Project Business Foundation
Interview with Oliver Lehmann & Martin Berneburg
Interviewed by Ipek Sahra Ozguler
International Correspondent
Istanbul, Turkey
Introduction to interviewees
Oliver F. Lehmann, MSc, ACE, PMP, is the President of the Project Business Foundation and the Past-President of the PMI Southern Germany Chapter.
Based in Munich, Germany, he has an international reputation as a trainer in project management and project business management. He authored two books, “Situational Project Management, the Dynamics of Success and Failure “, and “Project Business Management”. Since the year 2016, he has been a frequent author for the PM World Journal with a focus on situational project management and project business management.
Martin Berneburg, PMP, PSM, is the Vice-President & CEO of the Project Business Foundation and ECC Corporate Ambassador at the Project Management Institute, SGC. Having spent most of his business life in North America, he now lives in Munich with a professional focus on Innovation, Project and Project Business Management.
Within this field, international cross-corporate Projects as well as intra- and entrepreneurial endeavors are the backdrop for his evangelizing efforts to promote specialized knowledge and the spread of resources in Project Business Management.
INTERVIEW
Ipek Sahra Ozguler (Ozguler): Good morning Oliver Lehmann, Martin Berneburg. What is the story of Project Business Foundation?
Oliver Lehmann (Lehmann): Good morning Ipek, thank you for giving us the opportunity of an interview.
In the years 2014/15, I had a research project together with a group of 17 field experts about situational aspects of project management. The question was, how a practice, such as a method or a behavior, that was successful in one project may fail in another. The group identified several dimensions as part of a typology of projects, where a project of one type may need certain practices, but another one of a different type needed also different practices.
During this research, one dimension virtually jumped into my eyes – the distinction between an internal project, typically a cost center, and a customer (-facing) project, a profit center. I did more research on that, gathered together with enthusiasts, who had a similar view, and together, we founded the Project Business Foundation in the year 2019.
Martin Berneburg (Berneburg): And good morning from me as well, Ipek.
Ozguler: Who are the leaders of this foundation? Please introduce themselves to the PMWJ readers.
Lehmann: My name is Oliver F. Lehmann, and I am from Munich in Germany. I am a trainer in project management with a focus on methodology training, certification preparation, and now, obviously on Project Business Management, the discipline that deals with cross-corporate projects.
Before my time as a trainer, I acted over a decade managing projects with a focus on automotive projects and in related manufacturing/processing areas.
Berneburg: I am Martin Berneburg, and after some two decades of business life in North America, I now live in Munich as well. Originally with a background in the Music and Entertainment industry, I have always been working in an environment that is highly dependent on and quite unthinkable without cross-corporate relationships. By the end of the millenium I then fully transitioned into the World of Project Management, working as an independent consultant and coach, with the specific focus on innovation management in the entrepreneur and intrapreneur fields.
More…
To read entire interview, click here
How to cite this work: Ozguler, I. S. (2020). Project Business Foundation: Interview with Oliver Lehmann & Martin Berneburg. PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue V, May. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/pmwj93-May2020-Ozguler-Interview-wtih-Lehmann-and-Berneburg.pdf
About the Interviewer
Ipek Sahra Ozguler
Istanbul, Turkey
Ipek Sahra Ozguler graduated from the Istanbul University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering and from Middle East Technical University with an MSc degree in Software Management. As a project manager, she has more than 10 years’ experience in various areas such as portfolio management, program management, project management, software management, business analysis. She became a certified PMP in January, 2012 and a certified SCRUM Master in 2014.
She has managed a variety of projects across manufacturing, defence, FMCG (Cola Cola), insurance (Euler Hermes), audit (Deloitte), telecommunication, ICT and aviation sectors and gained broader insights. In addition, she has worked as international correspondent for the PM World Journal since 2014.
Ipek is the creator and editor of the highly acclaimed book, The Perspective of Women Project Management Professionals, interviews with leading female PM experts and professionals around the world. The book was published in March 2020 and is available here.
Ipek is based in Isanbul and can be contacted at ipeksahra@gmail.com. Her portfolio is published at the http://ipeksahra.strikingly.com/.
To view other works by Ms. Ozguler, visit her author showcase in the PM World Library at http://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/ipek-sahra-ozguler/
