Identifying and managing Weak Signals is an essential capability in all complex systems. Its aim is to enable to act before large disruptive consequences spread throughout the entire system. In general we find that Complex Projects do not listen sufficiently to potential disruptive signals. In our new essential White Paper 2017-04 ‘How to Identify and Manage Weak Signals in Large Complex Projects’ we discuss how to identify and assess these Weak Signals, with the aim to anticipate as much as possible events that will significantly alter the course of the Project.

The more complex the Project, the more:

• Isolated events will generally have consequential impacts,
• Small disturbances, also called Weak Signals (even remote from the core of the Project) can have very significant impact, up to the point of significantly disrupting the Project.

This is due to the fact that Project complexity is a direct consequence of the interdependency of activities and responsibilities between contributors.

Tracking small disturbances (Weak Signals) and assessing systematically their consequential impacts is thus an essential task. In Complex Projects, a forecasting process that would not consider Weak Signals and consequential impacts would be very insufficient.

The Project Control Manager is often the only person that can apprehend and analyse fully the consequential impacts of events – actual or potential such as in the case of Weak Signals. He must play this role systematically together with the identification and assessment of Weak Signals – internal or external to the Project. Actually the identification, observation and analysis of Weak Signals is an essential Project Control capability. Read  our new essential White Paper 2017-04 ‘How to Identify and Manage Weak Signals in Large Complex Projects’!

If you can’t access the link to the white paper, copy and paste the following link in your browser: http://www.projectvaluedelivery.com/_library/2017-04_Identify_Manage_Weak_Signals_v0.pdf