Continued discussion of Silvious et al’s book on Project Management and Sustainability

Continued discussion of Silvious et al’s book on Project Management and Sustainability

Sustainability in Project Management, 2012

Silvius, G.,Schipper, R., Planko, J., Brink, J., Kohler, A.

Gower Publishing Limited, Surry, England

 

In the second chapter of Sustainability in Project Management, the authors view the development of project management in stages. There was some early form of project management that must have existed in the earliest eras of civilization that accounts for massive projects like the Egyptian Pyramids. The discipline of project management emerged during the 1950s and has been refined with the development of new tools, processes and skills. The authors also stated that as the economy and organizations become more complex, traditional project management does not have the processes, and traditional project managers do not have the skills to successfully manage the new project environment. It is time to develop a modern project management approaches to meet the new requirements.

Research and general observation provides strong evidence that changes in the project environment do require tools and processes to better understand the project, and develop an appropriate execution approach. The approach of the authors to divide project management approaches into traditional project management (that is becoming increasing inadequate), and some form of new project management is problematic. This belief assumes you can define some project management tools and processes as traditional, and yet the authors do not attempt to define traditional project management other than list the tools used to manage project where the scope and project deliverables are not well defined at the beginning of the project.

This view of traditional project and modern project management creates a dichotomous view of projects.  Projects are either traditional or some form of modern project. This approach implies that tools and processes used successfully in the past are inappropriate, or at least insufficient for modern projects. I believe this is a limited view of project management and inhibits our ability to develop greater understanding of projects. An alternative approach focuses on creating a profile of the project and developing the appropriate tools, techniques and skills for that project profile. As I have discussed in other blogs, developing a project profile and appropriate execution approach would serve the authors as a better model for defining and discussing sustainability in project management than the model of traditional versus modern project management. In forthcoming blogs, I will reflect on the role of project management and sustainability.

Russ

Sustainability as a Project Management Ethical Obligation

 

Sustainability as a Project Management Ethical Obligation

 

Sustainability in Project Management, 2012

Silvius, G.,Schipper, R., Planko, J., Brink, J., Kohler, A.

Gower Publishing Limited, Surry, England

 

I read and developed comments on Sustainability in Project Management, a book by Silvius, Schipper et al for the Global Sustainability Community within the Project management institute. I often take a very critical view of books on project management, challenging academicians to make their work relevant to practicing project managers and challenging project management writers to show the research or the data that backs up their assertions. Sustainability in Project Management has a good balance of research based information and practical implications for project manager.

 

The forwards in the book set the stage. Nelmara Abrex, Deputy Chief Executive at the Global Reporting Initiative provides context when discussing the earth as a provider of natural resources for the generation of wealth. A generator that regenerates itself until we extract more resources than the earth is able to regenerate. At this point we begin to denigrate resources and the capacity to regenerate.

 

All countries and all businesses plan to grow. It is a model based on unlimited resources and a model inconsistent with our reality. This is the business case for the book. If our current economic practices are unsustainable, how do we change?

 

Projects by their nature enable change. Projects will be on the leading edge of whatever our new models become. As project management moves from a focus on the technical deliverable of the project to understanding and meeting the business need of the project, the skills and methods for project managers will change. This change in focus is best reflected in the new revisions of the PMI Body of Knowledge. 

 

Sustainability in project management suggests that project managers must also be responsible for driving sustainability on their project. The authors provide a good review of the literature that indicates that businesses have begun a new sustainability paradigm and are making changes in their organizations and developing reporting that parallels financial reports on performance.

 

The authors argue that this makes good business sense. They also argue the project managers have an ethical obligation to plan and execute their project sustainability. The books explains what this means, but that is for a later blog. I am interested in the ethical obligation of the project manager within the context of sustainability.

 

While Director of Sustainability of a college I attended a Sustainability Conference at Furman University. Five university presidents, who had all signed the American College and University Presidents’ Commitment to Climate Change, http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org, made a compelling argument for the university’s role in creating a more sustainable economy. One speaker declared that government was too political to make significant changes and business was to short term focused. Universities were uniquely positioned because all teacher, lawyers, scientist, bankers and business people spend time at our campuses. He argued forcefully that University Presidents have an ethical obligation in lead in developing a new economic paradigm that respects the regenerative ability of the earth.

 

I believe there is a more compelling ethical argument that says project managers have an ethical obligation create a new project management paradigm that inculcates sustainability into purpose of every project. If this is true we have a lot of work to do to develop new methods, new tools and new skills.

Russ

 

Rookie Mistakes

I was reading my March PM Network today, always a source of thinking about project management. There was an interesting article on the six common rookie mistakes by Ashley Richardson.

Mistake number 3, Skipping the Charter or Initiation Process. I suspect this is not a mistake limited to rookies. Ms Richardson suggests eight questions that should/ must be answered during the early phase of the project:

·         Why are we doing this project?

·         What is the problem?

·         Is this the best way to solve the problem? (for me, if I have been assigned the project manager it is probably a little late to ask this question)

·         What are the risks?

·         Do the benefits outweigh the risks? (again, a little late to ask)

·         Do we have adequate support?  

·         How will success be defined?

I assume that when you’re at the initiation stage of a project, management has already decided the benefits outweigh the risks, it is the best way to solve the problem and the project will have adequate support.

During the initiation I am focused on aligning the project team. I typically pull the team and key stakeholders together for an alignment session. The agenda, length and makeup of the alignment process will depend on the profile of the project. I have participated in alignment meetings that lasted a week and alignment meetings over an extended lunch. The common focus for each of the session was the development of three areas of the project:

·         The development of a common understanding of the project purpose (mission, vision, values, roles, barriers)

·         A common understanding of the means and methods (policies, procedures and major work processes ie change management)  

·         Trust; being the development of team trust and set the stage creating an effective team.

Project alignment and develop trust on you’re a project will be good fodder for future posts.

Best

Russ

Sustainability in Project Management

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

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.

Russ

Walden University receives PMI Accreditation

This week Paul Thomas, VP at Walden University sent an email to faculty formally announcing the PMI Accreditation of MS in Project Management. See programs accredited by PMI; http://gacpm.org/Directory-GAC-Accredited-Degree-Programs-NA.html

Although it was a grueling process, it was also enjoyable. It was grueling because of the detailed documentation of all our processes. Fortunately, Kathy Simmons the Masters in Project Management program director, led the effort and in her typical organized approach gathered all the needed information and developed the reports needed by the PMI Accreditation Team. It was enjoyable because I got to meet for three days with the Accreditation Team totally engrossed in the details for teaching project management at the master’s level.

The accreditation team from PMI was led by LuAn Picacard from the University of Alaska and included Kristine Hayes and Timothy Muth. We spent three longs days reviewing all aspects of the program including interviewing alumni, current students, industry advisors, faculty and administrators. At this stage we had the easy part; answering questions and discussing the various project management classes. The accreditation team had to also review learning goals, syllabi and all the course work for every course in the project management program. Most evening I saw them huddled up going over paperwork as I went for late dinner and back to my room to cover my classes.

The final evening we ordered in pizza and discussed the committees until late into the night. I was surprised at the atmosphere of this discussion. The accreditation team helped us understand ways in which we could improve our program. It was a collegial conversation about how the future of the project management profession and our role in preparing future project managers. I felt we were among friends whose focus was the love of project management.

The highlight of the accreditation process was the next days when the team presented their initial findings. We already know the areas we needed to improve from previous conversations so these discussions did not catch us off guard.  It was when the team shared comments made by our students about the positive impact on the program on their lives that made us all reflect on our chosen profession. It was a powerful experience and even our University President, Cynthia Baum, said it brought tears to her eyes.

The PMI Accreditation brings creditability to a degree program assuring students and employers that program meets the highest standards and prepares graduates with the knowledge they need for a successful project management career.

Russ

The Honest Truth

The Honest Truth (artilce from PMNET)

I received my March PMNET, PMI’s magazine for project managers. I was attracted to a piece on managing stakeholder relations by Shelinea Somani with a subheading “Do the benefits of open dialog with stakeholders outweigh the risks”?

The simple answer is “of course” and Somani gave an example where the answer applies and, of course, everything turned out for the better. I have known many of project mangers that often shielded important stakeholder from important information. Most of the time it was because the project was slipping, either in cost or schedule and the project manager had every confidence that they had the ability to make up the deficit before anyone would know and just as often they were wrong. The result was a project over cost or behind schedule and a client who had lost trust and confidence in the project manager. On occasion I saw project manager replaced.

Other situations can be more difficult. You have agreed to give an employee who is an alcoholic a second chance after being removed from their previous project for drinking. You discovered that critical material for your project will be late because the supplier has prioritized another project for your company. You agreed that you would be at the remote job site for a month nine months from now and just found out your wife is expecting at the same time. Do you tell your client?

My default position is yes, you tell your client. Trust is one of the most your important assets. Without the trust of your client, your team and your management communication will become very difficult if not impossible. There are always exceptions but those exceptions should always be rare and the kind of exception that is found out, your client would understand.

This is one of those topics that deserves some thought and some real dialog with more difficult choices in the PMNET would have been helpful.