WELCOME
By David Pells
Managing Editor
Addison, Texas, USA
Welcome to the January 2021 edition of the PM World Journal, the 101st monthly edition. As we begin another new year, we welcome articles and papers related to lessons learned from the calamitous year just ended. 2020 saw horrendous natural disasters, the worst pandemic in 100 years, social unrest, political conflict and other dramatic disruptions. How did 2020 affect projects and project management? We’ve seen many changes and stories already. Please consider sharing your experiences or comments in a work for the PMWJ.
We start this edition with my own reaction, another editorial on the state of the PM world. I expect this one to be as controversial as my Black Elephants editorial last June, perhaps more so. Titled “Project Management Needs a Higher Purpose”, the editorial took on a life of its own during research and production, increasing in size to 35 pages. On good advice, its now been broken into four sections, with part 1 included this month. After reading part 1, if you want to receive a PDF of the full editorial (rather than waiting three more months for the future instalments), just let me know by email.
Yu Yanjuan (Spring) in China was kind enough to send her interview with Joop Schefferlie, incoming IPMA president, for republication in the PMWJ. Its always interesting to learn more about new leaders of the world’s largest PM associations, and this interview is no different, and very good.
We’re happy to include ten featured papers this month, seriously researched and authored conference-quality papers by academic leaders, executives and practicing PM professionals. Don’t miss reading Bob Prieto’s newest paper on large complex projects, enlightening as always. Please review all of the titles, then take a few minutes to read those you have time for.
Six series articles are included again this month, including four by our regular authors, a new Advances in PM article by Jonathan Whelan in UK, and the first in a new series by Prof. Jeremy Belllah at the University of Oklahoma in the USA. Dr. Bellah is engaged in an interesting project, the development of a new standards-based project management information system (PMIS). His first article describes the history, motivation and plan for proceeding with this initiative. Over the course of this series, he is inviting readers to weigh in, offer suggestions and contribute to the project.
The third article in his series on “revisiting organizational strategic management” by Alan Stretton is included this month. Prof John Cable has authored “Do You MOOC?”, which should be of interest to anyone interested in virtual learning. And don’t miss the new article by Prof Darren Dalcher titled “Leading the transformation: Navigating disorder in times of crises”. Darren’s article will make you think about an important topic in new ways, as he often does. Finally, Frank Saladis has provided a new article in his series on “Positive Leadership”. I always learn a lot from these authors and this month is no exception.
More…
To read entire welcome article, click here
How to cite this article: Pells, D. L. (2021). Welcome to the January 2021 PMWJ, PM World Journal, Vol. X. Issue I, January. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pmwj101-Jan2021-Pells-welcome-to-this-edition.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/
