ABSTRACT
Temporal complexity is found in projects experiencing significant environmental change outside the direct influence or control of the project. In the private sector this kind of complexity is commonly found during periods of mergers and acquisitions, changes of leadership and major periods of organisational change. In the public sector temporal complexity is common during changes of government and legislative change, and has been referred to as public sector paranoia'. Seemingly straightforward projects with long durations can also be vulnerable simply because the longer the duration of the project the higher the likelihood that it will be exposed to externally imposed changes. In a temporally complex project, the fitness landscape is not at all stable. It moves, and can be thought of more as a rolling sea than as a static geography. Managing a project in a temporally complex context will challenge ideas about what is normally assumed to be stable in a traditional project management context.
