameters related to the effectiveness of control in order to test the sensitivity of project success to particular assumptions. Except for a small decline between 2007 and 2009, the population increased during the control period. The number of surveyed transects with at least one garlic mustard individual increased, as did plant density within transects. IPMDAT and WeedSearch analysis confirmed that eradication of the garlic mustard population at this site was unlikely. IPMDAT discouraged proceeding with the goal of eradication, and only recommended containment if control of seed production could be effective and subpopulations (e.g. transects) could be eliminated. WeedSearch estimated that time required to achieve eradication would range from 11 years if control was 100% effective to more than 50 years if control was only 90% effective. The application of tools such as IPMDAT or WeedSearch can aid project planning by giving invasive species managers a more realistic picture of the commitment that may be required in order to achieve specific restoration goals.

Project teams are expected to meet scope, time and budget goals simultaneously. It has been observed that many projects conducted nowadays are not able to successfully meet all three objectives at project's completion. Looking deep into project dynamics shows us that there is a built-in conflict originating from the need to meet scope requirements with limited time and money resources. This conflict appears to weaken the ability of project teams to meet all objectives successfully because it impairs cooperation among team members. In the paper we share some observations and suggest some tools that might help the project team to enhance cooperation, overcome the conflict and improve overall project performance. First we note that many projects have reserves of scope, schedule and budget. In part of these projects the reserves span the whole project plans. This is typical to projects for which planning is done in a conservative manner prior to taking a commitment. In other instances the reserves are found only in part of project plans while the other parts are under-estimated. This is a reflection of the uncertainty typical for most projects as of project kick-off and on till uncertainty is mitigated. Second we suggest some techniques to use these reserves in a way that helps the team to meet its objectives. We propose to establish and use a requirements buffer, in an analogous manner to the already established time buffer suggested in the Theory of Constraints. Then we propose a methodology to manage resource buffers in a manner that overcomes the shortcomings of current buffer management methodology. In order to further improve collaboration between project team members we suggest abandoning some common practices in the interface between the project manager and the systems engineer, practices that do not contribute and sometimes even interfere with the ability of the team to meet project objectives.

A Canadian division of a large American engineering company has developed and implemented project management processes for their small-scale and medium-scale projects. The company was already using a robust project management process for their large-scale projects. The objectives of this process improvement project were to reduce cost overruns and project delays, standardize practices to facilitate the integration of new managers, increase the level of customer satisfaction and to reduce risk-related planning deviations. For this improvement project, the engineering organization used the new ISO/IEC 29110 standard developed specifically for very small entities. An analysis of the cost and the benefits of the implementation of small and medium scale project management processes was performed using the ISO economic benefits of standard methodology. The engineering enterprise estimated that, over a three-year timeframe, savings of about 780,000$ would be realized due to the implementation of project management processes using the ISO/IEC 29110 standard.

As engineering systems become more and more complex, technology transition increasingly involves deploying an upgraded subsystem across a legacy network. This mode of upgrade presents new challenges for systems architects concerned with maintaining value over multiple infused technical changes. This paper explores the dynamics of technology transition in path-dependent infrastructure systems. It uses a model-based case study of the envisioned military airborne tactical network upgrade as a basis for developing guidelines for effective transition path design. Based on the natural diffusion dynamics of the system we identified an inherent tradeoff between upgrade cycle and sustained capability levels. In other words, assuming even weakly exponential growth in demand, there is a relationship between timing of infusion and longevity of benefit. As a result, a less capable upgrade, deployed expediently can do more good than a more sophisticated upgrade that can only be integrated in the next block upgrade. In addition, by conceptualizing the transition "path" as a design lever, two dimensions of problem decomposition can be exploited to mitigate transition barriers: 1 self-contained subnetworks can provide a proving ground for full-system future benefits in order to mitigate stakeholder resistance; and 2 the technical system can be designed for evolvability, making it possible to stage deployment in the technical dimension as well.

Currently, the dispersion and variety of both research and development (R&D) project management methods and their taxonomies pose difficulties in the selection of a management concept suitable for a particular type of R&D project. The paper attempts to assign a specified management concept to a given R&D project type. An in-depth analysis of the literature was done, and dispersed information on the R&D project management were systemised and linked. More detailed classifications of R&D projects and agile project management (APM) methods were proposed. The paper as a result presents a new typology of R&D projects and a proposal of assignment of project management methods to individual types of R&D projects. Moreover, a case study of an R&D project is presented with outlining the major problems concerning its implementation, resulting, inter alia, from the selection of an inappropriate management concept made at the stage of project planning and application for funding. The authors also carried out an empirical research aimed at the confirmation of conclusions drawn from the relevant literature and the investigated case study. The main result of the paper is the assignment of different project management concepts to certain R&D project types as well as the distinction of two types of APM concepts. The final conclusion of the article is that most types of R&D projects, identified using the criterion of the degree of knowledge of their goals and methods of their implementation, should be managed by a customised concept of APM. It is, however, essential that one matches different types of Agile methods with different types of R&D project.

Haggling over rights to potential inventions can be a major roadblock to successful university–industry (UI) collaborations. Yet such collaborations are critical for innovation in science-based industries. This study examines the roles of universities’ intellectual property (IP) policies and of shared governance for trust formation between academe and industry. The study also examines how UI champions moderate this process and how trust between university and industry partners affects UI collaboration outcomes. The analysis of survey data of 105 recent UI collaborations in the U.S. biotechnology industry indicates that the flexibility and transparency of university IP policies and shared governance by UI partners are both positively related to trust formation. The activities of UI champions amplify the positive effects of shared governance and at the same time reduce the importance of university IP policies for trust formation between UI partners. The amount of trust between partners is positively related to knowledge transfer and innovation performance. The findings suggest that despite widely reported industry concerns over the control of IP, UI research partners can develop a trustful environment and thereby plant the seeds for a successful collaboration. In order to enhance trust, companies should not only consider university IP policies, but also need to actively engage in shared governance with university partners. UI collaboration champions can help shift the attention of company managers from formal rules set by university IP policies toward shared project planning, coordination, and implementation with university partners.

The Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium communication initiative at the Illinois Basin – Decatur Project (IBDP) draws on multiple carbon capture and storage (CCS) best practices, guidelines, and international project experiences to be both proactive and responsive toward the engagement of multiple stakeholders. The IBDP communications strategy was developed early in the project to actively reduce associated risks by creating and implementing a communication plan, training communicators, and providing a structure for the communications team. Formalized approaches to knowledge sharing and capacity building have generated additional opportunities to further outreach and impact from IBDP experiences. The initial challenge for the communications team was to provide easy-to-understand, scientifically accurate, and consistent information for stakeholders to carry throughout the project. Consistent, factual information was developed and incorporated into project planning, and provides the basis of public communications through the alignment of goals across communications, risk mitigation, and project management. The refinement of the communication strategy and plan is ongoing due to the changing communication needs that are encountered throughout the lifetime of the project.

Previous research has found that buyer�supplier collaboration in new product development can contribute to project success. Empirical evidence is mixed, however, and the concept of buyer�supplier collaboration is under-developed. This work develops a new construct, buyer�supplier collaboration quality, defined as the extent to which a buyer and supplier exploit shared resources while minimizing waste through interacting during project planning and execution. We use resource dependence theory to formulate interfirm and project-level antecedents of buyer�supplier collaboration quality and argue how it affects new product development project outcomes. Data from an empirical survey of 214 buying organizations validate the measurement structure of the new construct and support its positive associations with design quality and project efficiency. We also find that goal congruence, complementary capabilities and interfirm coordination efforts increase buyer�supplier collaboration quality, while interfirm relationship-specific investment reduces it.

To date, patient involvement in the development of clinical research work has been limited. In 2011, the Telescot research team commenced work on a feasibility trial to investigate home telemonitoring of blood pressure for people who have experienced stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA). The team decided to involve patients in the development of the research.To improve research design through patient involvement.A modified form of the 'Scrutiny Panel' approach was used to involve people who had stroke in the research project.The Patient Panel supported the research in three key ways: it informed patient communication; it presented patient perspectives on the applicability and usability of the intervention; and it guided the development of the qualitative study.The initiative was considered a positive experience for all. However, challenges were identified in terms of the time and cost implications of undertaking patient involvement.Importance is attached to adequate project planning and development, partnership working with community-based organizations and the necessity for clear role delineation between patients and professionals to enable effective collaborative working.The Telescot Patient Panel was beneficial in supporting the development of the feasibility trial. The Panel approach was considered transferable to other clinical research contexts.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory's (LANL's) Enterprise Project – the implementation of a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to replace the home-grown business computing systems in use since the early 1980's – provides a provocative case study regarding the management of project teams in which team members are, themselves, stakeholders. This paper describes the project's approach to stakeholder management for the project team, which had mixed success, discusses the theoretical underpinnings of the approaches used, and provides lessons learned for handling project team members as a special class of stakeholders who have special needs. Specifically, it is noted that project team members may be either system advocates or system critics or adversaries. It is recommended that transition management tactics be developed in anticipation of both types of stakeholders being present on the project team.

Modern project managers are aware that different types of projects need different styles of project management. A construction project is very different from a high-tech research program in several ways, including how each is managed. The NTCP “Diamond” framework (Novelty-Technology-Complexity-Pace) suggests classifying complex projects according to four dimensions such that the values attributed to each of these dimensions indicate a recommended style of management for increasing the likelihood of the project's success. It may be difficult to attribute values to these four dimensions in a large and complex project, which calls for systematic analysis of the project as part of its planning phase. The object-process methodology (OPM) caters to such systematic step-by-step analysis by decomposing a project into its fundamental building blocks – objects, possibly with states, and processes that transform the objects. This paper suggests that the confluence of OPM and NTCP can improve the project planning phase and improve the project's overall chances of success.

Project management is taught in most systems engineering graduate programs. Project management courses and training aids traditionally focus on aspects of project scope-for instance, scheduling and resource allocation methods-and tend to neglect product scope elements such as system performance. This article offers a simulation-based approach for project management training that integrates project and product aspects within simulation training. The result is an integrated approach that guides the trainee through the initiation, conceptual design, planning and execution phases of the simulated project. The trainee explores the tradeoffs between project and product constraints and demands-just as if he or she were working on a real job. A pilot experiment that we conducted and the trainees' evaluations of the simulation provide an initial indication that the proposed approach is efficient, motivating us to suggest a framework for its use in systems engineering programs.

This article challenges some deep-rooted assumptions of project management. Inspired by the work of the German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, it calls for looking at projects through two complementary lenses: one that accounts for cognitive and representational aspects and one that accounts for material and volitional aspects. Understanding the many ways in which these aspects transpire and interact in projects sheds new light on project organizations, as imperfect and fragile representations that chase a shifting nexus of intractable human, social, technical, and material processes. This, in turn, can bring about a new grasp of notions such as value, knowledge, complexity, and risk.

“Why projects are late” is a fundamental issue in theory and in practice. One well-established explanation is that a project's network structure can be a significant factor—the “fatter” or more parallel the project, the later the project completion. Herein we show that a lack of agility, which may frequently arise in projects when there are external resources, can also be a significant factor in project delays—both in more serial-like projects as well as more parallel ones. Specifically, this article formally characterizes the concept of agility in projects, shows how a lack of agility can have a significant impact on a project, and gives some general properties on agility with respect to a project's structure.

This research focused on the relationships between a national team and five project sites across Canada in planning a complex, community intervention for homeless people with mental illness called At Home/Chez Soi, which is based on the Housing First model. The research addressed two questions: (a) what are the challenges in planning? and (b) what factors that helped or hindered moving project planning forward? Using qualitative methods, 149 national, provincial, and local stakeholders participated in key informant or focus group interviews. We found that planning entails not only intervention and research tasks, but also relational processes that occur within an ecology of time, local context, and values. More specifically, the relationships between the national team and the project sites can be conceptualized as a collaborative process in which national and local partners bring different agendas to the planning process and must therefore listen to, negotiate, discuss, and compromise with one another. A collaborative process that involves power-sharing and having project coordinators at each site helped to bridge the differences between these two stakeholder groups, to find common ground, and to accomplish planning tasks within a compressed time frame. While local context and culture pushed towards unique adaptations of Housing First, the principles of the Housing First model provided a foundation for a common approach across sites and interventions. The implications of the findings for future planning and research of multi-site, complex, community interventions are noted.

This article describes how many government agencies and private consulting companies manage large pavement networks in terms of infrastructure condition assessment and maintenance planning. Efficient pavement management is supported by pavement management systems (PMSs), which includes models for pavement condition assessments considered "valuable" by agency's engineers. This article defines a pavement condition model that is able to overcome surveyors' subjectivity in rating distresses and thereby providing meaningful pavement conditions for the agencies to employ in project planning. The article proposes a fuzzy inference model for calculating pavement condition ratio (PCR) that is specifically tailored to the Alabama Department of Transportation Pavement (ALDOT) guidelines and policies. Applied to several surveyors' ratings, the proposed model has the ability to smooth distress extent differences among surveyors producing PCR values within acceptable range of variability. The approach proposed in this article has the intention of not only enhancing pavement condition characterization but also to exploit the opportunity made available by automation in the collection and interpretation of pavement data which are characterized by an inherent subjectivity.

The aim of this paper is to present a multi-objective project scheduling approach to help project managers when deciding on a baseline schedule. The concepts of satisfaction functions and goal programming are incorporated to generate this baseline schedule that represents the best compromise among a set of conflicting project objectives. An efficient computerized procedure based on the tabu search algorithm is proposed and enables the handling of large planning and scheduling projects.

Background: Although many global health programs focus on providing clinical care or medical education, improving clinical operations can have a significant effect on patient care delivery, especially in developing health systems without high-level operations management. Lean manufacturing techniques have been effective in decreasing emergency department (ED) length of stay, patient waiting times, numbers of patients leaving without being seen, and door-to-balloon times for ST-elevation myocardial infarction in developed health systems, but use of Lean in low to middle income countries with developing emergency medicine (EM) systems has not been well characterized. Objectives: To describe the application of Lean manufacturing techniques to improve clinical operations at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Ghana and to identify key lessons learned to aid future global EM initiatives. Methods: A 3-week Lean improvement program focused on the hospital admissions process at KATH was completed by a 14-person team in six stages: problem definition, scope of project planning, value stream mapping, root cause analysis, future state planning, and implementation planning. Results: The authors identified eight lessons learned during our use of Lean to optimize the operations of an ED in a global health setting: 1) the Lean process aided in building a partnership with Ghanaian colleagues; 2) obtaining and maintaining senior institutional support is necessary and challenging; 3) addressing power differences among the team to obtain feedback from all team members is critical to successful Lean analysis; 4) choosing a manageable initial project is critical to influence long-term Lean use in a new environment; 5) data intensive Lean tools can be adapted and are effective in a less resourced health system; 6) several Lean tools focused on team problem-solving techniques worked well in a low-resource system without modification; 7) using Lean highlighted that important changes do not require an influx of resources; and 8) despite different levels of resources, root causes of system inefficiencies are often similar across health care systems, but require unique solutions appropriate to the clinical setting. Conclusions: Lean manufacturing techniques can be successfully adapted for use in developing health systems. Lessons learned from this Lean project will aid future introduction of advanced operations management techniques in low- to middle-income countries.

SUMMARY Distributed software development imposes new project risks that are very different from the ones in collocated development and are overlooked easily. At the same time, they depend to a large extent on project-specific characteristics. Therefore, new methods for identifying these risks in distributed projects have to be developed. This article presents a model for identifying these risks at the beginning of a project. The model systematically captures experiences from past projects in a set of logical rules describing how project characteristics influence typical risks in distributed development. Thus, it is able to assess risks individually for each project. In addition, the model can be used for evaluating different task assignment alternatives, which makes it possible to allocate tasks systematically. An instance of the model was developed by applying qualitative content analysis to 19 interviews with practitioners. An evaluation using expert interviews showed that the risks identified by the model matched the actual experiences in 81% of the cases; of these, 40% had not been regarded at project start. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Based on multi-respondent data of 130 innovation projects in hospitals, our study analyses the role of planning intensity for project success. Besides showing that also in complex service systems innovation projects are supported through planning, we contribute to innovation management research, first, by clearly differentiating between the effects of business and project planning; second, by integrating intra-team co-ordination as a possible mediator of the planning success relationship; and, third, by taking into account the degree of innovativeness as a relevant contingency. We apply a multi-level regression analysis, include several control variables, and limit common source biases by a multi-respondent empirical design. The results demonstrate that both planning types show complementary effects. Project planning increases intra-team co-ordination, which mediates the planning effect on project success. Business planning has a direct effect on project success. However, the moderating effects of project innovativeness are oppositional. While business planning becomes more important for higher degrees of innovativeness, the efficacy of project planning is limited to incremental innovations. We conclude with a discussion of implications for hospital and innovation management as well as future research.

Objective: To identify enabler and barrier mechanisms that impact project implementation, from a review of 127 completed projects intended to reduce harms associated with problematic alcohol and licit drug use in Australia. Design: Data comprised archival material (proposals, reports). A coding framework was developed from the literature and a sample of projects; two researchers developed and refined the framework. Open coding was used to identify factors impacting implementation, followed by pattern coding to identify underlying mechanisms. Sample: Project categories were developed from funding orientation and main activities projects were: enhancing organizational systems and processes (39), training and workforce development (18), community education and prevention (37) and client engagement and treatment (33). Thirty‐five projects (28%) were in non‐capital city locations. Results: Nine enabler and ten barrier mechanisms were identified, for example, 'project planning and design' and 'wider service system challenges'. Three enabler mechanisms were more likely to be identified for non‐capital city projects; 'external communication and relationships' (83% vs 70%), 'sensitivity to service users and settings' (49% vs 40%) and 'funding and resourcing' (40% vs 35%). Most barrier mechanisms were identified for a higher proportion of non‐capital city projects, particularly 'identifying and retaining personnel' (54% vs 34%), 'engaging communities and partners' (46% vs 26%) and 'organizational governance and capacity' (29% vs 5%). Conclusions: Project implementation in non‐capital city locations requires particular attention to project planning and design, staffing and organizational well‐being. Policy initiatives and planning proposals might consider enabler mechanisms along with strategies to minimize barrier mechanisms to support successful implementation.

Every systems engineer encounters challenges to plan and execute effective systems engineering activities during system design and development and throughout the project management. Most organizations provide standards, processes and procedures for applying systems engineering. We claim that each project is different, and project management policy & style should varies from one project to the other- “one size does not fit all”. We conducted a research that was based on the NTCP- Diamond approach for adaptive project management (Shenhar & Dvir 2004). The model claims that project management needs to be based on the strategic goals and the dimensions of the systems design including Novelty (How new the product is to its markets/customers/users?), Complexity (What is the scope of the project/product design?), Technology Uncertainty (How new the technology applied for the system is for the developers?) and Pace (How critical is your time frame?). We studied 18 projects & how the projects managers dealt with the above challenges. We found that the adaptive project management approach contributes to project success. Each project includes risks which are managed during the project life cycle. The traditional risks management process focus on technological, economical, marketing and organizational risks. We offer a Challenges Based Risk Management approach which is complement to the traditional approach. This approach is based on two risks elements: Project challenge level- calculated by summing up the project challenges levels in each dimension (Novelty, Technology Uncertainty, Pace, Complexity). Deviation from the adaptive management model. This approach can be useful in managing project portfolio, and managing the project risk through its challenges. We offer a methodology of managing projects according to its challenges, and offer a way to minimize the project risks by minimizing the deviation from the adaptive model.

Managing Information Technology projects has historically been a very difficult endeavor. For the project manager, there are many project management (PM), systems engineering (SE), and information technology (IT) standards, bodies of knowledge, process models, and management models to use to help manage a project. The wealth of information makes it difficult for project managers and systems engineers of small IT projects to filter through the information and determine the specific documents and reviews that are the most useful to effectively and efficiently manage the project. The goal of this research is to identify the documents and reviews that are most helpful for managing small IT projects.

Allocating resources to a software project and assigning tasks to teams constitute crucial activities that affect project cost and completion time. Finding a solution for such a problem is NP-hard; this requires managers to be supported by proper tools for performing such an allocation. This paper shows how search-based optimization techniques can be combined with a queuing simulation model to address these problems. The obtained staff and task allocations aim to minimize the completion time and reduce schedule fragmentation. The proposed approach allows project managers to run multiple simulations, compare results and consider trade-offs between increasing the staffing level and anticipating the project completion date and between reducing the fragmentation and accepting project delays. The paper presents results from the application of the proposed search-based project planning approach to data obtained from two large-scale commercial software maintenance projects. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper considers community-based adaptation (CBA) to climate change and its relationship to the theory and practice of participatory development. It is argued that CBA needs to recognise the considered experience of participatory development to date, particularly in relation to local involvement in project planning and implementation, as well as acknowledging the specific challenges raised by climate change. Without attention to risks and uncertainty, political structures and institutions, the necessarily multi-level nature of adaptation policy and programming, and the links between mitigation and adaptation politics and practice, outcomes of CBA interventions are unlikely to support pro-poor development. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In an attempt to address declining enrolment in soil science programs and the changing learning needs of 21st century students, several universities in North America and around the world have re-organized their soil science curriculum and adopted innovative educational approaches and web-based teaching resources. At the University of British Columbia, Canada, an interdisciplinary team set out to integrate teaching approaches to address this trend. The objective of this project was to develop an interactive web-based teaching resource, which combined a face-to-face problem-based learning (PBL) case study with multimedia to illustrate the impacts of three land-uses on soil transformation and quality. The Land Use Impacts (LUI) tool (http://soilweb.landfood.ubc.ca/luitool/) was a collaborative and concentrated effort to maximize the advantages of two educational approaches: (1) the web’s interactivity, flexibility, adaptability and accessibility, and (2) PBL’s ability to foster an authentic learning environment, encourage group work and promote the application of core concepts. The design of the LUI case study was guided by Herrington’s development principles for web-based authentic learning. The LUI tool presented students with rich multimedia (streaming videos, text, data, photographs, maps, and weblinks) and real world tasks (site assessment and soil analysis) to encourage students to utilize knowledge of soil science in collaborative problemsolving. Preliminary student feedback indicated that the LUI tool effectively conveyed case study objectives and was appealing to students. The resource is intended primarily for students enrolled in an upper level undergraduate/graduate university course titled Sustainable Soil Management but it is flexible enough to be adapted to other natural resource courses. Project planning and an interactive overview of the tool will be given during the presentation.