Learning to learn, from past to future

Cooper, Kenneth; Lyneis, James M.; Bryant, Benjamin J

doi:10.1016/s0263-7863(01)00071-0

Cited by 95 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…For example, Lyneis et al (2001) and Cooper et al (2002) describe the use of a model by PRA to assess the lessons learned from a comparison of three command and control system projects at Hughes Aircraft Company. The effort identified the major external and internal drivers of differences in project costs, and thereby identified management initiatives to be adopted on future projects.…”

Section: Post-mortem Assessments For Disputes and Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

System dynamics applied to project management: a survey, assessment, and directions for future research

Lyneis

Ford

2007

System Dynamics Review

324

305

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One of the most successful areas for the application of system dynamics has been project management. Measured in terms of new system dynamics theory, new and improved model structures, number of applications, number of practitioners, value of consulting revenues, and value to clients, "project dynamics" stands as an example of success in the field. This paper reviews the history of project management applications in the context of the underlying structures that create adverse dynamics and their application to specific areas of project management, synthesizes the policy messages, and provides directions for future research and writing. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Syst. Dyn. Rev. 23, 157-189, (2007 ContextProjects abound in industry, public service, and many other endeavors. As a series of activities or tasks that (1) have a specific objective (scope) to be completed within certain specifications (requirements); (2) have defined start and end dates; (3) have funding limits; and (4) consume and/or utilize resources (Project Management Institute, 2000), projects have proven challenging to plan and manage. This is largely because project conditions and performance evolve over time as a result of feedback responses, many involving nonlinear relationships, and to accumulations of project progress and resources. This has made the application of system dynamics to project management a fertile and productive field of study. This paper surveys the large body of system dynamics work on projects, evaluates its progress, and suggests directions for future development.Many different types of models have been developed to improve project management. These models include some of the system features and characteristics addressed by system dynamics. For example, basic project models such as the critical path method explicitly model causally linked development activities and phases and cost control models use forecasted performance gaps (e.g., budget deficits) to allocate funds. More advanced models, such as the computational models developed by Levitt et al. (1999) and others, are quite system dynamics-like, as they include linked development activities as well as feedback. Another body of work models multiple projects, using system dynamics as well as other approaches. Surveying all of these works is beyond the scope of a single article. Therefore, we focus here on models of single projects built using the system dynamics methodology. But even models of single projects are too numerous to describe their structures or applications in detail. Therefore, in this article we focus on the most important and general model structures in conceptual form, and provide references to additional details. Our work is based primarily on the published literature and our experience using system dynamics to model projects. In particular, we describe contributions resulting from work we have done that has not, and very likely never will be, published or otherwise made available.The literature on system dynamics models of pro...

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Section: Post-mortem Assessments For Disputes and Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

System dynamics applied to project management: a survey, assessment, and directions for future research

Lyneis

Ford

2007

System Dynamics Review

324

305

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“…Le (2013) states that only one rework cycle is necessary to describe the process on the project level. The models of Cooper et al (2002) and Taylor & Ford (2006) can be allocated to this abstraction level.…”

Section: Classification By Abstraction Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tasks Approved (Ford & Sterman, 1998a) Tasks Completed but not Checked (Rahmandad & Hu, 2010) Work in Progress (Le, 2013) Tasks to be Reworked (Lin, 2006;Lin et al, 2008) Tasks in Testing (Repenning, 2000) Work in Quality Assurance (Joglekar & Ford, 2005) Quality Assurance Backlog (Taylor & Ford, 2006) Known Rework (Cooper & Lee, 2009;Cooper, 1980;Cooper et al, 2002;Reichelt & Lyneis, 1999) The modeler of a System Dynamics model is encouraged to rethink the structure of the observed engineering design process and which states need to be captured in the rework cycle. Each crucial state has to be modeled by one stock.…”

Section: Tasks Completed Not Checkedmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Structure-based System Dynamics analysis of engineering design processes

Kasperek

Lichtenberg

Maisenbacher

et al. 2015

2015 Annual IEEE Systems Conference (SysCon) Proceedings

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“…This body of work has improved the understanding of how complex projects behave, and linked causal factors to project outcomes through post hoc analysis using systems modeling approaches. A main learning is that project behavior derives from "systemic interrelated sets of factors" rather than single causal factors and that true causes of project outcomes are difficult to identify (Cooper, Lyneis, & Bryant, 2002;T. Williams, 2005).…”

Section: Theoretical Background On Project Complexity and Basic Propomentioning

confidence: 99%

House of Project Complexity—understanding complexity in large infrastructure projects

Lessard

Sakhrani

Miller³

2014

Engineering Project Organization Journal

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Learning to learn, from past to future

Cited by 95 publications

References 3 publications

System dynamics applied to project management: a survey, assessment, and directions for future research

System dynamics applied to project management: a survey, assessment, and directions for future research

Structure-based System Dynamics analysis of engineering design processes

House of Project Complexity—understanding complexity in large infrastructure projects

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