Blogs and Commentary

The purpose of this section is for IPMA and Member Association leaders to share their perspectives. These postings are the opinions of those who offer them and do not necessarily represent IPMA’s views on the subjects. Often, the postings reflect the depth of experience of the commentators, both in IPMA-related work, or in their career. We welcome the opinions and comments of others in The IPMA Family.

I recall from my days of Sports Car racing in the 1970s the importance of aggressively, yet smoothly, navigating “the Esses.” These were the sections of the racetrack with a series of somewhat gentle left and right turns–such that, if you looked at them from above, looked like several repeated capital letter S’s, laid down. The other competences of racing included preparation, apexing correctly, mastering the braking and acceleration points, all while maintaining steely focus and concentration, and strategic competitiveness. But even with all that, one’s performances through the Esses often made the difference between winning and losing. The reason: This is where the most-competent drivers gain the most speed.

The analogy is similar in projects. In projects, the Esses, or S’s, as shown in the title, include: Stakeholders, Sponsors, Sustainability and Success. And just as in racing, these appear to be gentle curves that the project throws at you—but competent and performing project managers know they are far more than that. They are the places where you can achieve the most project momentum. (more…)

This article is inspired by the theme of IPMA’s 25th World Congress, Brisbane, Australia, October 10-12 2011. We originally developed the content for The PM Podcast’s 200th celebratory podcast, then adapted it for as part of IPMA President Roberto Mori’s Welcome and Introduction speech at the Congress. Finally, we are using the theme (with AIPM’s permission) for an asapm Symposium March 5, 2012.

First, thank you to IPMA member association AIPM (Australian Institute of Project Management) for a great 2011 IPMA World Congress, and for the inspired theme of the Congress: Project Management—Delivering the Promise. The promise of project and program management is efficient, effective and beneficial change. We as a profession make that promise to four types of audiences: (more…)

We first heard it in the early 00s–Executives and Managers saying, “We’ll just have to do more with less.” Well-intentioned at first, for some it soon became a poor alternative to managing effectively. While in specific situations the statement can be temporarily true, in most cases, we believe that those who proclaim and perpetuate the myth that this is an appropriate way to manage a workgroup, department or enterprise, are demonstrating their failure to manage. (more…)

We’ve used the Journalist’s Six W’s for over 25 years during portfolio prioritization or later, in project kick-off, to help explore business case analysis and bring all the stakeholders onto the same page. And recently, working with a stellar group of Managers in the Middle, those people who manage project managers and their teams, we came up with a new (for us) use of the Six W’s: What, Why, Who, Where, When, and How. (more…)

In many organizations today, competent and experienced Project Managers, Senior Project Managers and Program Managers (PM or PMs) have the responsibility and authority to deliver organizational change. The resulting benefits are expected by Senior Managers, Executives, and internal and external customers. Those PMs are a credit to their organizations, their Managers and Executives are incredibly effective, and their organizations (Government, Enterprises) thrive as a result. We shall call this phenomenon Exhibit A. (more…)

This article is for those who have “moved up” in their project-oriented organization, and for those who wish to. Not that everyone must do so; in fact, some of the most-competent, highest-performing contributors are those who are so good at what they do (and receive the recognition needed to sustain it) that they have no desire to do anything different. For the rest of us, however, there can be both excitement and danger in “moving on up”. We explore some of those factors here. (more…)