Professional news, Infrastructure and Energy, Covid news, Good news and Stonehenge is not really English
REPORT
By Miles Shepherd
Executive Advisor & International Correspondent
Salisbury, England, UK
INTRODUCTION
Well, here we are, another month into the battle against the Coronavirus. The news looks a little more positive than last month. It is still not clear that the light we think we see in the tunnel is not a train approaching but we live in hope that progress is being made. Quite a lot has been happening in the project world in UK and I bring you news of happenings in the professional Project Management (PM) society domain, the latest position in the fight against the Virus and some developments in projects in the infrastructure projects.
PROFESSIONAL NEWS
House of PMO – readers of our news section will already be aware of the arrival of another PM association, this one centred on the PMO. It Is not clear to me what the P stands for – project, programme or portfolio (or all three) but the aim is to create a home for PMO professionals where they can develop themselves, support the development of others and contribute to the development of the PMO profession. This development is not too surprising since in the emergence of professions, there is always a tendency for the occupation to split into smaller units or contributing sub-disciplines. It is interesting in that there is a group that feels it is separate from main-stream PM. House of PMO has hit the ground running and have launched a Competence Framework and a linked set of qualifications that recognises 4 levels within the occupation – administrators, analysts, managers and directors. These qualifications are offered in a phased launch between May and November.
APM News – like all professional societies, APM makes extensive use of volunteers. As might be expected, this extends from the development and promotion of project and programme management as a discipline as well as event management, publications and product development. It is pleasing to see that APM have achieved Investing in Volunteers (IiV), a standard similar to Investors in People. IiV aims to improve the quality of the volunteering experience for all volunteers and for organisations to acknowledge the enormous contribution made by their volunteers. IiV is managed by the UK Volunteering Forum and delivered by the National Council for Volunteer Organisations, Volunteer Scotland, Volunteer Now in Northern Ireland and Wales Council for Voluntary Action. This is APM’s third accreditation against the standard.
More surprising is the announcement at the end of February that Debbie Dore, APM’s CEO for the past 3 years is stepping down. No reasons have been given and no doubt there will be much speculation over just why she is departing. According to their website announcement, she has provided excellent leadership during the very challenging times of the coronavirus crisis. APM has achieved a great deal under her tenure and in particular she has strengthened APMs strategic outlook, and working strenuously to raise APM’s public profile.
Debbie Dore – APM CEO
She was the Board’s unanimous choice to succeed Sara Drake when she stepped up from her previous role as Chief Operations Officer in May 2019 at a time when work to meet the changes required by the achievement of the Royal Charter needed a firm hand to complete. APM hope to have an appointment by the time Debbie departs in May. She has been a great friend to PM in general and APM in particular: she will be much missed.
More…
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How to cite this report: Shepherd, M. (2020). UK Project Management Round UP, PM World Journal, Vol. X, Issue III, March. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/pmw103-Mar2021-Shepherd-UK-project-management-roundup-report.pdf
About the Author
Miles Shepherd
Salisbury, UK
Miles Shepherd is an executive editorial advisor and international correspondent for PM World Journal in the United Kingdom. He is also managing director for MS Projects Ltd, a consulting company supporting various UK and overseas Government agencies, nuclear industry organisations and other businesses. Miles has over 30 years’ experience on a variety of projects in UK, Eastern Europe and Russia. His PM experience includes defence, major IT projects, decommissioning of nuclear reactors, nuclear security, rail and business projects for the UK Government and EU. Past Chair, Vice President and Fellow of the Association for Project Management (APM), Miles is also past president and chair and a Fellow of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). He was a Director for PMI’s Global Accreditation Centre and is immediate past Chair of the ISO committee developing new international standards for Project Management and for Program/Portfolio Management. Miles is Chair of the British Standards Institute’s Committee on Project, Programme and Portfolio Management and has been involved in the development of Uk’s BSI 6079 for more than 25 years. He was involved in setting up APM’s team developing guidelines for project management oversight and governance. Miles is based in Salisbury, England and can be contacted at miles.shepherd@msp-ltd.co.uk.
To view other works by Miles Shepherd, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at http://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/miles-shepherd/.
