How does work get done?

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How does work get done?

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Survey

• Objective: Understand current collaboration patterns

• Question: “Select the key stakeholders (max 5-10) in relation to
Communication and Change Management that you regularly collaborate with
in relation to your Capital Project.”
• List of all Project Managers, Project Directors, Communication and
Organisational Change Managers were provided.

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10 Min Exercise: What is going on here? What would you do about it?

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10 min Exercise
”Why do you rely on to get work done?”
• You are rolling out a
new virtual meeting
room tool. All meeting
rooms will be
converted to VR/AR
rooms.
• Total cost is $1.2m.
The project sponsor
anticipates some
resistance and asks
you to ensure prepare
a stakeholder
engagement plan
• You map current
interaction patterns.
– What insights do you
get?
– What actions would
you put in the plan?

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How fast can we change?

Valente, Thomas W. Social networks and health: Models, methods, and applications. Oxford University Press, 2010.

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The challenge:
Understanding the flow-on effects from project decisions

• We map the interdependencies in large complex portfolios to

enable better decision making.
• Tough questions we try to answer:
– Decisions about project resourcing - what is the impact on other projects?
– A project is struggling – what risk does that represent for the portfolio?
– Our project managers aren’t seeing the ‘big picture’ – how do we
communicate interdependencies?
• How do we improve decision quality?
–an example …

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“Hey PM! We need to cut 10% with minimal impact. You have 10 min.”
IDEA / Investment NPV is dependent
PROJECT C (thousands) (thousands) NPV/C Strategic fit upon:
A $ 300.00 $ 1,200.00 4.0 9 B, I, K, O
B $ 240.00 $ 466.00 1.9 8 A, I, K, O
C $ 100.00 $ 367.00 3.7 6 J, W, Y
D $ 120.00 $ 330.00 2.8 6 L, V
E $ 700.00 $ 2,770.00 4.0 7 -
F $ 800.00 $ 1,560.00 2.0 8 U
G $ 872.00 $ 1,500.00 1.7 3 N, X
H $ 50.00 $ 400.00 8.0 7 P
I $ 1,400.00 $ 3,500.00 2.5 5 A, O
J $ 2,500.00 $ 4,000.00 1.6 7 W, Y
K $ 400.00 $ 500.00 1.3 5 A, B, I, O
L $ 985.00 $ 680.00 0.7 9 -
M $ 350.00 $ 500.00 1.4 4 -
N $ 950.00 $ 1,450.00 1.5 6 G, K, U, W, X
O $ 232.00 $ 1,600.00 6.9 7 A, B, I, K
P $ 554.00 $ 1,600.00 2.9 8 F
Q $ 400.00 $ 2,650.00 6.6 6 W, X
R $ 562.00 $ 3,000.00 5.3 9 P
S $ 391.00 $ 120.00 0.3 7 D, L, V
T $ 160.00 $ 450.00 2.8 9 E, K, M, U, Z
U $ 400.00 $ 2,000.00 5.0 7 -
V $ 843.00 $ 1,900.00 2.3 6 D, L
W $ 620.00 $ 1,900.00 3.1 7 A, J, X
X $ 720.00 $ 46.00 0.1 7 -
Y $ 871.00 $ 676.00 0.8 7 C, W
Z $ 450.00 $ 780.00 1.7 9 K, T

Exercise designed by Dr Catherine Killen

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Now – let’s visualise the situation

Each circle represents a project

• Colour indicates strategic importance
• Size indicates investment required
Strategic Importance
Low

High

Arrows show dependencies between projects

• Direction of the arrow – points to the project that is needed/depended upon.

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Visual project map (VPM) of the project portfolio.
Your task: Cancel one or more projects to cut investment by 10% with
minimum impact on the portfolio outcomes.
Arrows point to
important /
influential projects;
arrows point from a
dependent project to
a project that is
depended upon

Circle size = initial

investment
(investment amount
also shown in
parentheses)

Strategic
Importance
Low

High

www.optimice.com.au Exercise designed by Dr Catherine Killen10

Visualising project interdependencies
Mapping allows decision makers to see connections and the impact on
projects.

Arrows point to
important /
influential projects;
they point from a
dependent project to
a project that is
depended upon

Strategic
Importance
Low

High

Circle Size = Initial Investment

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Map = Decision Quality

Findings from 264 experiments:

The use of portfolio maps correlates with the

highest levels of decision quality
Killen, C, 2013, “Visualizations of project interdependencies for portfolio decision making: Evaluation through decision
experiments”, Decision Sciences Institute Annual Conference, Baltimore Maryland

Map List Matrix

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Project meta-data

• Only a few simple data points provide deep insights into the portfolio structure

About each project About each dependency

Strategic Fit Budget Importance Type
• High • $ • Critical • Outcome
• Medium • NPV • Important • Resource
• Low • Etc. • Minor • Etc.

Benefit Risk Project A

• High • High
• Medium • Medium
• Low • Low
Dependency

Project B

Project

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More info and Explore online

• Explore example online map at:

www.optimice.com.au/projectint
erdependencies.php
• Optimice and University of
Technology Sydney (Australia)
have researched the power of
visualising project
interdependencies over a 2 year
period.
• Winner: Best Technical Paper at
the APMI conference in 2010
• International recognition:
Published in the International
Journal of Project Management
in 2012.
• Results of 264 experiments
demonstrates that visual maps of
interdependencies are far more
effective than traditional
methods. See example:
www.optimice.com.au/projectinterdependencies.php

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