Interview with Rich Maltzman

Value-driven Project Management Is Responsible Project Management

Interview with Rich Maltzman

Author, Teacher, Change Manager
Program Management Office Leader
Co-Founder, EarthPM, LLC

Interviewed by Yu Yanjuan
Journalist, Project Management Review: PMR (China)
International Correspondent, PM World Journal

Introduction to the interviewee

Rich Maltzman has been in industry for 42 years and has focused on project management (PM) for the past 32 years. Due to his focus on the intersection of PM and sustainability, he founded EarthPM in 2008 with Dave Shirley. Rich is a Master Lecturer at Boston University, where he has been teaching, writing and speaking to help codify the knowledge in this area, as part of its Metropolitan College Master’s Degree and Master’s Certificate programs. His specialties include Program Management Office (PMO) startup, sustainability, development and delivery of training programs, change management, branding/identity and other marketing. ResearchGate link: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Richard_Maltzman2.

Rich Maltzman is making huge efforts to make project management more responsible. With his teaching course Project Value Strategies to be opened, we did an interview with him on the topic of value-driven project management.

Interview

Q1. Value-driven project management is a trend. Why? How do you define the word “value”?

Rich Maltzman (Maltzman): It’s so much more than a trend. It’s a long-needed and permanent expansion that properly reflects what project managers are up for and up to. Here’s how I define value: the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something (in our case, it’s the project’s outcome or outcomes).

Traditional project managers focus on HOW we will get project outcome delivered. A value-oriented project manager (really this makes her or him a project leader, in my opinion) also asks the fundamental WHY question – why we are doing this project, which yields these important follow-up questions:

How does this project contribute to our mission/vision and statements we make to our stakeholders?
How do we link this project to our organization’s strategy?
How do we assure that this project provides us with sustainable benefits?

So, value-driven project management means thinking beyond HOW the project is done today and including how well-connected its outcomes are to the sponsoring organization’s strategic goals. The focus for a value-driven project manager is more like that of a Portfolio Manager. Yes, of course, the project needs to stay under budget, be on time, and deliver the scope it has promised – and we can’t take our eyes off of those things. However, we also have to ensure that this project’s outcomes will deliver benefits for the organization on an ongoing basis. That’s real project value: the ability to generate sustainable benefits.

Q2. What are your tips on how to generate and measure value in projects?

Maltzman: This is the real focus of our Project Value Strategies course. Given that it is a 13-week, graduate-level course, it’s hard to summarize it in one answer, but the overarching tip is: focus on the long term, think as my colleague Alexandra Chapman is always preaching: Project outcomes yield benefits – benefits, over time, produce value, and value had better be aligned with the mission and vision and strategy of the organization.

Q3. The project value doesn’t always have to be financial, right?

More…

To read entire interview, click here

Editor’s note: This interview was first published in PMR, Project Management Review magazine, China. It is republished here with the permission of PMR. The PM World Journal maintains a cooperative relationship with PMR, periodically republishing works from each other’s publications. To see the original interview with Chinese introduction, visit PMR at http://www.pmreview.com.cn/english/

How to cite this interview: How to cite this interview: PMR (2021). Value-driven Project Management Is Responsible Project Management: Interview with Rich Maltzman; Project Management Review; republished in the PM World Journal, Vol. X, Issue VIII, August. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/pmwj108-Aug2021-Yanjuan-Interview-with-Rich-Maltzman.pdf

About the Interviewer

Yu Yanjuan

Beijing, China

Yu Yanjuan (English name: Spring), Bachelor’s Degree, graduated from the English Department of Beijing International Studies University (BISU) in China. She is now an English-language journalist and editor working for Project Management Review (PMR) Magazine and website. She has interviewed over sixty top experts in the field of project management. Before joining PMR, she once worked as a journalist and editor for other media platforms in China. She has also worked part-time as an English teacher in training centers in Beijing. Beginning in January 2020, Spring also serves as an international correspondent for the PM World Journal.

For work contact, she can be reached via email yuyanjuan2005@163.com or LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/yanjuanyu-76b280151/.

To view other works by Spring, visit her author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/yu-yanjuan/