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

探索性研究小额补助金（SGER）旨在确定适用于高度不确定，复杂和分布式项目的特定管理实践。 全球网络创新环境（GENI）就是这样一个项目的例子。GENI是美国国家科学基金会计算机和信息科学与工程理事会（CISE）的一项雄心勃勃的开创性计划。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构建更好的互联网。与许多其他大型NSF项目不同，GENI包含一个重要的软件组件，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项目为识别和研究高风险项目的项目管理实践提供了一个难得的机会。从这项研究中获得的知识将推动跨学科的项目管理实践，包括信息系统，计算机科学和工程。这项研究的结果将促进对NSF内部和许多知识学科的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，因为研究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相关者产生积极影响。

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.