TABLE OF CONTENTS Far too often, project managers take a narrow perspective when managing their projects. This narrow perspective can lead to reacting rather than responding to events and having little foresight about the consequences of their decisions and actions. To some degree, this is due to the prevailing paradigm of project management that emphasizes a mechanical view of how projects operate. Seasoned project managers recognize that a narrow perspective is not only na ve, but can cause unintended complications later in the project life cycle and beyond. So they emphasize the need to develop and maintain a wide-angle view of a project by looking at relationships; emphasizing interrelation, interdependence, and integration. In other words, they mean systems thinking. Fritjof Capra says that systems thinking is really process thinking, whereby opposites and relationships interrelate and interact in a unified manner. [1]
The new paradigm of project management requires that project managers take a more realistic view of projects, thereby avoiding a paint-by-numbers approach. The emphasis shifts to viewing projects as dynamic systems, relying as much on relationships as well as tools and techniques.
Unfortunately, a systemic approach towards managing projects is rarely taken, resulting in many problems and complications.
It limits perceptions and possibilities. By thinking linearly under the prevailing paradigm, project managers find themselves locked into looking for or seeing the right answer rather than what I refer to as an appropriate solution. The difference is that the former may be based on logical correctness but does not...
