Project Management: A Strategic Approach

Project management is becoming a core competence for all of us. I believe it is not just about managing processes to ensure that the strategic goals of a business are delivered on time, within budget and specification. These days, project management is more about managing strategic goals while adapting to change and responding to ongoing disruptions. The pandemic, rapid urbanisation, digital transformation and environmental challenges are only some of the types of disruption faced by contemporary businesses. It is up to the project manager to ensure that the project management processes, as well as the projects and/or services themselves, are part of the readjustment required for business to survive these new challenges. This freely available project management ebook is the start of your journey in the field of project management, introducing you to some of the core values, concepts and tools as recognised by the Project Management Institute (PMI). This ebook draws on content from Project Management: 2nd Edition by Adrienne Watt and has been completely revised and authored to include my 25 years of expertise in this area. This book will be of value to both students and practitioners in Australia and overseas seeking professional development in the field of project management

A Manual for Project Governance and Asset Management

Students, practitioners, and businesses will all benefit from this free eBook, which focuses on project governance and asset management. Documenting best practices from design to implementation, including a review of existing frameworks, this eBook provides direction in the field of governance and asset management. Here, the ideas of assets and governance are brought together, and an agile governance framework is introduced. We hope to examine how these ideas may be used in project management in order to discover beneficial methodologies and approaches. If you’re looking to build trust and transparency in decision-making processes, this eBook is a must-read. It is intended for individuals who wish to create an atmosphere that accelerates strategy execution and the attainment of organisational objectives while offering good advice. Everyone in the organisation, including project managers and stakeholders from outside the company, can have an influence on the governance framework of projects and the management of the business’s assets to capture value and strengthen the strategic direction. By providing the necessary leadership, direction, and protocols, an organisation’s asset management and project governance frameworks may assist to guarantee that its strategy and execution are in sync

Management Methods for Complex Projects

This freely available project management eBook is the start of your journey in the field of complex project management methodologies, introducing you to some of the core methods, processes and tools as recognised by the project management discipline. This eBook lays out methodologies such as XP, Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Six Sigma, PRINCE2, Waterfall, PRiSM, Soft Systems Methodology as well as introducing Project Design as a method so you can leverage the right project management approach. This eBook will be of value to students, practitioners, and businesses in Australia and overseas seeking professional development in the field of project management methodologies

System of systems engineering governance framework for digital transformation: A case study of an Australian large government agency

Current swift technological advances are significantly impacting how organizations operate and services are provided. Even with the multiple benefits for organizations that undergo digital transformation, the majority of transformation initiatives fail due to the challenges that arise. A primary reason for these failures links back to the lack of effective governance framework to support effective digital transformation efforts. This paper proposes such a framework through a system of systems engineering approach to understand the various constituent systems involved in digital transformation efforts and their interactive and emergent behaviors. The application and usefulness of the framework were demonstrated as part of a digital transformation initiative in an Australian Large Government Agency and documented as a case study

Crossing digital frontiers with cultural intelligence - a new paradigm for project managers

The evolution of the international business environment during the past twenty years due to globalization and the recent pandemic determined an increase in international projects requiring new organizational and individual capabilities to ensure project success. Cross-cultural competencies have been analyzed within the crosscultural management field and organizational behavioral studies, with limited research available in the international project management field. Through a comprehensive literature review, the current research outlines the gap within the project management domain concerning the need triggered by the pandemic to acquire cross-cultural and digital abilities among project professionals. We disclose how the existent globalized virtual environment differs from the new one triggered by the pandemic due to the forced shift to the digital setting with a strong impact on in-person interactions, verbal and non-verbal communication. The originality of this work resides in the development of a novel project professional ability framework, including digital and cross-cultural components that emerged during the pandemic. Secondly, we propose the application of the identified cross-cultural and digital abilities within the project process group of the life cycle based on their scope and outputs

Cyberspace and Personal Cyber Insurance: A Systematic Review

As individuals become increasingly digitally dependent, cyber threats and cyber insurance to mitigate them gain relevance. This literature review conceptualizes a framework for siting Personal Cyber Insurance (PCI) within the context of cyberspace. The lack of empirical research within this domain demonstrates a need to identify and define the scope of PCI in order to allow cyber insurers to understand customer needs, and to conduct effective management and distribution of PCI products and services. We conducted a systematic literature review of 229 articles that were clustered into three meta-level themes: cyberspace, personal cyber risk, and PCI. The literature review indicates a significant paucity of research related to PCI particularly as it is influenced by antecedent risk externalities, the nature of cyberspace itself, the PCI market and operations, and post-cyber event support. The paper concludes with a proposal for a future research agenda

Small businesses and e-government participation: the role of personalisation preference and intermediaries

Purpose: Advances in technology have given rise to an increased demand by small businesses for personalised e-government services. Given the importance of small businesses to the Australian economy, it is vital to deliver small business-centric services that offer potential to generate value. To do that effectively, government departments need to understand factors that affect small business. The purpose of this study is to explore how preferences for personalised services and the use of intermediaries affect small business participation behaviour and, in turn, stimulate positive outcomes that are of interest to the government. Design/methodology/approach: This study draws on secondary data from a survey of 800 Australian small businesses about the digital services offered by a large government department. Structural equation modelling was used to empirically test the model. Findings: The findings demonstrate that whilst preference for personalisation has a positive relationship with participation behaviour, reliance on an intermediary does not. While such behaviour fosters emotional connection and perceptions of partner quality, the results of this study show no significant impact on satisfaction. Originality/value: This study advances knowledge about how small businesses can gain value from personalised support services. Importantly, it focuses on participation behaviour and small business – both of which are largely absent from existing studies. The findings can assist government departments to design personalised services that are valued by small businesses

Big Data: A lifeline to Next Generation Online Teaching Strategies for Universities

Amidst the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the education industry was forced to completely flip its very traditional self to an online system in order to thrive and ensure continuity of operations. This moved academics and support staff to rely on system-captured data to monitor performance and plan for the future. The purpose of this research is to study the importance of big data (captured by university systems over time) and its crucial role in policy & strategy making in the higher education sector. 10 pilot interviews were conducted with education industry practitioners which indicated that awareness regarding the importance of big data analysis exists, however, there is a need of in-depth knowledge to better support this sector. The results indicate the current state/status of implementation and challenges faced by the higher education sector wherein a clear need of having a data management strategy for optimizing the use of big data is being identified

Digital adoption strategy: a public sector ecosystem

The shift of public sector service provision to digital first, has had a considerable impact on how individuals interact with public sector entities. Therefore, this research argues for a systems approach to explore and understand different assistance-seeking behaviours. In particular, there is a need to understand the critical points within the system at which assistance is sought and the changing behaviours correlated to post assistance-seeking outcomes. Evidence for this research is presented through a case study on the Australian Taxation Office. Observations of the digital lodgement channel were undertaken to evaluate the components in which individuals sought assistance. Through the application of systems thinking and process mapping, this research highlights the critical points in which assistance was sought within the lodgement process. The results of this research lead to the recommendations that ongoing education should be provided for four years post first lodgement, and that education should occur at change of circumstances. Through the use of strategically placed self-help assistance throughout the lodgement process, it is anticipated that individuals will be less likely to seek assistance. However, this research demonstrates the importance of maintaining human interfaces for assistance-seeking to maximise an individual’s capacity to interact with the system successfully

A System of Systems Management Framework for Digital Transformation in eGovernment

Ongoing advances in technology have had a considerable impact on how government services are provided. Despite multiple benefits of digitalization, digital transformation has proven to be challenging with over 70% of initiatives failing. A key reason for this is a lack of an effective management framework for eGovernment digital transformation. This paper proposes such a framework by using the system of systems methodology. The framework allows eGovernment decisionmakers to effectively identify various constituent systems and examine how they interact with each other to form a system of systems. This systemic analysis provides an opportunity for more holistic management of digital transformation in eGovernment, including being more risk aware, dynamic, flexible, and resilient. A case study of digital transformation at the Australian Taxation Office has been used to illustrate the application of the proposed framework