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Editor's Perspective on the October 2006 PM World Today



David Pells, Managing Editor PM Forum

Welcome to the October issue of PM World Today.  This month’s issue contains more content, more topics, more authors than every before.  This e-Journal is growing and we could not be happier.  Please read the articles this month, visit the biographies of the authors, and support our sponsors.  We are not only trying to provide value to the World of Project Management, but also provide more visibility to professional PM leaders and organizations worldwide.

This month’s Editorial addresses the general topic of Project Management Research.   Based on the broad model for the “World of Project Management” that was presented in the September PM World Today editorial , this month I explore element one of that model, PM R&D.  But what do we mean by “research” in the first place?  While I have tried not to offend academic and professional researchers, in “Project Management Research – What?”, I provide some thoughts on where we are today and what additional research might be useful.  I think this is an important topic that deserves more attention.  I hope to receive some feedback on this article in the weeks ahead.

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In fact, we have received some important “Letters to the Editor” this last month, which are included in this issue.  Russ Archibald, Jerry Ball, Eric Jenett, and Max Wideman all sent comments on the proposed Model for the World of Project Management that was presented last month. My Editor's response is also included.  We also received some interesting emails related to a new student-based PM society in Nigeria and on “Killing White Elephants”, which refers to killing projects, not endangered species in Africa.

We are happy to include four Viewpoints articles this month, from some of the leading authorities in the world of professional project management.  Dr. Davidson Frame suggests the “Future Ascendancy of Online Journals for Publishing PM Research”.   Rebecca Winston, past chair of PMI, discusses “Risk management for R&D projects – why bother?”, based on her experience working on R&D projects for the US government.  Professor Christophe Bredillet at ESC Lille in France responded to questions related to “Trends & Directions in PM Research Today”, while Professor Vladimir Voropajev in Moscow also suggests “Some Necessary Directions for PM Research.” They have provided very interesting perspectives on important issues in the PM world.

Featured Papers this month contain a mix of academic, entertaining and professional articles on various project management issues.  Bas de Baar addresses an often overlooked but important issue in his paper “Using Stakeholder Analysis in Software Project Management.”  Mr. de Baar, the author of the recently published book “Surprise!  Now you’re a Software Project Manager!” published by Multi-Media Publications in Canada, draws on his experience from the publishing industry.

Rob Zanfardino entertains and educates us in his article “Don’t Buy any Green Bananas!”  While he draws on the unpleasant parallel of considering one’s own finite life span, his “lesson” related to how to end unsuccessful projects should be considered seriously.  At the same time, he also suggests some issues associated with terminating all projects.  There should always be a time to stop!

A serious technical paper is included by Professors Yan D. Gelrud and Vladimir I. Voropajev in Russia, entitled “Cyclic Stochastic Alternative Network Models for Project Management.  We agree with these researchers that scheduling and network modeling development is not yet complete, and as computing technology continues to evolve more sophisticated alternatives are worth considering.

I am happy to include a first contribution by Mr. Florin Gheorgiu in Romania, whose paper “Why Companies Fail on the Way to Implementing Project Management Methodology” contains some very useful insights.  While he may be talking from his perspective in Romania, I have seen similar problems in organizations and on projects in the USA.  So I agree with Florin and thank him for this interesting paper.

In “Churchill the Project Manager, Part 5”, Mark Kozak-Holland continues to entertain us with his portrait of Winston Churchill as a project manager during World War II.  In this latest installment, Mr. Kozak-Holland continues to draw examples from Churchill’s leadership during the War that might be useful to project managers and executives today.

We offer three interesting articles under PM Tips & Techniques in this issue.  Curt Finch provides another useful suggestion in his article “How to increase profitability with project accounting.”  Curt’s suggestions seem common sense, yet we sometimes need to be reminded that accounting and accountability are always important.  Daniel Galorath provides another short but useful article on “Project Reporting – Risks vs Problems”, explaining that they are not the same and care should be taken with how they are reported.  Rob Posener in Sydney contributes some suggestions in “Managing People’s Thresholds of Pain”, pointed and useful insights for program and project managers in most organizations.

We include three “Regional Reports” this month, from pmforum.org “International Correspondents” in Argentina, Brazil and Australia.  We launched the pmforum.org “Global Correspondents Network” on August 9, with four international correspondents announced since then.  Those correspondents in Argentina, Australia, Brazil and the UK are now sending us PM-related news, which you will see in various sections of this issue of PM World Today.  Each month we will also include short briefs from those correspondents on the state of PM in their cities, regions or countries.  This month we feature the following:

In the future, we will add reports from correspondents from more cities and countries around the world, as pmforum.org expands it global coverage.

The balance of this month’s PM World Today features news, announcements, information and stories that have recently been featured as breaking news articles on www.pmforum.org.  We hope the organization of this information in the following categories is helpful;

Of particular importance to us at pmforum.org, we launched a new program in early September, the formation of a Global PM Advisory Panel for www.pmforum.org. During September, we then introduced four new Global Advisors for pmforum.org, Russ Archibald in Mexico, Marcio Prieto in Brazil, Max Wideman in Canada, and Gilles Caupin in France. These men are all very well known former leaders from some of the world's leading PM associations. This is an exciting and important development for us and for the World of Project Management and I want to again welcome them to the PMForum team. We will be announcing others who join this program in the months ahead.

We want to also welcome a new sponsor this month with the addition of Method123. Click on their banner and visit their website for some exciting PM products, publications and services.  I want to thank the International Project Management Association (IPMA) for their continued sponsorship of this e-Journal.   Sponsors of PM World Today get a banner and publicity in the PM World Today e-Journal that is emailed to over 5,000 professionals worldwide and an ad on the PM World Today home page.  If your organization is interested in sponsoring an issue of PM World Today please contact editor@pmforum.org.

As you may have noticed, we are expanding the www.pmforum.org website and PM World Today.  We are also engaged in a continuous improvement process, so you will see some design changes in the weeks ahead.  We are interested in reader comments and suggestions, so please contact me at editor@pmforum.org, or make your comments known to the World of PM in a Letter to the Editor. 

Thank you for your subscription, and for reading the articles submitted by our authors and contributors.  We are excited about the future of this online publication.  Please send this to a friend or sign them up for a subscription to PM World Today.  We really are “Connecting the World of Project Management.” 

David L. Pells
Managing Editor
PM World Today
editor@pmforum.org
www.pmforum.org



Each Issue of the PM World Today has a PM Perspective Section which is the Editor's Foreword and Observations on the contents of the particular Issue. That is, the Editor describes his choice of highlights of the Issue and provides a personal comment on the PM World Today.

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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