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Profile: Julien Pollack  

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Associate Professor Julien Pollack started working in project management in the Australian public sector delivering organizational change projects, where he completed an Action Research Ph.D. This research won national and international awards. Following this, he managed telecommunications and heavy engineering projects, before taking an academic position in 2011 to teach project management. He joined the University of Sydney in 2016. His research has focused on two broad themes: trends in project management research; and developing project management practice to meet the needs of projects that cannot be pre-defined in simple and stable terms. He has successively drawn on systems thinking, complexity theory, and change management to address this latter area of research, particularly focusing on the delivery of organisational change projects. His research in these areas has been frequently published in the leading project management journals and research conferences. 

Publications

Book Chapters 

  • Pollack, J., Matous, P. (2019). Team-building exercises can be a waste of time. You achieve more by getting personal. In John Watson (Eds.), The Conversation Yearbook 2019, (pp. 91-95). Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. 
  • Pollack, J. (2017). Change Management as an Organizational and Project Capability. In Shankar Sankaran, Ralf Muller, Nathalie Drouin (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Organizational Project Management, (pp. 236-249). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [More Information] 
  • Clegg, S., Sankaran, S., Biesenthal, C., Pollack, J. (2017). Power and Sensemaking in Megaprojects. In Bent Flyvbjerg (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management, (pp. 238-258). Oxford: Oxford University Press. [More Information] 

Journals 

  • Matous, P., Pollack, J., Helm, J. (2021). Collecting experimental network data from interventions on critical links in workplace networks. Social Networks, 66, 72-90. [More Information] 
  • Klakegg, O., Pollack, J., Crawford, L. (2021). Preparing for successful collaborative contracts. Sustainability, 13(1), 1-18. [More Information] 
  • Whiteley, A., Pollack, J., Matous, P. (2021). The origins of . agile and iterative methods. Journal of Modern Project Management, 8(3), 21-29. [More Information] 

Other publications

Books 

  • Remington, K. & Pollack J. (2007) Tools for Complex Projects, Aldershot, UK, Gower Publishing. 

Journal Articles 

  • Pollack, J. (2009) Multimethodology in series and parallel: strategic planning using hard and soft OR. Journal of the Operational Research Society. 60: 156-167. 
  • Crawford, L. and Pollack, J. (2008) Developing a basis for global reciprocity: Negotiating between the many standards for Project Management. International Journal of IT Standards and Standardization Research. 6(1): 70-84, DOI: 10.4018/jitsr.2008010104 
  • Pollack, J. (2007) The changing paradigms of project management. International Journal of Project Management, 25(3): 266-274, DOI:10.1016/j.ijproman.2006.08.002 
  • Crawford, L. and Pollack, J. (2007) How generic are project management knowledge and practice? Project Management Journal, 38(1): 87-96. 
  • Crawford, L., Pollack, J. and England, D. (2007) How standard are standards: An examination of language emphasis in project management standards. Project Management Journal. 38(3): 6-21, DOI:10.1002/pmj.20002 
  • Pollack, J. (2006) Pyramids or Silos: Alternative Representations of the Systems Thinking Paradigms. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 19(4): 383-398, DOI: 10.1007/s11213-006-9025-5 
  • Crawford, L., Pollack, J. and England, D. (2006) Uncovering the trends in project management: journal emphases over the last 10 years, International Journal of Project Management. 24 (2): 175-184, DOI:10.1016/j.ijproman.2005.10.005 
  • Crawford, L. and Pollack, J. (2004) Hard and soft projects: a framework for analysis, International Journal of Project Management, 22(8): 645-653, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2004.04.004 
  • Crawford, L., Costello, K., Pollack, J. and Bentley, L. (2003) Managing soft change projects in the public sector, International Journal of Project Management, 21(6): 443-448, DOI:10.1016/S0263-7863(02)00099-6 
  • Pollack, J. (2003) Project Managing IS / IT Development: The practical combination of different methods and methodologies, Australian Institute of Project Management Journal, p. 14. 

Book Chapters 

  • Crawford, L. and Pollack, J. (2009) Developing a basis for global reciprocity: Negotiating between the many standards for Project Management. In Kelley, G. (Ed.) Selected Readings on Information Technology Management: Contemporary Issues, IGI Press, pp. 307-322. ISBN10: 1605660922 
  • Costello, K., Crawford, L., Bentley, L. and Pollack, J. (2002) Connecting Soft Systems Thinking with Project Management Practice: An Organizational Change Case Study. In Ragsdell, G., West, D. & Wilby, J. (eds.) Systems Theory and Practice in the Knowledge Age,New York: Kluwer Academic/Plunum Publishers, p. 47-54. 

Conference Papers 

  • Remington, K. and Pollack, J., (2008) Are there Special Tools for Complex Projects? IPMA Roma Conference, November 2008. 
  • Remington, K. and Pollack, J., (2008) Complex Projects: What are they and how can we manage them more effectively? AIPM National Conference, October 2008. 
  • Remington, K. and Pollack, J., (2008) Tools for Complex Projects, APM Edinburgh Chapter, Professional Development Seminar, January 2008. 
  • Remington, K. and Pollack, J., (2007) Visualising Organisational and Institutional Change in Emergent Systems: Controlling the Uncontrollable. ICAN Conference, Sydney, 2007. 
  • Remington, K., Paul, D. and Pollack, J., (2006) Projects or Programs? Characteristics of Complex Projects, IQPQC Conference, Sydney. February, 2006 
  • Remington, K. and Pollack, J. (2006) Complex infrastructure projects: a systemic model for management. 12th ANZSYS Conference, Katoomba, 3-6 December, 2006. 
  • Pollack, J., Costello, K., Crawford, L. and Bentley, L. (2006) Systems of information and the development of project management competence. IRNOP VII Project Management conference, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China, 11-13 October, 2006. In Ou, L. and Turner, R. (Eds.) Proceedings of IRNOP VII Project Management Conference. Publishing House of Electronics Industry: Beijing. ISBN 7-121-03252-X. pp. 265-276. 
  • Crawford, L., Pollack, J. and Costello, K. (2005) Hard and soft projects in the NSW public sector. 11th ANZSYS Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand, 5-7 December, 2005. In Richardson, K., Gregory, W. & Midgley, G. (eds.) (2005) Proceedings of the 11th Annual ANZSYS Conference / Managing the Complex V, ISBN 0976681447. 
  • Pollack, J. (2005) Is project management in the verge of a paradigm shift? PM Tage Conference, Vienna, Austria, 23-25 June, 2005. 
  • Costello, K., Crawford, L., Pollack, J. and Bentley, L. (2002) Soft Systems Project Management for Organisational Change. IRNOP V Conference, Zeeland, Netherlands, 28-31 May. 
  • Remington, K. and Pollack, J. (2002) Stakeholder Management for Project Success, IPMA Conference Proceedings: Making the Vision Work, Berlin 4-6 June. 
  • Remington, K. and Pollack, J. (2001) Collaboration for Project Success, PMI Conference, Wellington, NZ, 24-26 October. 

In the media – Let’s get flexible. 
Julien Pollack believes there’s a better way to manage projects that doesn’t involve meticulous planning. 

Conferences

  • Whiteley, A., Pollack, J., Matous, P. (2019). A Structured Review of the History of Agile Methods and Iterative Approached to Management. 79th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AOM) 2019, Boston, United States: Academy of Management. [More Information] 
  • Fahri, J., Pollack, J., Kolar, D. (2019). Identifying Success Criteria at the Post-handover Stages for ID Projects. Project Management Institute Australia Conference (PMIAC 2019), Gold Coast: Project Management Institute (PMI). 
  • Matous, P., Pollack, J., Helm, J. (2018). “F**k off” and Other Responses: Measuring and Manipulating Valued Networks to Improve a Difficult Workplace. WORKSHOP ON EMPIRICAL NETWORK DATA COLLECTION IN SOCIAL NETWORKS, Oxford, UK: University of Oxford.