FOLLOW ON ACTION ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION

in response to

“Capturing Project Management Best Practices”

(by Dr. Harold Kerzner and Dr. Al Zeitoun, PM World Journal –

Vol. X, Issue XII – December 2021)

COMMENTARY

By Dr. Paul D. Giammalvo

Jakarta, Indonesia

OPENING STATEMENT

Speaking as lifelong practitioners and not as academics, while we (note while I am the primary author, our team here at PTMC reviewed and contributed to this article) were truly thrilled and encouraged to see such well known and highly regarded names like Dr. Harold Kerzner and Dr. Al Zeitoun from IIL refuting the standard advocated by PMI since the1996 PMBOK onward of “adopting those practices, tools and techniques “used ON MOST PROJECTS, MOST OF THE TIME” (meaning at best, AVERAGE practices) and coming out in SUPPORT of “Best Tested and PROVEN” practices, we felt this was a major move forward.

HOWEVER, what disappointed us was that while Dr. K and Dr. Z (and presumably IIL?) now ADVOCATE for “Best Tested and PROVEN” practices,” why didn’t they at least put forward EXAMPLES or SUGGESTIONS so we can take the next step, which is to FIX what is very clearly a “broken system”?

How do we KNOW the system is broken?

As starters, everyone needs to look at the comments posted by current and past employees of PMI on Glassdoor.^[2] That alone will tell you that PMI is a rudderless ship- an organization that fails to exemplify its own Code of Ethics, running the organization using the tools and techniques they advocate we use as practitioners but ignore themselves. (“Do as we say, not as we do?”- Sound all too familiar today?)

More evidence can be found in recent research from KPMG-IPMA from Australia, which has long been a PMI stronghold that indicates that after ~53 years of PMI’s global influence, with over a million “disciples” preaching the “Gospel of the PMBOK “that only 42% of projects finish on time and worse yet, only 40% finish within budget”^[3], which makes the PMI “average” standard of those practices, tools and techniques “used on most projects, most of the time” an even LOWER value? Worse yet, even PMI has tacitly admitted their PMBOK/PMBOK Guide, in the 35 years they have been publishing it, has resulted in no measurable improvement in project success rates, explaining why they largely abandoned what they had advocated in favor of a PRINCIPLE based BoK in the 7^th Edition? As we will explore later, while we have long been outspoken critics of PMI, we are also challenging the PMBOK Guide 7th Edition as being just as flawed as the previous editions. But trying to be proactive, and given our only loyalty is to continuously improving the practice of project management and not to any society or professional organization, we are willing to summarize what we, as practitioners, see as being “broken” and provide SUGGESTIONS that we are confident will go a long way towards FIXING the problems before we start to implement AI and Automation, which has already started.

Thus, we are offering this paper as a CHALLENGE to Dr. K, Dr. Z, IIL and other “Thought Leaders,” including Frank Saladis. Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, Nader K. Rad, PMP Founder Lee R. Lambert and any other of the “PMI Cultists” who post on Linked In, apparently living in a world of denial, pretending that all is well in PMI Land in general and the practice of project management specifically, when there is no science or empirical evidence to support these beliefs. (Maybe PMI needs to hire Fauci?)

We conclude this paper by providing 10 ACTION ITEMS that we as practitioners and those organizations we have chosen to represent us need to fix a BROKEN SYSTEM, something that must be done before we can start AUTOMATE or apply ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE to the PRACTICE of project management.

More…

To read entire article, click here

How to cite this article: Giammalvo, P. (2022). Follow on Action Items for Consideration in response to “Capturing Project Management Best Practices”, PM World Journal, Vol. XI, Issue I, January. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/pmwj113-Jan2022-Giammalvo-action-items-in-response-to-capturing-project-management-best-practices.pdf

About the Author

Dr. Paul D. Giammalvo, CDT, CCE, MScPM, MRICS

Jakarta, Indonesia

Dr. Paul D. Giammalvo, CDT, CCE (#1240), MScPM, MRICS, is a Senior Technical Advisor (Project Management) to PT Mitratata Citragraha. (PTMC), Jakarta, Indonesia. www.build-project-management-competency.com He is noted for the development and delivery of graduate level, blended learning curricula designed for the mid-career path, English as Second Language (ESL) professionals to develop competency in the local practitioner and build capacity for the local organizations. For 25+ years, he has been developing and delivering Project Management training and consulting throughout South and Eastern Asia Pacific, the Middle East, West Africa, and Europe.

He is also active in the Global Project Management Community, by playing a “thought leadership” role for the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International, (AACEI) http://www.aacei.org/ since 1991; He has also been active in two IPMA member organizations: The Green Project Management Association (GPM) http://www.greenprojectmanagement.org/ where he served on the Certification Board of Directors for two years and the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management http://www.asapm.org/ for which he served for four years on the BoD as Director of Marketing. He also sat on the Board of Directors of the Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards (GAPPS), www.globalpmstandards.org, Sydney, Australia, and is active as a regional leader. Currently, he is a compensated consultant to the International Guild of Project Controls. http://www.planningplanet.com/guild as the primary author of their “Compendium and Reference” as well as the chief architect of their competency-based credentialing program. http://www.planningplanet.com/guild/certification

He has spent 35 of the last 50 years working on large, highly technical international projects, including such prestigious projects as the Alyeska Pipeline and the Distant Early Warning Site (DEW Line), upgrades in Alaska and the Negev Airbase Constructors, Ovda, Israel and the Minas Oil Field in Rumbai, Sumatra. His current client list includes Fortune 500 major telecommunications, oil, gas and mining companies, the UN Projects Office, other multi-national companies, NGO organizations, and Indonesian Government Agencies.

In addition to 45+ years of hands-on field experience, Dr. Giammalvo holds an undergraduate degree in Construction Management, his Master of Science in Project Management through the George Washington University and was awarded his Ph.D. in Project and Program Management through the Institute Superieur De Gestion Industrielle (ISGI) and Ecole Superieure De Commerce De Lille (ESC-Lille) under the supervision of Professor Christophe Bredillet. “Dr. PDG” can be contacted at pauldgphd@gmail.com

To view other original work by Paul Giammalvo, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at http://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/dr-paul-d-giammalvo/ or visit his profile on his website https://build-project-management-competency.com/meet-our-team/dr-giammalvo/

[1] How to cite this article: Giammalvo, P. (2022). Follow on Action Items for Consideration in response to “Capturing Project Management Best Practices”, PM World Journal, Vol. XI, Issue I, January.
[2] Glassdoor “Humiliating Reviews of PMI” https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Project-Management-Institute-humiliating-Reviews-EI_IE256669.0,28_KH29,40.htm?sort.sortType=OR&sort.ascending=true&filter.iso3Language=eng
[3] KPMG/IPMA 2020 Survey- https://home.kpmg/au/en/home/insights/2020/08/australian-project-delivery-performance-survey-2020.html