Page 82 - Global Project Management Handbook

THE FUTURE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT 3-15

electronic (content, written, express, permission, item, publishing) and budget
(scheduling, CPM, critical path, Gantt, Pert). Here we can see that the management
of information has been a constant: from the cluster written in 1985–1991 to the
cluster electronic in 2002–2004 through the cluster information (quadrant 1, “strate-
gic heart” of the field, in 1992–1996) and the cluster institute in 1996–2001.
Furthermore, the aspects of methods (scheduling, CPM, critical path, Gantt, Pert, bud-
get) have been an autonomous subfield since 1992–1996, coming from the cluster
cash (quadrant 4 in 1985–1991) and having gained density to move upward.

Quadrant 4. These themes may evolve to the right, gaining centrality, and evolve
upward, gaining density. They may be at the origin of new trends or development
within the field. In this quadrant it is easy to see that we find a number of clusters,
and thus we are not going to consider all of them here. Let us give three notable
examples. The first one, already mentioned, is the cluster cash (1985–1991), which
has been moving upward, and the cluster method (quadrant 3, 1992–1996) at the ori-
gin of the cluster budget (quadrant 1, 1997–2001, and quadrant 3, 2002–2004). The sec-
ond one is the cluster training (education, learning, knowledge, leader, staff, mentoring,
coaching, organization). This cluster has been part of the quadrant in 1985–1991 and
1992–1996 before moving into the “strategic heart” of the field in 1997–2001 and
2002–2004, showing that from the periphery of the field, these topics have become of
central importance and have gained in density, becoming well defined and accepted
within the field. The last example concerns the cluster phase (2002–2004), which inte-
grates the notion of accountability, one dimension of governance.

Promising Themes within the Project Management Field and
Cluster Analysis

Quadrant 2. Here we find promising or past themes that are part of the discipline or
themes borrowed from other disciplines (context themes). This quadrant is important
because the themes are essential for a good understanding of the field. If we consider
the period 2002–2004, the cluster collaboration (broadband, user, LAN, collaborative
tool) shows the development of collaborative approaches. The cluster planning (model,
strategic, assess, chaos, performance, variation, vision, uncertainty, control, managerial)

exemplifies the focus on how to manage and control performance strategically in chaot-
ic and uncertain environments. The cluster infrastructure focuses on supply-chain man-
agement, ERP projects, connectivity, deployment, platform management, and integra-
tion, themes that are becoming more and more crucial. The cluster experience is self-
explanatory. The need for experience (consultant, team, third party, sponsor, expertise,
project manager) is of primary importance. The cluster change (practice, organization,
organizational theory, behavior, partnership, thinking, social, commitment, escalation,
psychological, responsibility) is in development, which is not a surprise. The cluster
team is connected to the cluster change (team as change agent and factor for success)
and demonstrates the importance of this theme within the field. The cluster metrics is a
good indicator of themes borrowed from the quality management and control disci-
plines; it consists of concepts such as functional analysis, quality, quality control, mea-
surement, benchmarking, best practice, total quality, and performance measurement.
The position of this cluster has to be related to the growing importance of the strategic
control (cluster planning) of performance. The last cluster, capability, is linked to the
development of all aspects of maturity within organizations.
Once we have analyzed the general dynamic of the field, we can focus on specific
and interesting clusters. Here we propose an analysis of the cluster training because it is