Caught disaster: using the layered systems model as a diagnostic tool for wayward software projects

This paper introduces The Layered Systems Model and describes how it can be applied to assist project managers to be effective at all stages of project design and delivery. Conventional rational problem solving techniques for difficult projects are supplemented with imaginative and relationship‐focused approaches. The Layered Systems Model is a management tool for focusing on different levels of functioning in projects, organisations, and teams. The model acts like a series of “filters to perception” to assist managers to assess how well an organisation is functioning at each level. It can be applied to large organisations, departments, and small work groups or in the case of this paper, software project teams. The paper shows how the Layered Systems Model can happily coexist with the Project Management Institute’s eight project knowledge areas to form a powerful diagnostic tool for software projects which are not quite “out of control” but are heading in that direction.