Is there one right type of work structure or organization for a company? The current favorite is a projectized structure. Peter Drucker, the eminent management expert, said: ‘every organization in the developed countries will have to be designed for a specific task, time, and place’. In other words, work and organizations will be projectized along lines that reflect their purpose and function of what work needs to be done.
A project can be an Uber trip. Or, a project can be sending a person to the moon or anything in between. The idea behind projectizing is to treat work as integrated tasks that have be completed on time, on budget, with high quality, and within scope, while satisfying multiple stakeholders.
See if the following makes sense? Bosses want work done cheaper, faster and better. VUCA ‘work entropy’ can result in the unraveling of Working It principles and practices. Our usual response when VUCA reaches a crisis stage is to panic. We transform processes, downsize VUCANs indiscriminately, or disrupt organizational cultures. Crisis management doesn’t work over the long-term.
Project work changes work assumptions. For example, traditional management hierarchies and functional silos predominate organizations but evolve in projectized organizations. Projectizing work has been growing steadily, may be exponentially, during the last several years. Why? VUCANs from different parts of the organization, suppliers, and even countries must work effectively and efficiently 24-7. As well, many VUCANs work virtually.
Managing by projects is hot – blistering hot! Most gig and side-hustle work are project based. Roger L. Martin, a current work guru, says:
“My advocacy vis-a-vis projects is that the entire decision factory should be thought of as nothing but projects. Projects, projects, projects and more projects; managers should organize their life around projects.” [i]
Work Lesson Earned: Is there a better way to control our work and life in an today’s COVID world? And, is there a simpler way to make sense and structure of work when things must get done on time? Yes, it’s through risk based, project management.
[i] ‘Roger Martin, Playing to Win’, LinkedIn, July 9, 2019.