At a very simple level (a) the higher the risk and impact of failure, the more control (or quality assurance) is needed.

For example, a high risk/impact project, such as launching a major new financial product, will require robust controls with heavy oversight, often from outside the organisation (say by auditors or even the regulator).

However low risk/impact projects, say internal process changes, can be implemented with much less control and oversight.

Agile can help enhance strategic projects, but one needs to be careful.

Organisations will have a strategic vision or end-state which is ‘where they want to be in a defined period of time’. For example, double sales within the next three years.

Organisations will then define a strategy (or blocks of work) to implement this vision. Using the example (to double sales), then they may need to increase the size of the sales team, ramp up their operations to support the increase in sales, enter new markets, etc, etc.

If the requirements around these ‘blocks of work’ (or even the strategy) are uncertain or likely to change, then an agile approach can be used because (a) agile provides flexibility to adapt and pivot quickly but (b) with the risks of scope creep, short-termism and possible divergence from the strategic vision if not managed correctly.

If the requirements are more solid or less likely to change, then a waterfall approach is good because (a) it provides a clear,…

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When I started working in change management, I was very focused on planning, tracking, logging and chasing. In effect, very rule-based.

But I soon learnt (very painfully in some cases) that change management is a human phenomenon; i.e. change is triggered by people, implemented by people and then used by people.

This meant I had to add people skills to my leadership skillset by communicating clearly, involving people as early as possible, addressing concerns as quickly as possible and ‘taking’ people on the change journey.

I am interested for two main reasons

AI is definitely the ‘next big thing’ which is receiving a large amount of attention

Unfortunately because it is the next big thing then there is a large amount of hype and falsehoods around it. For example I have seen many things described as AI which is not AI but just normal technology

Therefore I would be interested in understanding (a) what AI really is and (b) what the real and pragmatic benefits and challenges of using AI in project mgmt. really is

Regards

Paul.