I had a dialog with my project management sustainability class and I provided the following and thought it might be of interest.
We are looking at sustainability from TWO perspectives in our program. Although sustainability refers to the long term viability in both uses of the term sustainability, two different concerns have emerged and we are addressing both of these concerns in our courses.
1. Project Management/ Stakeholder Management
I was on a PMI committee in the 1980s that was developing what became the 1st edition of the PMBOK. This was a revision of the all the earlier work into one document. I wrote a definition of project management that focused on the satisfaction of the client. The debate at the time was where project success was defined by meeting project specifications (time, cost, quality) or by client satisfaction. Project management at that time was dominated by the engineering profession and focused more on meeting specification. Today, the focused is more on meeting client satisfaction.
For a project to be deemed successful the deliverable of the project MUST meet more than the specifications and meet the long term business need that created the need for the project. This focus on the long term business need is called sustainability although you will not find this word in the glossary of index of the PMBOK. What you will find is a greater emphasis on meeting client long term goals or business goals. especially in the newest edition of the PMBOK. This is the emphasis discussed by our authors (Goleman, Pinto... ) in portfolio management.
2. Sustainability/ saving the planet
A second use of the word sustainability focuses on sustaining the earth. There is a general consensus among scientist (environmental, physicists, climatologist, anthropologist, social scientist, etc) that the carbon based economy and population growth will place so much stress on the earth's ecology that the earth will not be able to regenerate and that changes will occur in the earth's environment that will make human habitation difficult and maybe impossible.
Governments, social institutions and economic entities are all developing the means and methods to operate effectively while reducing their carbon footprint. http://www.carbontrust.com/client-services/footprinting/footprint-measurement
1. Project Management/ Stakeholder Management
I was on a PMI committee in the 1980s that was developing what became the 1st edition of the PMBOK. This was a revision of the all the earlier work into one document. I wrote a definition of project management that focused on the satisfaction of the client. The debate at the time was where project success was defined by meeting project specifications (time, cost, quality) or by client satisfaction. Project management at that time was dominated by the engineering profession and focused more on meeting specification. Today, the focused is more on meeting client satisfaction.
For a project to be deemed successful the deliverable of the project MUST meet more than the specifications and meet the long term business need that created the need for the project. This focus on the long term business need is called sustainability although you will not find this word in the glossary of index of the PMBOK. What you will find is a greater emphasis on meeting client long term goals or business goals. especially in the newest edition of the PMBOK. This is the emphasis discussed by our authors (Goleman, Pinto... ) in portfolio management.
2. Sustainability/ saving the planet
A second use of the word sustainability focuses on sustaining the earth. There is a general consensus among scientist (environmental, physicists, climatologist, anthropologist, social scientist, etc) that the carbon based economy and population growth will place so much stress on the earth's ecology that the earth will not be able to regenerate and that changes will occur in the earth's environment that will make human habitation difficult and maybe impossible.
Governments, social institutions and economic entities are all developing the means and methods to operate effectively while reducing their carbon footprint. http://www.carbontrust.com/client-services/footprinting/footprint-measurement
Each of these entities are investing in projects to reduce carbon impact on the environment and human life. Project managers must understand the business drivers of their project sponsor. Although governments, social entities (such as the Rocky Mountain Institute) and economic entities may have different motivations for focusing on sustainability, the project manager must discern and manage the project to maximize the project sponsor’s needs.
This also means we are ethically obligated to manage our projects to meet our client’s business needs and to manage the project in such a way as to minimize the project’s carbon footprint both in the lifespan or the project and the lifespan of the organization.
I am interested in your thoughts.
I am interested in your thoughts.
Russ
No comments:
Post a Comment