Big data analytics and project organizing

The uncertainty, temporality, heterogeneity, and discontinuity of projects have created a perception that big data and its analytics are largely irrelevant to project organizing. However, recent developments in technological instruments and project organizing thinking provide enormous opportunities for big data analytics. We argue, and demonstrate with evidence, that project organizing is a highly big data-pertinent area. Big data is incessantly generated from project organizations, operations, networks, and broader contexts via ubiquitous sensors, easy-to-access devices, and convenient interaction means. Big data analytics can provide hidden insights for project organizing. Stakeholders should see a virtuous circle; they need invest initial resources but the long-term sustainability will depend on the perceivable values instigated by big data analytics. Meanwhile, the classic dilemmas in big data analytics, e.g., ownership and liability, availability and legitimacy, open sharing and protection in silos, and big data ethics, must be resolved in the heterogeneous project organizing context.