How Project Management Tackles Supply Chain Complexity

While technology might make the world seem smaller, the current level of interconnectedness creates additional challenges from a supply chain perspective.

From the geographically dispersed nature of customers that need to be served, and the regulatory and security implications that come with this, to the greater expectations placed upon businesses to deliver high quality goods in less time, the potential pain points are seemingly endless.

Indeed it is at these points where two or more individuals or business processes come together where there is both the potential for problems, and the opportunity to make improvements.

This is where project management comes into play, not necessarily as a means of reducing supply chain complexity, but rather of coping with it and achieving optimizations where possible.

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Getting to grips with the critical path approach

In a supply chain setting, using the solutions on this list of management tools should empower you to plot out the critical path to the successful completion of a project.

Analyzing all of the activities, actions and processes involved, and narrowing down this group to find those that are most necessary, and those that might be superfluous, is obviously efficient.

It also means that, with the critical path identified, you can let both internal teams and external partners know what their role must be, and when it needs to be completed by.

That is not to say that you need to completely cut out less important points along the supply chain journey, but rather that you can use the critical path method to adjust your priorities.

Focusing your efforts on optimizing tasks that matter most to the outcome of a supply chain project will pay dividends, and avoid time and resources being wasted.

Empowering collaboration through communication

Without effective communication, no project can be expected to run smoothly. When there are so many moving parts involved, being able to talk with other people and work towards amenable solutions is the only way to encompass the complexity you are faced with.

Again, project management software is your ally in this respect. Having a unified platform through which team members and third parties can have their voices heard, and also listen to the input of others, is a boon.

This is doubly true in the case that you are having to orchestrate communication between people who may be on different continents from one another, and thus working at different hours of the day or night.

That is not to say you can be totally reliant on cutting edge software tools; sometimes the simplest way to fix an issue or tackle a pain point is to have a real time conversation via a phone call or video meeting. As with other aspects, it’s better not to be too rigid, and instead to adapt to the obstacles you encounter.

Embracing agility

In the past, project management was tackled in a somewhat linear, holistic way. This means setting goals, planning to achieve them and moving forward in the hope that all of your efforts would come together and pay off in one fell swoop.

Today, the agile approach to project management is preferable, particularly in the case of supply chains, since it is specifically built around breaking down complexity and iterating in a compartmentalized way, rather than trying to encompass every point simultaneously.

In its simplest form, agile project management will see you dealing with just one aspect of a supply chain process, checking to see how it can be organized optimally, and only then moving on to add the next process in the chain, before reassessing the state of play and seeing if further alterations need to be made.

It’s all about being able to identify exactly what is causing complications through iteration, rather than being overwhelmed by a deluge of difficulties all at once.

As the name suggests, agile project management is also able to allow organizations to adapt to changing market pressures, customer expectations and hurdles that may come further down the line.

If only one process or system is disrupted, then it is less of a chore to fix this if your project management is oriented around the ethos of agility.

This is especially crucial today, since supply chains have been subject to significant disruption in the wake of the pandemic, and were already feeling the pinch as a result of the rise of e-commerce over the past couple of decades.

Final thoughts

The unavoidable reality of modern supply chains is that the complexity we see right now is not going to be reduced in the future. In fact, there is every chance that it will only increase.

Because of this, the latest tools and project management strategies need to be adopted by organizations at every point of the supply chain, as all organizations stand to benefit.

About the author

Jessica Perkins

A growth hacker at heart, Jess helps SaaS companies rapidly scale their inbound leads through lean marketing strategies. She views content marketing and advertising as the perfect concoction of growth, and loves to write about her insights and experiences.