Global Project Management Using Digital Pulse Methodology

Paper in proceeding, 2014

Globalization is constantly increasing; companies are opening offices in different countries and having international partners. The ability of managing global projects is becoming an indispensable part of the companies’ competency portfolio in order to survive in the fierce competition. This research aims to provide an efficient and lean methodology for companies that want to be efficient at managing global projects. This paper contributes to the project management literature by expanding the knowledge on pulse methodology with a new methodology called digital pulse methodology, which helps companies to manage their global projects. Pulse methodology is a well-known and widely used methodology in Sweden for managing deviations in product development. Companies appreciate its simplicity and its lean tools. However, previous studies show that it is not efficient in global projects and there are a number of requirements it must fulfill in order to do so. We developed digital pulse methodology as an expansion on baseline pulse methodology aiming to improve the appreciated methodology towards making it fulfill the given requirements, thus help companies to manage deviations in global projects. We tested the new methodology by making the case company use it over a three months period. We gathered the results of the requirement tests along with the other benefits of the methodology using observations and interviews.