Managing Fuzzy Projects in 3d: A Proven, Multi-faceted Blueprint for Overseeing Complex Projects

The first resource of its kind―a multi-disciplinary method for effectively managing the largest, most complex projects in business today

All too often, we execute projects that come with high levels of complexity or uncertainty, along with conflicting or unstated expectations from stakeholders. The authors of this groundbreaking guide refer to them as “fuzzy projects,” and they are all-too-common today.

In Managing Fuzzy Projects in 3D, project management guru Lavagnon Ika and organizational strategy expert Jan Saint-Macary walk you through their proven three-pronged approach for successfully managing such projects. It’s all about planning and executing the project with three key factors in mind―reason and logic, psychosocial/human behavior considerations, and politics, such as power, influence, and hierarchy―to gain a complete picture of the project and the processes for getting it done. Drawing on copious examples, they shed light on why even well-managed projects can fail to meet business case and strategic expectations, and they show how their methods work in the real world.

Throughout, the authors provide illuminating case studies, including Boston’s “Big Dig,” the Golden Gate Bridge, the Ford Edsel, Olympic Games, Indian Tata Nano Car, Microsoft Campus Renovation Project, the U.S. moon mission, and Apple iPhone. In addition, they provide specific questions you can ask stakeholders in order to build clarity from the start of the project.

With Managing Fuzzy Projects in 3D, you have everything you need to successfully guide the most complex, unclear projects beginning to end.

Lavagnon Ika is professor of project management and former director for the Master of Science in Management at the Telfer School of Management (University of Ottawa). He is the founding director of their Major Projects Observatory. Ika has been a visiting professor at the Skema Business School in France, the Swinburne Business School in Australia, the Institute of Public Project and Cost Engineering of the Tianjin University of Technology in China, the CESAG Business School in Senegal, and the World Bank. He is associate editor for the International Journal of Project Management and a member of the Academic Boards of both the Project Management Institute (PMI) and the International Project Management Association (IPMA).

Jan Saint-Macary is professor of strategy and project management at the University of Quebec, where he developed and directed two MBA programs and was department head for three terms. He has held various managerial positions in international and commercial banking at the First National State Bank of New Jersey and at the Royal Bank of Canada. Saint-Macary has taught and consulted in banking and project management in Canada, China, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, and Ivory Coast.