On the novelty dimension in project management

One factor that subtly influences a project's outcome is novelty--the quality of a project's innovativeness, as perceived by the project's team. This paper examines the way a project's novelty influences a project team's performance. In doing so, it discusses the subjectivity of perceiving the phenomenon of novelty in relation to four types of projects and in relation to possessing the knowledge needed to implement each of these four project types. It also describes a process for gauging a project's objective novelty and its subjective novelty as well as the significance of understanding the implications of novelty when performing empirical research and project reporting. It reviews four approaches to measuring novelty and recognizes the field's lack of an established standard for novelty measurement; it overviews novelty's two principles of influence: novelty as a moderator, novelty as an independent variable. It then explains the findings of an empirical literature survey looking at the way novelty affects the practice of managing projects and the success of project outcomes, focusing on novelty in relation to project management structure, clarity of project objectives, autonomy of project management, and the project manager.