Project Management Practices at Portuguese Startups

Abstract

Nowadays, due to the continuous changes in technology and markets, companies need to use the best project management practices to effectively manage their projects. The use of these practices however will not have the same results in different types of projects and in different organizations. The practices used by larger companies may have different results if used by smaller companies. With this in mind and focused on project management practices used by Portuguese startups, this study explores the value that project management represents for this type of companies. The study also focused on scale-ups, which are startups that have already undergone an initial phase of maturation and have more complex structures and processes, thus allowing us to see how the project management practices change with the evolution of the organization. This way, it was possible to observe that project management is seen as an essential factor within this type of organizations. These organizations seem to opt for a more agile approach to project management, thus taking advantage of the flexibility typically offered by such approaches. This type of approach seems to continue as startups mature, where there is only an increase in the formalization and complexity of project management practices and tools.

Influence of organizational life cycle on performance management design in the software industry

“…The influence of OLC on PMS design in the SW Ind and strategies adopted, the decision support and the organizational infrastructure put in place to monitor management processes (Andriani et al, 2019;Bouwens and Abernethy, 2000;Mosca et al, 2021;Shahzad et al, 2019;Tereso et al, 2019). To establish OLC influence and performance it is proposed that OLC positively influences the performance of software projects with different levels of maturity.…”

“…Moreover, OLC is a factor that has been addressed by research related to the contingency perspective (Moores and Yuen, 2001; Silvola, 2008). The model used in our study is of Lester et al (2003) since it is a theory that fits small, medium and large companies, besides aligning with the elements observed to evaluate the OLC stages and PMS (Andriani et al , 2019; Dufour et al , 2018; Parnell et al , 2012; Shahzad et al , 2019; Tereso et al , 2019).…”

“…The OLC model by Lester et al (2003) consists of five stages: (1) existence; (2) survival; (3) success; (4) renewal; and (5) decline. It is a theory that recognizes the phases' evolution over time of the OLC and differs from previous models because it incorporates characteristics of the leadership style, organizational growth, impacts of decision-making, besides recognizing the decline phase and allowing to examine the relationship of OLC stages and organizational performance (Andriani et al , 2019; Shahzad et al , 2019; Tereso et al , 2019).…”

Design of a Model for Risk Reduction in Project Management in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

“…Many of these studies referred to the use of project management tools and techniques in large organizations, but smalland medium-sized enterprises require different techniques and tools. In their paper, [32] describe research into the use of project management tools and techniques in small-and medium-sized enterprises [35,36]. This research is later referred to in the contribution by [37], which points out not only the differences based on the size of the company but also on the length of existence of the organization itself.…”