ABSTRACT
Many authors treat projects and project management with a strongly ‘mechanistic’ approach. The work can be broken down, executed and controlled as a series of interlocking parts. This is the technical, engineeringbased conceptualisation, probably derived from the roots of the subject in large research and development projects. While acknowledging the many benefits of this view, we take a slightly different approach. We understand projects as ‘organic’ constructs, living entities existing for a finite period of time, consisting of people, structures and processes. They exist to deliver short term outputs and long terms outcomes for a parent organisation or a set of stakeholders. To continue the biological metaphor, this organism is constantly challenged by environmental adversity – risk, uncertainty and complexity. Success depends on remaining resilient, which we view as the ability to notice, interpret, prepare for, and consistently to contain and recover from such adversity.
