WELCOME
By David Pells
Managing Editor
Addison, Texas, USA
Welcome to the July 2026 edition of the PM World Journal (PMWJ), our 166th monthly edition. This month’s PMWJ is another diverse and interesting edition, with 60 new works by 73 different authors representing 20 different countries. The new additions this month bring our totals to 5,851 works by 2,329 different authors representing 90+ countries published in the PMWJ to date and archived in the PM World Library. Actually, a few more works may be added after we go to press.
Introduction
I have to say, this month’s edition must be the limit on works we publish each month. I’ve made some improvements, for example, categorizing the Featured Papers, but 60+ works are too many for me to edit, format and post. I’m also going to have to take a harder position regarding acceptance of unformatted or poorly formatted manuscripts. Our Author Guidelines state that all works must be submitted in our standard format, so it’s apparent that we are still having works submitted by authors who have simply not read our Author Guidelines. I’m going to have to start rejecting works that will require hours to clean up and format properly. Maybe that will help.
If and when we find a new home for the PMWJ and Library, that is someone to acquire these increasingly valuable assets, I will make some operational recommendations. Publication of the PMWJ should require at least two people to do the work, possibly more if scaling is desired. We may also need to rethink my emails blasts to former authors and subscribers; rather than emailing the table of contents each month, perhaps a simple notice or the welcome article will suffice. The emails are getting too large and unwieldy.
At the same time, I am thrilled that the PMWJ is becoming more popular, based on the increases in both manuscripts received as well as traffic on our websites. I’m pretty sure, most of the growth is organic, as we don’t advertise anywhere. I also think the quality of the PMWJ contents remains high, with some very experienced and reputable PM leaders contributing articles and papers each month. So thank you to our authors, and to those of you who are passing the word. The PM World Journal is a high quality, educational project management publication that is also easy to submit works to. So please, share your knowledge and experience; review What We Publish under the ABOUT tab on the pmworldjournal.com website, then just email your final draft to me. There is still so much to learn in the PM field, so share what you know and read works by others. It’s a big world; we don’t yet know everything, so let us read, share, learn and grow together.
Now, this month in the Journal
In addition to my Welcome article, we begin with a new contribution From the Executive Editor’s Desk. Miles Shepherd in the UK, who assumed the new role when we started our Peer Review program last year, offered to share the load this month. He’s targeted case studies for more attention. Read his short editorial, then consider how you can share information about one of your projects.
Two Tributes are included this month, for two giants in the project management professional world. Klaus Pannenbäcker, IPMA Fellow, was past president and honorary Chair of the German PM Association (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Projektmanagement) and past president and chair of IPMA. Max Wideman, PMI Fellow, former president and chair of PMI, was recognized worldwide for his continued writing and contributions to the PM field over the last three decades. Both Klaus and Max were friends and Honorary Global Advisors for the PMWJ and its predecessor the PM World Today eJournal (2006-2012). We couldn’t let their passing to by without due recognition, from us and their friends and colleagues. Please read some last word about these PM pioneers of modern project management.
Three Letters to the Editor are included in this edition. I am very happy to be receiving more feedback on both the overall contents of the journal, and on some specific contents. The great thing about feedback, and letters to the editor for that matter, is that new information or knowledge is always included. We can learn what others think about some topics, and also why. It seems to me that many project management issues are more like Rubik’s cubes than coins with only two sides. Some issues have many dimensions, not all of which we see sometimes.
20 Featured Papers are included this month. In order to help readers find topics and papers of interest, I have created some categories for these significant research papers, simply based on the topics this month. Those categories are (1) General PM Methods, Models, Topics; (2) PMOs – Programme, Portfolio and Project Management Offices; (3) Governance of Programs & Projects; (4) Educational, Environmental, Public Social Topics; (5) Project Cost, Schedule, Scope, Quality Management; and (6) Construction, Engineering, Infrastructure Topics. I hope this helps you zoom in on topics of interest a little more easily. I think all of these papers are worth reading, as I have. In particular, I would point out Bob Prieto’s monumental new paper titled “Quantum Fragility Index”, the three excellent papers on governance, and the paper by Ahmad Khall Khanji titled “Tailoring for Fracture: Applying PMBOK® 8th Edition’s Tailoring Framework for Project Management in Post-War Peacebuilding Contexts: The Case of Syria.” This entire section is highly useful with solidly authored content.
More…
To read entire welcome article, click here
Visit the latest edition of the PMWJ at www.pmworldjournal.com
How to cite this work: Pells, D.L. (2026). Welcome to the July 2026 PMWJ; PM World Journal, Vol. XV, Issue VII, July. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pmwj166-Jul2026-Pells-Welcome-to-the-July-2026-pmwj-2.pdf
About the Author
David L. Pells
Managing Editor, PMWJ
Managing Director, PMWL
David L. Pells, PMI Fellow, HonFAPM, ISIPM, PMA 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 nearly 50 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 recently acted as a program management advisor for two major U.S. national nuclear security programs.
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) in Italy; and Project Management Associates (PMA) in India.
Former managing editor of PM World Today, he is the creator, editor and publisher of the PM World Journal (ISSN: 2330-4880) and creator and curator of the PM World Library. 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/
