PMFORUM Breaking News

Reported by Rob Posener in London

The APM 2007 Project Management Conference opened in London on Tuesday, 30 October. In no particular order, and without comment, the following quotations by conference participants are presented for your entertainment.

1. Its great to see that project managers can organise an event in a brewery


2. Project management is the fastest growing profession the UK has ever seen


3. Project management is about getting from “State A” to “State B”


4. The rest of management is the management of no change


5. Most project managers are interesting and nice people


6. There are no new causes of project failure, but very little learning from experience


7. 40% of global GDP is spent on projects


8. Projects get stuff done


9. I like “global domination”… its my favourite 2 words


10. Where project governance improves, project management improves


11. People management is at the heart of project management


12. Teamwork doesn’t work (unless there truly is just a single objective)


13. Collaboration does work (built on dialogue, realisation, acknowledgement and trust)


14. Plan for failure – how to handle the difficult times


15. For a project to be considered a success, we need to deal with the people issues


16. Working on mega projects can be like being Alice in Wonderland


17. Continuity of the project manager on a project is very important to sustain


18. We need to re-invent project management with people at the centre


19. Harnessing differences and diversity requires a huge amount of effort


20. We project managers have lost the art of fire-side chats and shooting the breeze


21. We need to invest the time to understand our team/people


22. Leadership skills are vastly different to management skills


23. There’s never time to do it right, but always time to do it again


24. The fact that project cost is directly linked to project scope is generally not understood at the Board, senior executive and project sponsor level


25. The project sponsor is often the weakest link


26. Assigning an inexperienced project manager to a big project is like giving a learner driver the keys to your Ferrari


27. Assigning an experienced project manager with a good track record, has been found to be the most important factor in achieving project success


28. Expectations are continually rising


29. Success = Delivering Change = Managing Projects


30. One of the roles of the project manager is to enable the real change leader to manage change


31. Investing in people is more important than investing in process


32. A project manager’s reputation is NOT based on the success of their last project


33. The project manager, project sponsor and change manager create a holy trinity that is required to deliver a project’s benefits


34. Experienced project managers are usually grumpy old men


35. Sustainability is doing more with less


36. No one will “go frugal” ever again, we like our comforts too much

The APM 2007 Project Management Conference - The Business of Projects – is being held at The Brewery Conference Centre in London during 30-31 October 2007. The first such event for the association in its 35-year history, the 2007 conference is focused on project management “issues of national importance” in the UK. For more information, visit www.apm.org.uk/conference.asp.

The Association for Project Management (APM) is the national body for professional project management in the United Kingdom (UK). With over 15,000 individual and 390 corporate members, APM is one of the largest organisations of its kind in Europe. The organisation develops and promotes project management across all sectors of industry and beyond. APM 's mission is: "To develop and promote the professional disciplines of project and programme management for the public benefit." At the heart of the association is the APM Body of Knowledge; containing fifty-two knowledge areas required to manage any successful project. APM promotes the use of the APM Body of Knowledge through qualifications, accredited training, research, publications and events. APM is the UK member of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). With headquarters in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, APM has twelve regional branches throughout the UK and one in Hong Kong. Additional information can be found at www.apm.org.uk.

Editor’s note: We are happy to note that PMForum correspondent Rob Posener has been enjoying the APM conference in London. Rob lives near Sydney in Australia, but has been in the UK this month, enjoying the weather, family and professional networking opportunities.

Robert Posener International Correspondent Australia Mr. Robert Posener is an International Correspondent for www.pmforum.org in Sydney, Australia. Mr. Posener is also founder and Managing Director of PMComplete Pty Ltd, a project management professional services company in Australia. For the last 30 years, Robert has managed projects for computer hardware, software and technology companies in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Hong Kong and USA. Rob can be reached at robert.posener@pmcomplete.com.au. More information about Robert Posener can be found at www.pmforum.org/pm forum team/index.htm#Posener.