PMWT Editorial - August 2006

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David Pells, Editor PM Forum


Continuity or Change - The Dilemma of New Managers

Some of the most common, important, and difficult challenges faced by those assigned to managing an existing project or to a new leadership role in an existing organization are what to change, when and how.  Some executives embrace the philosophy of maximum changes as soon as possible in order to have the greatest impact on employees and customers.  This is common in the “turnaround” business, where new management comes in to solve problems or to “save the project”.  In cases where the project or organization is generally working well, new leaders often maintain existing policies and practices in order to avoid disruption and to reassure stakeholders.

As this is my first editorial since assuming the role of managing editor of PM World Today, I find myself facing this question and addressing those common issues.  So what are the steps that one takes when assuming the role of new PM?  I suggest the following:  introduce yourself and your credentials; explain the reason for the change; demonstrate an understanding of current conditions; confirm the vision and mission of the enterprise; outline plans, both near term and in the future; set some objectives and expectations; challenge the team and offer encouragement; and try to boost morale.  Now I would like to address these same issues in the context of my new responsibilities as editor of this publication and of www.pmforum.org.

Though many of you may know me, I assume that most of you do not.  So let me introduce myself.  I was born and raised in one of the most picturesque places in North America, on the Long Beach Peninsula on the Pacific coast of Washington State in the Northwestern United States.  The son of a school teacher, I received an undergraduate degree in business from the University of Washington in Seattle, after which I started my professional career at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL), now known as the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in Eastern Idaho in the mid-1970s.  My first professional responsibilities included project cost control, planner/scheduler and project change control, on the largest project underway at the time within the Energy Research & Development Agency (ERDA – the predecessor of today’s US Department of Energy, DOE).  The project was the Loss of Fluid Test (LOFT) project to design, build and operate a nuclear test reactor in the Idaho desert to study the prevention, effects and mitigation of a rapid loss of fluid on a reactor core.  It was one of the first large energy projects to have earned value management and reporting requirements.  So I learned the benefits of earned value from the very beginning. 

In 1980 I went to work for GTE in Mountain View, California where I became a project controls analyst in a division that developed electronic systems for the US Department of Defense (DoD).  This was an organization where full blown cost/schedule control systems criteria (C/SCSC) implementation was required, where GTE had to undergo a system “validation”, and where I helped implement a fully validated earned value management system (EVMS) that met DoD specifications.  In 1981, I went looking for a professional society related to my profession and found the Project Management Institute (PMI), which I immediately joined.  I started attending PMI chapter meetings in San Francisco.  At the end of 1981, I changed companies and positions again, going to work for Raymond Kaiser Engineers in Oakland, California, where a number of senior executives were active in the Northern California PMI chapter.  Rather than focus on cost or schedule control, I became more interested in project management.  Although I was considered a “cost engineer” at Kaiser, I was working for one of the world’s largest engineering and construction companies with projects all over the world.  It was exhilarating.  Kaiser had mature project management systems, training and practices, and a project management team assigned to every project. 

In 1980 I returned to Southeastern Idaho, and to EG&G, the company that managed the INEL for the US DOE.  I brought some EVMS and PM expertise this time, so I was assigned to developing a company-wide project management upgrade iniative to improve the planning and management of the hundreds of research, engineering, technology, construction and systems-related projects at the INEL.  Since there was no PMI chapter in Idaho at that time, I co-sponsored the formation of one and became the first president of the Eastern Idaho chapter of PMI.  We received our charter at PMI’87 in Milwaukee, my first international PM conference.  I became active in PMI at that time, while also earning a masters degree in business from Idaho State University.  I took PMI’s new exam and earned my PMP at PMI’88 in San Francisco. (long before there were any PMP training classes available, by the way.)

In 1990, I had the opportunity to transfer to Texas as part of the mobilization team on the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) project near Dallas.  I became the first manager of project management systems at the new SSC Laboratory, the all-new national lab established by DOE.  In 1990, I also presented papers at the INTERNET’90 World Congress in Vienna and the PMI’90 Seminars/Symposium in Calgary.  At PMI’90, I joined a group of PMI members who responded to a challenge by Frank King to help address the world’s environmental problems.  We formed a “Project Earth” group that morphed into PMI’s first SIG.

Amazingly, in early 1991 I was offered the presidency of the Dallas/Ft. Worth chapter of PMI, a chapter that was in disarray leading up to the PMI’91 Seminars/Symposium scheduled to be held in Dallas in October that year.  I served as chapter president for three years, successfully hosted PMI’91, led the formation of PMI’s first specific interest group (the Project Earth SIG that later became the EnviroSIG), became PMI’s liaison to the Russian Project Management Association (SOVNET), attended various PMI meetings, and participated on several PMI committees.  In 1992, I became an independent PM consultant and started traveling around the former Soviet Union with trips to Ukraine and Russia.  During the 1990’s I presented papers at PM conferences in Austria, Canada, France, Italy, Norway, Russia, South Africa and the United States.

I was elected to the PMI board of directors as Vice President Public Relations in 1994 and served on the PMI board during 1995-1997.  In 1995, I sponsored the first Global PM Forum at PMI’95 in New Orleans, an initiative that continued through last year where leaders of PM associations around the world were invited to meet and discuss such issues as PM standards, education, certifications and the PM profession in general.  I had the opportunity to meet and become friends with many of the world’s leaders in the PM profession.  It was a busy time in my life, and very rewarding.  In 1998 I was honored to win PMI’s Person of the Year Award and in 1999 was voted a Fellow of the Institute.

During 1993-1997, I was engaged in international consulting, traveling around Russia and representing a Texas engineering firm on projects to develop new water and wastewater treatment plants.  I began to learn something about project finance and international financing agencies such as the World Bank, IFC, EBRD and other multilateral financing institutions.  From 1997-2000, I consulted on large transit programs in Dallas and Seattle.  From 2001-2003 I became a director and vice president for a system-on-chip technology firm in north Texas, and in 2004 I formed iWorld Projects & Systems, Inc., now a public business development company focused on project management.  During 2002, I again served on the PMI board of directors for six months, filling a vacancy at the request of the board.

So that is my background, primarily 30 years’ PM-related experience on a wide variety of projects in several industries, and on projects ranging from a few thousand dollars to the $10 billion SSC in Texas (which was cancelled by the US Congress in 1993).  I have been active in PMI and the PM profession for over 20 years, and have experience preparing and presenting papers, courses and workshops on project management.  I have some editorial experience, but not enough to claim significant editorial qualifications.  So this is my big chance.  I hope you will bear with me while I learn the ropes.  Nevertheless, I have a decent understanding of the world of project management, and I have a network of professional friends and colleagues who can probably answer any question related to PM that might ever arise.  So I have some confidence.

I also want to introduce my new partner in this venture, Mr. Nelson Soucek, an artist and musician at heart and a graphic design and internet technologist consultant by profession who has assumed the duties of “Webmaster” for pmforum.org.  I have known Nelson for over 30 years. He has over 28 years experience as a graphic designer, art director, creative director, communications director, and IT project manager for government, commercial, and private clients. Nelson is ensuring a nearly seamless transition for us this month.  While he has less history related to formal project management, he understands design, human interface design, computers, web based systems, and information technologies far better than I do, so he will hopefully keep me from screwing things up.  In any case, I am excited and happy to be working with him again.  You can learn more about Nelson at his personal website, www.liberalpalette.com.

I have assumed the managing editor role with a commitment to the vision of both David Curling and Hugh Woodward, to continue shaping and growing www.pmforum.org into a significant online PM news and information portal.  I may be managing editor on an interim basis or for a longer period of time, but for now, I am fully committed to adding value to both PM World Today and www.pmforum.org

With respect to the mission of the enterprise, when we took over the website we wanted to build on what David Curling had achieved, to create a robust PM portal serving the professional world of project management.  But there are other such PM portals in the world now, so what could we do with pmforum.org?  Over the course of 2005, with Hugh’s interest in staying in tune with PM in various parts of the world and with his frequent invitations to speak at PM conferences worldwide, it occurred to us that there is no real concentrated source of PM news.  Our goal became the creation of the World’s leading source of Project Management News and Information, a new PM media organization.  With the monthly publication of PM World Today, I can now state our mission as follows:

As it turns out, David Curling’s original vision was perfect – To Connect the World of Project Management.  We hope to be a true resource for the PM world.

Now the hard part – what are my plans?  What will change and what will continue?  I believe both www.pmforum.org and PM World Today are successful and popular.  With traffic continuing to increase (to over 150,000 visitors/month) and distribution of PM World Today increasing to over 4,000 email addresses each month, something seems to be right.  So I do not plan to make significant changes in the near future. 

But I do have some personal interests, so I hope to see more discussion of the following topics in future issues of PM World Today:

In particular, I would like to engage younger people in the professional PM world.  In that context, we want to publish more student papers in PM World Today, and to connect to more universities and professors to offer their students opportunities to publish and connect with the “world of project management”.

From an operational perspective, we will also focus on the following two matters in the future:

I am excited about the potential for PM World Today and www.pmforum.org.  I am excited to be the Managing Editor, and to be personally connecting with so many talented project management professionals who contribute case studies, papers, viewpoints, news and information on a regular basis.  I am excited to be fully connected to the PM professional world again.  And I am thrilled to be learning so much every day in the process, and from all the wonderful contributors who contact editor@pmforum.org. 

I want to conclude my first editorial as managing editor of PM World Today with a statement of gratitude for the hard work and professionalism of Hugh Woodward, who stepped down from this position on July 14, 2006, and for that of Mickie Vest, the pmforum.org webmaster for the past 18 months.  Over the last two years, Hugh brought a passion for and understanding of project management to PMForum.org that few others could match.  His artistic, editorial and technical contributions were reflected throughout the design and contents of www.pmforum.org and PM World Today.  I believe Hugh’s contributions to the project management professional community have been significant, and we are fortunate to have a number of those contributions captured in editorials and articles on www.pmforum.org.  And Mickie helped translate Hugh’s passion and expertise into beautiful end products on a daily and monthly basis.  We at pmforum.org and iWorld are grateful for those contributions and we hope that they will both contribute to PM World Today and www.pmforum.org in the future.

One last point – please note that we have decided to skip the July edition of PM World Today, so this one is labeled the August issue.  We now plan to publish the PM World Today at the beginning of each month.  We want to be forward thinking, offering those in the world of project management news, information and resources that can be used tomorrow.

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Editorial Policy: The PMFORUM® has no connection to any national or international project management organization nor does it reflect the policy of any project management professional or commercial organization. The PMFORUM® maintains an objective and impartial view of project management affairs. In the interests of advancing professional project management the PMFORUM® will publish contending and objective views on issues that reflect collegial differences and perspectives