GENI: Managing the Unmanageable: Recommendations for Structuring and Governing Complex, Dynamic, and Distributed Projects

这一小笔探索性研究补助金(SGER)建议确定适合高度不确定、复杂和分布式项目的特定管理实践。GENI(全球网络创新环境)就是这样一个项目。GENI是美国国家科学基金会计算机和信息科学与工程局(CEISE)的一项雄心勃勃的开创性倡议。GENI的目标是通过发明和展示未来的网络和架构，使研究界能够设计和建设更好的互联网。与许多其他大型NSF项目不同，GENI包含重要的软件组件，这一特点极大地增加了其风险和复杂性，因为软件项目往往容易管理不善和失败。GENI项目为确定和研究高风险项目的项目管理做法提供了难得的机会。从这项研究中获得的知识将促进跨学科的项目管理实践，包括信息系统、计算机科学和工程学。这项研究的发现将促进对NSF内部和许多智力学科中大型分布式项目管理的理解。此外，这项研究的结果可以直接纳入教材，例如，纳入项目管理课程的课程，因为这些结果将对项目管理的实践产生直接影响。此外，通过发现可以提高成功管理GENI的可能性的管理实践，这项研究有可能对许多利益攸关方产生积极影响。

This Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) proposes to identify specific management practices that are appropriate for projects that are highly uncertain, complex, and distributed. GENI (Global Environment for Network Innovations) is an example of such a project. GENI is an ambitious, ground-breaking initiative of the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). The goal of GENI is to enable the research community to design and build a better Internet by inventing and demonstrating the networks and architectures of the future. Unlike many other large NSF projects, GENI contains a significant software component, this characteristic contributes enormously to its risk and complexity as software projects are often prone to mismanagement and failure. The GENI project presents a rare opportunity to identify and study project management practices for high risk projects. Knowledge gained from this research will advance project management practices across disciplines, including information systems, computer science, and engineering. The findings from this research will advance an understanding of the management of large, distributed projects within NSF and across many intellectual disciplines. Moreover, findings from this research can be directly incorporated into teaching materials, for example, into the curricula of project management courses, since the findings will have direct implications for the practice of project management. Further, by discovering management practices that can enhance the possibility of successfully managing GENI, this research has the potential to positively impact many stakeholders.