Aim, Fire, Aim—Project Planning Styles in Dynamic Environments

Abstract

Rapidly changing environments are a newly recognized and increasing challenge in the field of project management. Traditional prescriptive approaches, oriented around process control, are considered suboptimal in meeting this challenge. In this article, the authors present an exploratory theory-building study aiming to identify the project management approaches used by experienced practitioners to respond to rapidly changing environments. The results of 37 semistructured interviews with 31 participants across 10 industries (i.e., construction, aerospace, international community development, pharmaceutical, defense, film production, start-ups, venture capital, research, and information technology) were analyzed according to the planning styles used. Results are discussed in the light of previous research, and a model for better management in rapidly changing environments is proposed.