A vital contribution to the domain of project management by Peter Morris is the stressing of the importance of the early stages of a (possible) project (e.g., Morris, 1989, 1998, 2011, 2013; Morris and Hough, 1987; Morris and Jamieson, 2004). During those stages ambiguities are greatest and are interpreted at individual and group levels so that decisions and actions are taken regarding both product and process. “…in the early stages of a project things are typically complex, intangible and uncertain [ambiguous and equivocal]…Front-end management entails work on a truly wide range of subjects…all of which need to be planned, risk-assessed and organised appropriately.” ([ ] added; Morris, 2011: 6).

People construct meaning through processes that enable them to make sense of their world by interpretation of the signals (cues) which they perceive. As it is at the front-end project stages that risks, uncertainties, ambiguity, and unknowns are greatest, project definition tends to be poor (Morris, 2011). Interpretations depend on the signals (objects, artefacts, messages, events, etc.), the processes of perception and interpretation, the situation (context), and the personality of the individual. Given that the world is rather disorderly, construction of meaning involves creation of rational order to secure closer coupling (Weick, 2001). In analysing the Channel Fixed Link, Winch (2013: 729) finds that “an important feature of future-perfect strategizing is the use of artefacts as representations of the future perfect state as part of ‘designer culture’”.

From any project investment perspective, product dominates process (Flanagan and Norman, 1983). Since the interaction (interdependence relationship) between process and product, especially the project in use, remains under-investigated and not well understood (Leiringer et al., 2009), much of Morris’s (1998, 2013) work concerns the integration of projects into the broader, business context of project executions. The relationships for project executions form chains of agency which are amalgamated into networks. Understanding of self and of others in these networks is essential for effective delivery of products (projects) and (realisation) processes — in particular, concerning interactions (supported by practices and use of material artefacts) through human behaviour.