Project Management Skills needed to run Complex Projects
Boeing recently announced that the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner will be postponed due to a need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft, and then test it. The launch of this aircraft is now over two years late.
Does this all remind you of something else? Remember the delays to the Airbus A380 – also two years late?
Seems that we are dealing with very complex projects here, that might not follow the established laws of ‘normal’ projects. Perhaps some projects are too complex to be managed using conventional project management approaches?
An article by Remington & Pollack suggests some key skills needed by Project Managers when dealing with complex projects, as discovered during research:
- Very high level communication skills
- Ability to manage organisational politics
- Creative thinking
- Understanding of the importance of the project initiation and definition phase
- Good team leadership skills
- Ability to foster positive relationships with other project managers and project director
- Ability to pay attention to what is happening around you; including paying attention to the rumors at work
- Skill with relationship management
Interestingly, the skills in the list above were ranked as more important than discipline specific knowledge or traditional project management skills – like planning and budgeting.
Perhaps it’s time to ensure that the right project manager is selected to run extraordinarily complex projects – like the creation of an entirely new passenger aircraft – as the required skills might be difficult to find in many project managers.