Systemic IT Project Management: A Rational Way to Manage Irrationalities in IT Projects?

摘要

Various studies of IT project management work have shown that common causes of project failures belong to the category of soft factors like communication or cultural differences. Instead of combating these causes with the application of even greater numbers of formal project management methods, this paper suggests a different approach derived from the systemic theory of the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann. Projects are viewed and treated as social constructs. The approach is based on the acceptance of the irrationalities in the project environment and attempts to counteract them by understanding and handling them at their true roots instead of only treating the superficial symptoms. Additionally, this perspective leads to a new "mindset" for a project manager who is facing complexity, uncertainty and irrationalities in IT projects.