Sustainable water management through flexible method management

Water management projects are complex and contain many dimensions, including the nature of the problem, technological challenges, and political relevance. Experts and consultants in water management usually work with a limited set of analysis and project planning methods. This implies that experts and consultants have a restricted spectrum for bidding on water management projects and that the engagement of a specific expert or consultant introduces a biased approach to water management. To alleviate these limitations, experts and consultants should have a readily accessible collection of analysis and project management methods at their disposal, coupled with guidelines for combining these methods to best approach a water management project. In this paper we propose a taxonomy for classifying methods used in water management. Using this taxonomy, we derive a Project Management Specification Model (PMSM) to help experts select, combine, and operationalize methods to match best the requirements posed by a project. The taxonomy and PMSM were derived and validated by analyzing more than 90 methods together with experts in the field of water management, and by using them within two new project proposals made by an engineering company. We could conclude that PMSM's broad view on water management helps experts and consultants choose flexible analysis and project management approaches, and that it increases the involvement of, and acceptance by, all parties involved in water management.