WELCOME
By David Pells
Managing Editor
Addison, Texas, USA
Welcome to the February 2021 edition of the PM World Journal, the 102nd monthly edition. It looks like I stirred things up with my editorial last month, struck a chord with some and hit the wall with others. So we start out this month with four Letters-to-the-Editor, all in response to my January editorial on the subject of “Project Management needs a Higher Purpose”. The response has actually been quite positive, perhaps surprisingly so. These four are in that group.
As I’ve included “Part 2” of my editorial this month, I’m fairly sure there will be more reactions to share in March. In my January segment, I discussed the black elephants we all know about – pandemics, climate change, poverty, unemployment, etc. – the issues addressed by the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This month my focus is on social responsibility and what I call “the Rogue Black Elephant”, global corruption. While it may seem difficult for the PM world to do much about Covid-19 or climate change, I think corruption is something we can actually do something about. How about if we all just take a stronger stance against corruption of any kind by anyone? I’ve expanded the definition of corruption though, so please read Part 2 of my editorial this month, then send me your reaction.
Once again we republish another interesting interview by Yu Yanjuan (Spring) at PMR in China, this month with Andrew Wright in the UK. Andrew offers some insightful perspective on project management for positive change. There seem to be a lot of PM thought leaders in the UK these days and Andrew is no exception.
This edition includes 12 featured papers, which I think is a record number. Some outstanding works are among them. Bob Prieto has authored another solid paper on ‘Improving Infrastructure Project Success’, a topic of rapidly growing importance now as the end of the current pandemic appears to be in sight. Infrastructure investment is bound to play an important role in rebuilding economies devastated by the Covid crisis; papers like these will be extremely useful in coming months.
In both my June 2020 editorial on black elephants and again in part one of my new editorial published last month, I asked the question: what can the project management world do to help address global problems? Alan Stretton has stepped up with a remarkable paper titled “Towards extending the scope of project-related management to help address climate change and other global problems.” Based on his previously-developed strategic management framework, Alan has offered a model on how those with project and program management expertise can assist with the refining and implementation of projects launched to address the ‘black elephants’. It’s a brilliant paper and a major first step in this new strategic direction for the PM professional world.
In an emotionally-charged paper, Dr. Isaac Abuya in Kenya challenges the international development community to “re-humanize projects and project management in Africa”. Isaac is requesting a paradigm shift in how development projects are structured, organized and implemented. I applaud him for raising these issues; African leaders need to lead the way in overcoming obstacles and increasing the benefits of projects for more Africans. I hope others will share research and papers on these topics with the journal.
More…
To read entire welcome article, click here
How to cite this article: Pells, D.L. (2021). Welcome to the February 2021 PMWJ, PM World Journal, Vol X, Issue II, February. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/pmwj102-Feb2021-Pells-welcome-to-the-February-2021-pmwj.pdf
About the Author
David L. Pells
Managing Editor, PMWJ
Managing Director, PMWL
David L. Pells, PMI Fellow, HonFAPM, ISIPM, PMA, SOVNET is Managing Editor and publisher of the PM World Journal (www.pmworldjournal.com) and Managing Director of the PM World Library (www.pmworldlibrary.net). David is an internationally recognized leader in the field of professional project management with more than 40 years of experience on a variety of programs and projects, including engineering, construction, energy, defense, transit, technology and nuclear security, and project sizes ranging from thousands to billions of dollars. He occasionally acts as project management advisor for U.S. national laboratories and international programs, and currently serves as an independent advisor for a major U.S. national security program.
David Pells has been an active professional leader in the United States since the 1980s, as founder and president of several PMI chapters, founder of PMI’s first SIG (Project Earth), and member of the PMI board of directors twice. He was founder and chair of the Global Project Management Forum (1995-2000), an annual meeting of leaders of PM associations from around the world. David was awarded PMI’s Person of the Year award in 1998 and Fellow Award, PMI’s highest honor, in 1999. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Association for Project Management (APM) in the UK; the Instituto Italiano di Project Management (ISIMP – Italy); Project Management Associates (PMA – India); and the Russian Project Management Association (SOVNET). In 2010 he was made an honorary member of the Project Management Association of Nepal.
Former managing editor of PM World Today, he is the creator, editor and publisher of the PM World Journal (ISSN: 2330-4880). David has a BA in Business Administration from the University of Washington and an MBA from Idaho State University in the USA. He has published widely and spoken at conferences and events worldwide. David lives near Dallas, Texas and can be contacted at editor@pmworldjournal.com.
To see other works by David Pells, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at http://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/david-l-pells/
