Hybrid Project Management

By Christina Sejr Pedersen, Director of the Half Double Institute

The hybrid approach to project management is becoming increasingly important in today’s project landscape – and for good reason. In my view, there is a need to rethink our approach to project management to meet the complexities of modern projects. This is especially true for so-called mega-projects, which are crucial to the green transition.

Fortunately, interest in the hybrid approach is growing, but in many cases, the understanding remains too narrow to fully harness its potential. More on that later.

The Need for a Hybrid Approach

Today’s programme and project managers face an increasingly complex stakeholder landscape, faster development speeds, and far more crises than ever before. Relying solely on either a traditional or an agile project model can quickly become limiting. Therefore, it is essential to adapt our project management methods at the project, portfolio, and organisational levels to better reflect reality.

The Modern Organisation as a Project Factory

Many modern organisations operate almost as project factories. Yet, only about 30 per cent of projects today are considered successful. This clearly highlights the need for improved methods and approaches. Hybrid project management, like the Half Double model, which combines agile and traditional methods, can offer a solution by providing greater flexibility to manage the pace of change and complexity that are inherent in most projects today, across sectors and industries.

Advantages of the Hybrid Approach at the Project Level

A hybrid approach to project management combines the structure of traditional project management with agile flexibility. This allows for iterative development and ongoing feedback while maintaining clear project deadlines and milestones. Traditional methods provide thorough risk assessment and management plans, while agile allows for quick adaptation and response to emerging risks. Moreover, agile practices promote constant communication and collaboration within teams, while traditional methods ensure comprehensive stakeholder analysis upfront.

This combination offers better resource management by merging the predictability of traditional project planning with the adaptive resource allocation methods found in agile. However, it’s worth noting that hybrid project management requires a more adaptable and flexible leadership style, which is crucial for success and is a core element of the Half Double approach.

The Benefits of the Hybrid Approach at the Portfolio Level

At the portfolio level, a hybrid approach optimises resource utilisation by balancing allocation across projects to meet both stable and dynamic project needs. While traditional project management provides detailed reporting and control mechanisms, agile offers continuous updates and visibility into project progress. This combination aids in better portfolio management and ensures that the portfolio remains aligned with dynamic business objectives. A hybrid portfolio can also spread risk by balancing high-risk, high-reward agile projects with traditional projects where predictability and risks are lower. This enhances overall portfolio stability and resilience in the business.

The Benefits of the Hybrid Approach at the Organisational Level

At the organisational level, a hybrid approach contributes to strategic agility by making it easier for the organisation to respond to market changes and business opportunities. The approach can be scaled and adapted across different departments and projects, providing a flexible yet cohesive project management framework for the organisation.

When it comes to information flow, traditional methods ensure stakeholders are kept informed through formal reporting structures, while agile practices increase stakeholder engagement through regular updates and feedback. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. The hybrid approach selects the most effective method within the given context and for the specific stakeholder groups involved in the project.

Another benefit of hybrid project management at the organisational level is that it promotes continuous improvement and innovation by allowing experimentation within a controlled framework and by leveraging synergies between different methods. The project approach can be continually adjusted based on the learnings gained from the specific project or others within the organisation.

The Ultimate Hybrid: A Tailored Approach

It’s encouraging to see that the hybrid approach is gaining ground in many places. However, the concept is often interpreted and applied too narrowly to fully exploit its potential. 

Here, organisational ambidexterity can serve as a useful theoretical framework to understand the scope of the hybrid project approach. I won’t delve into the theory here, but in short, organisational ambidexterity refers to a company’s ability to balance and effectively manage both the exploitation of existing capabilities and the exploration of new opportunities. This concept is crucial for organisations to adapt and thrive in dynamic and uncertain environments.

A study from 2023 defines organisational ambidexterity as "the capability to simultaneously pursue both incremental (exploitation) and radical (exploration) innovation. This dual approach enables organizations to maintain efficient operations while being adaptable to new opportunities, thus enhancing overall resilience and performance in dynamic environments"​ (Emerald)​ (SpringerOpen).

I would argue that organizational ambidexterity is crucial for maintaining competitive advantage in rapidly changing environments. Recent research emphasizes that organizational ambidexterity is not just about balancing these activities but also about dynamically switching between them as required by the market or internal pressures.

For example, a fresh study highlights that organizational ambidexterity, combined with IT competencies and paradoxical leadership (which supports both exploration and exploitation), significantly strengthens organizational resilience and performance, especially in volatile environments​ (Emerald)​ (SpringerOpen). This approach enables organizations to adapt quickly, seizing new opportunities while maintaining efficiency in existing operations.

The Ultimate Hybrid Project Approach Tailored to Both Time and Place

Let’s look at some of the concepts from the theory of organisational ambidexterity that help provide a good understanding of the dimensions an organisation must consider to create the ultimate hybrid project approach.

‘Contextual Ambidexterity’ refers to blending plan-driven and agile methods to match the specific project context. For example, the Half Double method allows for the coexistence of different project methods, enabling the best of both worlds to be combined.

In the temporal dimension, ‘Cyclical Ambidexterity’ is about switching between exploitation and exploration in different phases of the project. For instance, starting with an agile approach to adapt quickly and later, when predictability is higher, shifting to a more structured method.

In the organisational dimension, ‘Structural Ambidexterity’ involves using exploitation and exploration in different parts of the project. This is particularly useful in large projects and mega-projects, where some parts of the project are best run with a plan-driven approach, while others may be more agile.

‘Reciprocal Ambidexterity’ describes how output from exploration in one part of the organisation can become input for exploitation in another part, and vice versa. This creates a dynamic cycle of innovation and efficiency, resonating with the Half Double method’s leadership tool “Adopt a reflective and adaptive mindset.”

Ambidexterity may sound complex, but my point is simple: we need to fully embrace hybridisation and adapt project management methods to the specific needs and challenges that arise in different phases and parts of a project. Here, the Half Double method, which is both a hybrid method in itself and designed to coexist with other methods, can be a good starting point.

The Future is Hybrid

Hybrid project management offers a robust framework for navigating the complex and rapidly changing landscapes we face today. By combining the best of traditional and agile methods, we can achieve higher success rates and more resilient projects. It’s important that we don’t just create a new hybrid but truly exploit the hybrid concept to develop a project approach that is adapted to time and place within the same organisation and even within the same project: the ultimate hybrid approach.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and if you are currently working with a purely traditional project method, you probably shouldn’t jump straight into an ultimate hybrid approach tomorrow. Start with the hybrid mindset by embracing it in the dimension that makes sense for your organisation or specific project, and build from there.

If you’re already working with a hybrid project approach, we at the Half Double Institute are very interested in hearing about your experiences either in the comments below or via an email to me at csp@halfdoubleinstitute.org.