This research contributes to and extends previous studies in two areas: the use of visual representations to support strategic decision making, and the development and application of methods and tools for the management of project interdependencies. In addition to the contributions to these bodies of research and literature, the findings also provide guidance for practitioners of PPM. It is generally accepted that organizations need to understand the interdependencies between projects in order to strategically manage their project portfolios. We have described two organizations’ experiences with applying a new way of visually representing data to support decision making, and we have tested a conceptual model of the understanding of project interdependencies. This research has generated insights into how organizations may be able to improve their understanding of project interdependencies through two avenues of investigation.
First, we tested the use of VPM, a network mapping approach for the visualization of project interdependencies to support decision making. Findings indicate that VPM offers insights that can improve understanding, and that it has the potential to provide benefits by providing support for strategic
Second, we explored the relationships in a proposed conceptual model on factors influencing organizational understanding of project interdependencies. The findings highlight the importance of both culture and process, and suggest that the culture factors may have more influence than the process factors on an organization’s understanding of project interdependencies.
We emphasize that this is an exploratory study involving two organizations. Further research with other organizations and industries is required to verify or extend these findings and refine insights into the factors that affect an organization’s understanding of project interdependencies.
The findings from the first research avenue suggest that network mapping approaches such as VPM may become one of the tools identified as useful for PPM. Further research is required to better understand whether and how such tools can enhance an organization’s capability to manage its project portfolio, and how the visual network mapping representations can be best constructed, interpreted, and used in practice. This research used responses from project managers to develop the VPM displays; however, future research could consider whether other sources of knowledge about project interdependencies can be effectively used. In addition, future research should evaluate the effort required to create network mapping displays on a regular basis and the effectiveness of methods of updating the displays to represent dynamic project portfolio environments.
The conceptual model tested in the second research avenue is an exploratory model that could be extended to include a wider range of factors through future research. In addition to further culture and process factors, future research could also consider other dimension such as portfolio size and portfolio complexity. The exploratory work has employed some new item questions, and further work on the development of items and scales is recommended.
In conclusion, this exploratory research has introduced project network mapping as a visual representation tool for understanding the interdependencies in project portfolios. Our study indicates that network mapping has potential as a tool to assist with PPM and support strategic portfolio decision making;
however, the results also highlight that the culture and environment may be more important than the tools and processes. The findings suggest that managers need to pay attention to the project culture as well as the tools and processes. While seeking the best methods and tools to implement, they must also ensure that the culture and the project environment support the between-project communication and the capture and sharing of information that are required for best understanding of project interdependencies.
Acknowledgements
We thank Brooke Krumbeck for her valuable input as a research assistant on this project.
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