WELCOME
By David L. Pells
Managing Editor
Addison, Texas, USA
Welcome to the October 2020 edition of the PM World Journal, the 98th monthly edition. I’m very happy to continue producing the PM World Journal (PMWJ), but I have to admit that I may be going stir crazy. Or maybe it’s cabin fever. The highlight of my day is often getting outside, walking the dog around the neighborhood. Some days I just need to go for a drive, somewhere, anywhere.
Life is getting crazier in this year of the covid pandemic, and here in the USA it seems there is a new crisis every week. Two weeks ago it was the arrival of a Fall surge in coronavirus cases; they’re increasing everywhere again. Last week it’s the president’s tax returns and an out-of-control presidential debate. Now the president has Covid-19 with a pending national security crisis. Talk about a VUCA world! This is it. Projects are stopping, restarting, restopping, along with businesses, schools and everyday life.
So what do we do? APM has just held a great webinar on professional life under lockdown. PMI and IPMA are running virtual events. Online courses, training, meetings and other professional and educational activities are still increasing. Here at the PMWJ we continue to consider serious topics, write editorials and introductions, post resources in the PM World Library and solicit work for journal publication. Fortunately, many others seem to also be thinking and writing a lot. So we have more good works in the journal this month.
Interesting interviews with one current and one former PMI leader are included. The interview of PMI Fellow Ian Fraser by Spring in Beijing offers insights based on Iain’s global travels and consulting work, as well as his knowledge of PMI and PM in general. The interview of PMI Fellow Ricardo Triana by Angelica Larios in Mexico City provides useful information from a Latin American perspective, as Ricardo is currently Latin America Managing Director for PMI.
Seven authors have contributed featured papers, serious works on a variety of topics. I want to thank Alan Stretton, Bob Prieto, Lalamini Budeli and Henny Portman for their new papers. They all have been multiple contributors to the PMWJ; Alan and Bob have authored many papers over the years, both are very experienced and knowledgeable PM experts, and their works are serious contributions to the PM body of knowledge. This month, Alan tackles the topic of PM in context again, while Bob offers new insights for understanding large, complex engineering and construction programs.
More…
To read entire welcome article, click here
How to cite this paper: Pells, D.L. (2020). Welcome to the October 2020 PMWJ; PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue X, October. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/pmwj98-Oct2020-Pells-welcome-to-the-october-2020-pmwj-2.pdf
About the Author
David L. Pells
Managing Editor, PMWJ
Managing Director, PMWL
David L. Pells is Managing Editor of the PM World Journal (www.pmworldjournal.net) 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 35 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 agencies, 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, serving on the board of directors of the Project Management Institute (PMI®) 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; Project Management Associates (PMA – India); the Instituto Italiano di Project Management (ISIPM); and the Russian Project Management Association (SOVNET). Since 2010 he is 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/
