January - February 2005
Latest Publications and Newsletters
Words are not living creatures; they cannot breathe, nor walk, nor become fond of one another. Yet, like the human beings they are destined to serve, they can lead unique lives. A word may be born into a language with just one meaning, but as it grows up, it may acquire new meaning that are related but nevertheless distinct..." Edward Lorenze - The Essence of Chaos
"It just boggles the mind how you can take a perfectly good term, often out of context, redefine it, quote some source who may or not be speaking about project management, indeed may or may not know much about project management, quote that source as authoritative, and build a whole industry on it"....Max Wideman
New Project Management Book by Max Wideman: A Management Framework for Project, Program and Portfolio Integration
Welcome
to the exciting world of project management! Whatever size or type of project
you work on, this handbook presents fascinating insights into the expectations,
processes and satisfaction of managing projects successfully.
With simplicity in mind, A Management Framework for Project, Program and Portfolio Integration tackles the complex and sometimes intimidating environment of projects. Only if you understand project management can you do it right. Therefore the contents are illustrated with copious graphic illustrations and bullet lists that should meet the needs of senior management searching for a quick understanding of the major issues down to the student studying the subject for the first time.
This second edition is based on my over forty years experience and provides an in-depth understanding of project, program and portfolio management and is designed to satisfy the needs from the top executive to the junior practitioner.
A Management Framework for Project, Program and Portfolio Integration (2004; 260 pp; ISBN 1-4120-2786-1) is now available for purchase. This book updates and expands on my original well-established book A FRAMEWORK for Project and Program Management INTEGRATION published in 1991. For more on this latest version see content details, or to place an order, see ordering information.
Max Wideman
Email:
max_wideman@sfu.ca
Web: http://www.maxwideman.com
Butterworth Heinemann New PM Book Press Release: Management of Knowledge in Project Environments
"Management of Knowledge in Project Environments" has been recently published by Butterworth Heinemann (an imprint of Elsevier).
Management of Knowledge in Project Environments is a major contribution to effective project work. In an excellent manner the chapters broaden the perspectives for project work from traditional information considerations to more important knowledge-related processes. A persistent problem in project work has always been the alignment of execution to the project's intent and purpose. This book recognizes the execution problem for what it is -- a "Knowledge Problem". The editors and chapter authors provide excellent and well-founded knowledge management approaches for practitioners to manage individual projects as well as building expertise from project to project.
"In today's business environment project work becomes more prevalent and therefore the need for more effective project work is more important than ever. This book provides an important tool for anyone who wishes to conduct effective project work in the knowledge era." Karl M. Wiig, Chairman, Knowledge Research Institute, Inc.
"Management of Knowledge in Project Environments is a rich and comprehensive look at how the worlds of Knowledge Management and Project Management intersect. A must read for those who are project managers, or aspiring to be one. I especially like how the authors bring in relevant projects to make their points." Michael Stankosky, D.Sc., Associate Professor of Systems Engineering and Lead Professor of Knowledge Management, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
Email:
c.lawlor@elsevier.com
Website: http://books.elsevier.com/knowledgemanagement/
KMWorld "Best Practices" White Paper Series
The following Best Practices in Knowledge Management can be read on the Knowledge Management Web Site.
2005 White Papers — Best Practices in ... 2004 White Papers — Best Practices in ... 2003 White Papers — Best Practices in ... 2002 White Papers — Best Practices in ... |
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First Russian Professional Project Magazine
Published in November 2004
The
Russian-speaking project management community passed a significant milestone
in November 2004 with the publication in Russian by the PMI Moscow Chapter
of the first issue of a new quarterly professional journal, according to Alexey
Bazhenov, Chapter President. This 64 page, glossy, full-color publication,
with advertising support by major software and consulting companies, contains
the following regular features:
INPUT - Keynote article: Issue No. 1 presents part 1 of "State of the Art in Project Management" by Russell D. Archibald, PMP, Fellow PMI and APM/IPMA.
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES - "practical" and "theoretical" part of the journal. Issue No. 1 features:
- "Project Management by Trends of Success" by Vladimir Liberzon, PMP, Spider Management Technologies, General Director
- "Project Management Systems in Construction Companies" by Valery Vyazovoy, analytical team manager, Engineering and Construction Company.
- "Project Excellence" Model: Searching for Perfection", by Alexey Polkovnikov, TEKORA, Managing Partner
GLOBAL COMMUNITY - present past and future events from project management world (conferences, congresses, seminars). Additionally, this will include articles about some hot issues or questions that could be of interest to Russian and the global project management community. Issue No. 1 includes:
- Events Calendar
- Globalization in Full Action: PMI Global Congress, Prague 2004
- Project Management Triumph in Arabian Desert (editor's article devoted to Israel Chapter conference, Tel Aviv 2004)
- Standards in Project Management (editor's article about Moscow FOSTAS conference, 2004)
PROJECTS AND PEOPLE - articles about psychological and organizational aspects of project management and people involved in projects, with interviews with interesting people. Issue No. 1 features Harvey A. Levine with "How to Stimulate Initiative and Innovation in Any Organization: Part One: Combating Lack of Trust, Segmentalization, and Aversion to Risk".
BENCHMARKING - best practices from leading companies. Issue No. 1 presents the article "Program Management: Linking Business Strategy to Product and IT Development" by Russ Martinelli (Intel Corporation) and Jim Waddell (Tektronix, Inc.).
ANALYZING RESULTS - real issues and cases descriptions with analysis, lessons learned, completed projects, terminated projects - analyzing reasons of failures or successes of the projects - local and global issues. Issue No. 1 features Vladimir Ananyin and Alexander Shishkin with the article "Contractual approach to Project Management".
The new journal's Editorial Board consists of Oleg Tumasov, PMP, Editor; Alexey Bazhenov; Dr. Vladimir Liberzon, PMP; Russell Archibald, PMP, PMI Fellow; Edward Fern, PMP; and Hugh Woodward, PMP. The literal translation of the Russian name of this journal is "Project Management", and as the above contents indicate this is not intended to be another academic journal of interest only to researchers and professors, but rather the primary audience is the large number of project management practitioners, consultants, teachers and trainers throughout all of the Russian-speaking countries of the Commonwealth of the Independent States/CIS, which includes former Soviet member republics with total Russian-speaking population in these countries of more than 260 million people.
Editor Oleg Tumasov will welcome contributions for consideration for publication. His email contact is info@pmmagazine.ru.
Alexey Bazhenov
President, The Moscow PMI Chapter
http://www.pmi.ru
Room For Improvement
Observations by Max Wideman on a recent PriceWaterhouseCoopers Report on the state of project management
A recent and significant report on the current state of project management around the world has recently been released by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Belgium. With all the talk these days about project portfolio management and project management maturity levels, the report's authors, Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez and Daniel Evrard, set out to determine whether a higher maturity level would go hand in hand with a higher project performance level. According to PwC, the successful organization is one that employs project management as a strategic tool to respond to a changing environment of competitive, economic, technological, political, legal and cultural challenges. Or do they?
The report is based on data gathered via a web-based quantitative survey consisting of fifty closed questions to which 200 companies from around the world responded. These companies represented a total of 3,488 project or program managers or directors handling around 10,600 projects worth an estimated $4.5 US billion per year. The companies represented five continents but the majority was from Europe (44%) and the Americas (35%).
However, the survey did not include any face-to-face interviews nor, it seems, were the responses followed up to verify the quality of the data received. So the subjective self-assessment of "success" may be somewhat suspect. Still, in the absence of data to the contrary, some of the findings are quite remarkable.
From the data collected, two essential indexes were calculated for purposes of the analysis: Maturity level and project management performance. Maturity level was calculated by combining the answers to thirty-three of the survey questions. However, project management performance was computed by aggregating elements of individual performance measured as a percentage of projects delivered on time, within budget, to scope and that delivered business benefits. Presumably the issue of quality of the products was factored into the business benefits. Even so, business benefits are not always immediately measurable, may be subject to optimistic forecasting, and seem to have been treated lightly.
To aggregate these indices by industry sector, the authors chose the following groupings: Consumer and Industrial Products and Service (CIPS) which includes: Automotive, Energy, Manufacturing, Retail and Professional Services and represented by 53% of those surveyed. Financial Services (FS) representing 17% Technology, Information, Communication and Entertainment representing 16% Public Sector (PS) representing 8%, and Pharmaceuticals (Pharma) representing 6%
The criteria for these groupings are not reported and one should certainly look for similarities in the work involved. On this basis the inclusion of professional services in CIPS comes as a surprise when FS would appear more akin. Indeed, some of the findings reported suggest that it is misplaced in that the degree of projectization of these companies was much higher than the remainder.
Observations and key findings
From the data provided in the report we learn that:
26% of the companies surveyed run more than 100 projects yearly, but the across-the-board
average is 53 projects per company per year
The average project size is around $450,000, i.e. under half a million
The average number of project or program managers or directors per company
is 17 although 48% of them had fewer than 5
On average each such manager runs just over three projects annually
The main reason for the projects are to implement IT Change initiatives, e.g.
package implementation, new technologies, major upgrades, or outsourcing,
representing 73% of the cases
The key findings of the report are:
1.Not surprisingly, a higher project management maturity will in most cases deliver superior performance
2.The current overall maturity level is at 2.5 representing Informal Processes and is probably the main reason why so many projects are unsuccessful
3.More than half the companies surveyed (60%) were not satisfied with their current maturity level
4.Top and senior management frequently blame project managers for poor results when the causes were beyond the project manager's direct control
5.The company's organizational structure has a big influence on overall project performance
6.The optimal organizational structure is determined by the company's business objectives
7.Investing in staff development does increase project performance
8.Project management certification of staff does pay off
9.Organizations that apply "change management" outperform the rest. By change management the authors mean: communication, stakeholder engagement, concern for organizational culture, demonstration of leadership, and so on. The authors probably mean "stakeholder management" because in North America "change management" generally implies the formal processing and approval of changes to the project plan.
10.External resources add value to a project when employed in moderation, i.e. not exceeding 25%
11.Specialized project management software can create value but may be destructive in low maturity organizations
12.While reporting is an essential part of project management, it is time consuming and provides low added valueSome interesting and perhaps unexpected findings
1.A company cannot advance more than one maturity level at a time. This is because each improvement towards a higher level requires everyone, who is directly or indirectly involved in project activities, to change not only the way they work but also their mentality. That is to say a collective transformation of culture.
2."Project failure" is still viewed mainly in terms of bad estimates, missed deadlines and the impacts of scope changes instead of to what extent the product of the project delivered benefit to the organization notwithstanding internal project performance.
3.The highest performing companies were those having a "projectized" or "strong matrix" structure because in these circumstances the project manager has significantly more influence. On the other hand, for companies with only a small number of projects, these organizational structures may be overkill.
4.In the public sector, the most widely used structure is the "weak matrix" with accompanying lower maturity level and weaker project performance.
5.Only 8% of those surveyed had a standard staff development program, with 62% reporting rarely or never! This is quite remarkable considering that project management is all about teamwork and people.
6.Only around 13% of the companies surveyed incorporate "change management" (as defined by PwC, see Key findings #9 above). The reader may be forgiven for expecting that this should be a basic and essential part of all sound project management!
7.A level of outsourcing higher than 25% may not lead to higher project performance.
8.21% of the companies do not use any software; the lowest group being the public sector while not unexpectedly the highest is the TICE group.
Conclusion
This is a valuable report and well worth reading in full. It is clear that there is room for a lot of improvement and opportunities for project management practitioners everywhere.
More information
To obtain a copy of the full report (31 pp), go to the PwC web site at http://www.pwcglobal.com/ click on Publications, then click on PwC Publication Search and do a search for "Boosting business performance". You should get the Project Management Maturity Survey 2004 which has the full title of "Boosting Business Performance through Programme and Project Management" - A first global survey of the current state of project management maturity in organisations across the worlk where you can download a PDF copy. (Accessed 11/20/04) Alternatively, contact the authors of the survey at antonio.nieto-rodriguez@pwc.be.