Publications

Managing Amidst Rapid Change - Management Approaches for Dynamic Environments - PMI (2015)

The ability to deliver value in dynamic environments has become an essential skill for today’s project managers given the ever increasing rates of change driven by deregulation, the information age, and globalization. Managing Amidst Rapid Change responds to this new reality with specific management techniques that refine the theory of how best to handle projects significantly challenged by dynamism. This practitioner-focused book combines management research with advice from experienced practitioners across 10 industries, and interspersed with analyses of case studies from Google, NASA, and IBM.

Enabling Pervasive Change: A Higher Education Case Study – with Campbell, C. EdMedia 2015 - World Conference on Educational Media and Technology - Montréal June 2015

Pervasive adoption of eLearning technology within higher education institutions remains a significant challenge. While the benefits of technology enhanced learning (TEL) have been identified, and enabling technology is increasingly plentiful, many organizations neglect change management in favour of individual innovation, risking significant productivity losses across the enterprise, and potentially reducing the quality of education. This investigation is the beginning of a study to leverage the experiences of Faculty across a range of disciplines to identify the communication and change approaches that are most effective for appropriate adoption of TEL. The intent is to build a grounded theory for effective technology adoption change support using Kotter’s (1996) eight change management steps as a framework to catalogue the approaches.

Strategies for Keeping Pace with Rapid Technological Change - Edutech Conference Brisbane 2015

The new constant in tertiary education is rapid technological change, which is happening faster than universities can absorb. The Technology Enhanced Learning Change study is leveraging educator experiences from to identify change management approaches that are the most effective for rapid appropriate technology adoption.

Innovative Strategies to Manage an Ever Dynamic Environment - IT Services in Universities - Melbourne 2014

Most organisations focus on innovation to stay on the leading edge, but what if you could get in front with more rapid pervasive adoption of proven technologies. This presentation outlined a range of pragmatic strategies for staying in front amidst technology change.

Aim Fire Aim – Planning Styles in Dynamic Environments - presented at PMI Research Conference – Washington. Selected in the top ten papers for special issue of Project Management Journal (2012)

Rapidly changing environments are a newly recognized and increasing challenge in the field of project management. Traditional prescriptive approaches, oriented around process control, are considered suboptimal in meeting this challenge. In this article, the authors present an exploratory theory-building study aiming to identify the project management approaches used by experienced practitioners to respond to rapidly changing environments. The results of 37 semi-structured interviews with 31 participants across 10 industries (i.e., construction, aerospace, international community development, pharmaceutical, defense, film production, start-ups, venture capital, research, and information technology) were analyzed according to the planning styles used. Results are discussed in the light of previous research, and a model for better management in rapidly changing environments is proposed

Managing Dynamism in Projects - A Theory-Building Study of Approaches Used in Practice, The University of Queensland. PhD Thesis.

Rapid change, known as dynamism, is a key unresolved issue for projects across all industries. Dynamism challenges many small projects, and large high-impact projects, some costing billions of dollars with national security impact. A qualitative approach was employed to build a grounded theory for managing dynamism, incorporating planning styles, culture, communication, and leadership. The study made use of in-depth interviews and focus groups with practitioners across ten industries (defence, community development, construction, technology, pharmaceutical, film production, scientific startups, venture capital, space, and research). The model and theory are useful for practitioners, and fill a gap in project management literature.

Project Management Approaches for Dynamic Environments - Collyer, S., & Warren, C. M. J. (2009) International Journal of Project Management, 27(4), 355-364

This paper investigates the properties of projects conducted in rapidly changing environments. These projects are challenged by the rapid introduction of new unknowns as they progress. One might say they are more akin to stacking worms than stacking bricks. The difficulties posed by these projects are identified and the literature is reviewed for suitable approaches.

Aim Fire Aim - Planning Styles in Dynamic Environment - Collyer, S., & Warren, C, et al. (2010), Project Management Journal 41(4): 108-121

Rapidly changing environments are a newly recognized and increasing challenge in the field of project management. Traditional prescriptive approaches, orientated around process control, are considered sub optimal in meeting this challenge (Ashton, Johnson, & Cook, 1990; Koskela & Howell, 2002; Sachs & Meditz, 1979, p. 1081; Sugden, 2001; Williams, 2004). In this paper, the authors present an exploratory theory-building study aiming to identify the project management approaches used by experienced practitioners in responding to rapidly changing environments. In thirty two semi-structured interviews with participants across ten industries (i.e., defense, community development, construction, technology, pharmaceutical, film production, start-ups, venture capital, space, and research) findings were analyzed according to the planning styles used. In addition, suitable new project management approaches employed by experienced practitioners in mature organizations are presented. Results are discussed in the light of previous research and a model for better management in rapidly changing environments proposed.

The Quick and the Dead - Culture, Communication, Leadership styles for Project Management in Dynamic Environments - Submitted (2015)

Rapidly changing environments can be a significant challenge for the project manager (Collyer & Warren, 2009). This paper continues an investigation into the challenges of conducting projects in dynamic environments. Thirty two interviews were conducted with participants across ten industries (i.e., defense, community development, construction, technology, pharmaceutical, film production, start-ups, venture capital, space, and research). Findings were analyzed according to the culture, communication, leadership styles used. Results are discussed in the light of previous research and a model for better management in rapidly changing environments proposed.

Simon Collyer