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Technological Complexity

16 December, 2015 - 10:54

The technology of a project refers to the product of the project and not the technology used to manage the project. This technology is typically unique to the industry. A pharmaceutical project technology is the drug-making technology or pharmacology. The technology for a project to build a new automobile plant is the car production process. The key stress on the project is the newness of the technology. What aspects of the technology are known, and what aspects are unknown? Does the project combine technologies on the project that have never been combined?

Project technology that is newer and more complex will require more technological expertise on the project team.

Family Life Center

A church in western New York decided to build a new family life center that would not use electricity from the power grid. The charter of the project included statements that required the building to use renewable power sources and have an environmentally friendly footprint. The project required the adaptation of a new technology for producing and managing power, location of the building relative to the sun, and landscaping to minimize water usage. Most of the technology was tested, and the project team brought in experts to help design and implement a program to meet the requirements of the project. The technology of the project required the project team to develop a new understanding of this technology and work processes to adapt the project to address the requirement of the technology.

Typically, the newer the technology and the less familiar the project team is with the technology, the greater the stress and the contribution to the complexity of the project.