Co-management of risks and complexities to improve schedule management in engineering projects

Schedules play a pivotal role in engineering projects and are used primarily to manage time, but also costs, labor, and other resources. Managing schedules can be challenging due to the frequent impact of risks and uncertainties on planned activities, resulting in deviations from expected progress. In addition to risks, today’s large-scale engineering projects also face complexities. Therefore, it is important to identify complexities, incorporate them into schedule risk analysis and manage them flexibly, along with risks, in accordance with the dynamics of such projects. Traditional approaches of project management, however, are relatively rigid and plan-driven, and lack sufficient managerial flexibility to cope with the challenges and dynamics of complex projects. In this regard, the aim of this study is to propose a flexible and integrated procedure for co-managing risks and complexities that affect project schedules. The procedure was developed using complexity assessment and schedule risk analysis methods, along with a set of flexibility-enabling principles of project management identified through relevant literature. This way, it is aimed to bridge between theory and practice and to extend the territory of traditional project risk management. The proposed procedure was then implemented on a project, both retrospectively and hypothetically, using actual project information. The main reasons identified for the delays in the project included insufficient interaction with stakeholders, lack of involvement in processes, failure to adopt perception-based management, and the lack of a shared mental model regarding perceived complexities. It was concluded that, in response to schedule risks, embracing complexity to exploit opportunities rather than attempting to reduce complexity (which is not easy to achieve in general) would be an appropriate strategy to pursue to establish fit-for-purpose management and achieve enhanced risk responses. Consequently, the co-management of risks and complexities was suggested to improve schedule management in large-scale engineering projects.