Abstract
System development projects and large building construction projects are managed on the basis of QCD (=Quality, Cost, and Delivery time) by means ofa project management methodology such as PMBOK. The existing project management knowledge has been developed by system engineering and operations research, which are based on modeling the actual problems intothe conceptual model. But it is difficult to manage an innovation program, such as a large-scale scientific research program or new social system development, by QCD because at thestart of the program the actual problems cannot easily be formulatednumerically, and the outcomes of the program, such as the scale of the impact on the society, are strongly dependent on the economic situation and consumer behaviorat the end of the program. We have to make some assumptions about the future, right from the initial stage when we start to manage an innovation program.In this paper, management issues relating to innovation programs are discussed, showing the characteristics of innovation programs compared with building construction projects. From the viewpoint of bridging between social scientific theories and actual business, a particular emphasis is placed on the introduction of the soft systems methodology in action, proposed by Peter Checkland, at the initial stageof an innovation program, in addition to use of the existing project management knowledge.
