COMMENTARY

By Tasiyana Siavhundu

Gweru, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) is a quasi-governmental organisation whose four-fold mandate is to collect revenue, facilitate trade and travel, advise the government on fiscal and economic matters as well as protecting the civil society. Like any other organisation in the private or public sector, Zimbabwe’s revenue administrator can benefit substantially through embracing and fully implementing the project management methodology in its revenue administration and collection projects. The need to ensure synchronisation of projects and coordination of the implementation process resulted in ZIMRA establishing the Modernisation Projects Office (MPO) on 1 September 2011. ZIMRA’s current five-year strategic plan (running from 2019 to 20123) talks of the organisation’s adoption and application of international good practice project management principles to successfully implement its projects on time, within stated budget and scope.

Adopting a proper project management culture would undoubtedly assist the organisation in smoothly accomplishing its revenue generation endeavours especially at this point in time when the government is in dire need of funds to implement a plethora of national development projects meant to resuscitate dilapidated industries and restore the precarious economy to normalcy.

ZIMRA carries out a number of projects that inevitably require proper project management modalities and algorithms in their implementation. Such projects are found in various divisions of the organisation such as operations, ICT, finance and administration. Examples of projects that the organisation implement from time to time include ICT projects (e.g. installing software, servers etc.), construction projects (e.g. building staff dwellings, customs warehouses, office buildings etc.) as well as short to medium term revenue enhancement projects that are carried out by revenue officers on quarterly, semi-annual, annual or biennial basis.

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How to cite this article: Siavhundu, T. (2019). The Project Management Methodology to assist ZIMRA; PM World Journal, Vol. VIII, Issue IX, October.  Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/pmwj86-Oct2019-Siavhundu-project-management-methodology-to-assist-zimra.pdf

About the Author

Tasiyana Siavhundu

Gweru, Zimbabwe

Tasiyana Siavhundu is a member of the Project Management Zimbabwe (PMZ) with qualifications and experience in Project Management, Economics, Taxation as well as Investments and Portfolio Management. He is a holder of a B.Sc. Honours Degree in Economics, Master of Commerce Degree in Economics, Post-Graduate Diploma in Project Management, Executive Certificate in Investments and Portfolio Management, Advanced Certificate in Taxation as and many other qualifications.

Tasiyana has worked both in the private and public sectors in Zimbabwe. He is now employed as a Revenue Officer with the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) where he has been instrumental in economic research, revenue enhancement projects, taxpayer education, audits and so forth. He is very passionate about research work and has interests in the fields of Economics (particularly Public Economics), Project Management and Taxation.

Tasiyana Siavhundu can be contacted by email address: tsiavhundu@gmail.com

and related project management processes be considered for inclusion in the PMBOK® Guide­ Seventh Edition?

COMMENTARY

By Martin Smit, PhD

South Africa

Background

The author is now in a new phase of his life after he had to exit employment with his employer when he reached the age of 65. It is thus an opportune time for the author to do some reflection after having had the privilege to gain excellent experience in organisational project management during a working career of some 45 years. The author obtained his PMP® in 1992 (#1071). At that time the PMBOK® Guide (i.e. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge) had eight Project Management Knowledge Areas (Project Integration Management and Project Stakeholder Management were added later). In this opinion piece the author suggests that the Project Management Institute (PMI) Development and Review Team for the PMBOK® Guide­Seventh Edition should consider the possible inclusion of additional Project Management Knowledge Areas with their associated project management processes.

Keywords: project management knowledge areas; project management processes.

Project management processes and project Management Knowledge Areas

Project management processes

According to PMI (2017) project management is accomplished through the appropriate application and integration of logically grouped project management processes. PMI (2017) briefly describes a project management process as a systematic series of activities directed towards causing an end result where one or more inputs will be acted upon to create one or more outputs. PMI (2017) states that the project life cycle is managed by executing a series of project management activities known as project management processes. Every project management process produces one or more outputs from one or more inputs by using appropriate project management tools and techniques. The output can be a deliverable or an outcome which is an end result of a process. PMI (2017) mentions that these project management processes apply globally across industries and categorizes them by Project Management Knowledge Areas.

Project Management Knowledge Areas

PMI (2017) describes a Project Management Knowledge Area as an identified area of project management defined by its knowledge requirements and described in terms of its component processes, practices, inputs, outputs, tools and techniques. PMI (2017) clarifies that Project Management Knowledge Areas are fields or areas of specialization that are commonly employed when managing projects and that each Knowledge Area is a set of processes associated with a particular topic in project management. PMI (2017) mentions that the following ten Knowledge Areas are used on most projects most of the time:

• Project Integration Management.
• Project Scope Management.
• Project Schedule Management.
• Project Cost Management.
• Project Quality Management.
• Project Resource Management.
• Project Communication Management.
• Project Procurement Management.
• Project Stakeholder Management.

Possible Additional Project Management Knowledge Areas

PMI (2017) clarifies that the needs of a specific project may require additional Knowledge Areas. The author is of the opinion that consideration should be given for the inclusion of additional Project Management Knowledge Areas during the development and review of the PMBOK® Guide­Seventh Edition as these Knowledge Areas are commonly used on most of the projects most of the time, for example:

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How to cite this article: Smit, M.J. (2019). Should additional Project Management Knowledge Areas and related project management processes be considered for inclusion in the PMBOK® Guide­ Seventh Edition? PM World Journal, Vol. VIII, Issue IX, October.  Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/pmwj86-Oct2019-Smit-additional-project-management-knowledge-areas-for-pmbok-guide.pdf

About the Author

Martin J Smit, PhD, PMP®

Johannesburg, South Africa

Martin Smit is semi-retired and is the owner of a sole proprietorship, OrgPM-Value, that provides portfolio-, program- and project management consulting, education and training services and products to help organizations to create sustainable business value. His career spanned some 45 years. He worked for Eskom, the electricity utility in South Africa, for 39 years where he held various management positions in construction-, outage-, maintenance-, and project/program- management. During the latter years Martin worked in the Eskom Project Management Office (EPMO) as a Project Management Specialist/Consultant/Advisor. He has extensive experience in the development and application of project-, program- and portfolio- management methodologies, processes and best practices. Martin is certified as a facilitator to conduct project definition readiness assessments. He is also certified to facilitate learning, conduct outcomes-based assessments and moderation. Martin has developed and presented various project- and outage- management training courses.

Martin holds a MSc (Management of Technology and Innovation) from the Da Vinci Institute in the domain of Project Management and a PhD in Engineering from the North-West University in the field of Development and Management Engineering. The title of his thesis was: “Development of a project portfolio management model for execution organizational strategies: A normative case study.” He also has qualifications in civil and mechanical engineering, information management, management, and maintenance practice. Martin is registered as a Project Management Professional (PMP®).

During his career Martin has presented at various national and international conferences and he has also published articles in international journals.

Martin can be contacted at martin.smit@vodamail.co.za.

COMMENTARY

By John Schlichter

Georgia, USA

Discernment

I knew there were challenges associated with PMI’s governance of OPM3 from the beginning, but I stuck with it, believing we could work those things out, and my firm benefited even though some significant issues were never resolved satisfactorily. OPM Experts received OPM3-related requests from all kinds of fascinating organizations. Some requests we responded to directly, e.g. the governments of Hong Kong, Kurdistan, and Saudi Arabia, and blue chip companies like IBM, Johnson & Johnson, and Microsoft. Others we passed along to partners or colleagues, e.g. the government of Iran asked us to use OPM3 to audit all of Iran’s energy projects, starting with its nuclear portfolio, which we passed on due to sanctions. We made powerful friends along the way and have served a “who’s who” list of amazing entities whom we have helped achieve dramatic results in terms of strategy implementation. I wrote vignettes about some of these engagements: Amana, Battelle, CARICOM, European Union’s External Action Service, Harris Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Kurdistan Regional Government, Melco Crown, Microsoft, Northrop Grumman, Panasonic, Popular Financial, SAP, and Saudi Ministry of Interior. Overall, we had a good run with OPM3, and there is much more to come (though some stories may never be told), but OPM Experts moved on by creating a better model. We never wanted any conflict with PMI, whom we did our best to help create industry standards that would enable PMI to elevate the field of project management to the profession of project management.

My interest in these matters has evolved from OPM3’s apotheosis as I have cultivated empathy for the leaders involved in this narrative. Now I am more intrigued by the institutional logic of the profession than the conflicts of interest and specific instances of competition implied above. OPM Experts LLC is a firm of specialists, our place in our niche is secure, and if the Brightline brand was inspired by OPM Experts LLC we should be flattered (even if we were not acknowledged). However, OPM3’s fate and what followed beg questions that interest many: Where is PMI going? Who gains and who loses, and by which mechanisms of power? Is this development desirable? What, if anything, should we do about it? The logic that produced PMI’s decisions in the six episodes described above persists. Consequently, a schism appears to have emerged between those who envision PMI as a market specialist and those who envision PMI as a full-line generalist, i.e. two camps. There are those who believe PMI’s raison d’etre is to advocate the profession of most of its members (project managers) through standards, certifications, conferences, networking events, and educational materials. Full stop. There are others who believe PMI’s purpose is growth through expanding commercial endeavors, e.g. vertical integration, i.e. combining project management advocacy with strategy management advocacy in ways that make PMI look more and more like a strategy consulting firm. I am wary of people in the latter camp who rationalize their actions by suggesting it serves the former camp. Are you? We are faced with questions of phronesis that appear to some stakeholders all but lost to PMI’s leaders (especially leaders directly involved in these issues who dismiss these concerns with a wave of the hand). Has phronesis been lost to PMI executives in ways that have allowed a logic of instrumentality to trade PMI’s most noble aspirations for more pedestrian ambitions at society’s expense?

I will go on record as saying it is painfully clear to me the field of project management is not the profession of project management that it needs to be to meet the exponential future that is accelerating toward us. I have led countless assessments of Organizational Project Management in organizations of all kinds. One thing which has struck me is that so many of the organizations which have hired me to assess how capably they have implemented PMI standards have been organizations that fundamentally misunderstood the most important aspects of PMI’s standards. Organizations reap huge benefits by correcting those errors, but why were those errors made in the first place? Can we truly say that something is a standard if most organizations implementing it do so incorrectly? Then there is the question of certifications. If organizations comprised of professionals certified by PMI are implementing PMI standards incorrectly, what does that suggest about needing to improve the link between standards and certifications? More importantly, what do these things suggest about the opportunity to improve the efficacy of PMI’s standards and PMI’s certifications to help transform the field of project management into the profession of project management? Leaders interested in tackling that opportunity should consider the four freedoms essential to standards development (outlined above), and it may be helpful to debate whether PMI’s commercial interests have interfered with the standards development process. Could the American Medical Association create and arbitrate standards for America’s doctors if it engaged in the development of medical devices or the acquisition of hospitals? Could the American Bar Association create and arbitrate standards for America’s lawyers if it did any of the things that a law firm does or if it competed with companies the likes of LexisNexis or Amazon and proffered productivity tools or artificial intelligence products that changed the ways lawyers ply their trade? Doing so would surely alienate essential stakeholders and de-legitimatize the trade associations. In short, there are profound issues pertaining to codification of knowledge as standards and, by extension, profound issues pertaining to certifications, that merit any organization involved in such endeavors to seek root causes for those issues. Is commercialism a culprit?

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How to cite this article: Schlichter, J.  (2019). Alexander and the Indian King: Part 5; PM World Journal, Vol. VIII, Issue IX, October. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/pmwj86-Oct2019-Schlichter-Alexander-and-the-Indian-King-Part5.pdf

About the Author

John Schlichter

Atlanta, GA, USA

John Schlichter coined the term “Organizational Project Management” or “OPM,” which is the system for implementing the business strategy of an organization through projects. OPM became a global standard and is how companies throughout the world deliver projects valued in billions if not trillions of dollars. “John has contributed greatly to PMI,” Greg Balestrero, CEO, PMI Today, 2002. “In John’s role as the leader of PMI’s OPM3 program, he has immeasurably contributed to the growth of the profession,” Becky Winston, J.D., Chair of the Board of Directors, PMI Today, 2002. Having created OPM3© (an international standard in project, program, and portfolio management), John founded OPM Experts LLC, a firm delivering OPM solutions and a leading provider of maturity assessment services. Industry classifications: NAICS 541618 Other Management Consulting and NAICS 611430 Training. John is a member of the adjunct faculty of Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.

John can be contacted at jschlichter@opmexperts.com or frank.john.schlichter.iii@emory.edu.

To view more works by John Schlichter, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/john-schlichter/

The Post 9/11 World of Projects

COMMENTARY

By John Schlichter

Georgia, USA

It began as an ordinary day. Israel had surrounded another West Bank city. Michael Jordan was coming out of retirement for “love of the game.” Outside the weather was 72 degrees and sunny, but inside the headquarters of The Weather Channel (TWC) in Atlanta the mood turned dark before 9AM. Stacks of monitors at the international television network switched from images of complex weather systems to images of The World Trade Center in Manhattan as word spread that a plane had flown into one of the twin towers. Chaos unfolded on TV’s throughout TWC’s Information Technology department, where I was implementing a Project Management Office on behalf of the Chief Information Officer. Gasps erupted as a second plane appeared on banks of screens and crashed into Tower Two.

My phone rang with a call from the Project Management Institute to discuss the situation unfolding in New York. A number of people in cities throughout the world were scheduled to fly to my location in Atlanta for a meeting later that day to continue developing the OPM3 standard, work that I had conceived and proposed to PMI several years earlier and which I was leading on PMI’s behalf. No sooner had the members of our team decided not to fly than all US flights were grounded. The forecast had changed.

Seven years to the day after the Twin Towers fell on 9/11, accelerated computer-based trading caused a $550 billion draw-down of American money market accounts, nearly crippling the global economy in less than 24 hours. When the crisis hit historic projects like building the Hoover Dam ($78 million) and the Panama Canal ($790 million) were eclipsed by a $29.5 billion dollar bailout of Bear Sterns, followed by $97.2 billion for Bank of America, $97.4 billion for the American automobile industry, and $112 billion for AIG, which was almost as much as the $115 billion spent on the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II. This was followed by $139 billion for GE and $235 billion for Citigroup. Although the role of a healthy financial sector is to support the “real economy,” Americans began to wake up to the fact that the opposite had become the case with the tail wagging the dog (Figure 1).”

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How to cite this article: Schlichter, J.  (2019). New in Kind: The Post 9/11 World of Projects; PM World Journal, Vol. VIII, Issue IX, October.  Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/pmwj86-Oct2019-Schlichter-new-in-kind-post-911-world-of-projects.pdf

About the Author

John Schlichter

Atlanta, GA, USA

John Schlichter coined the term “Organizational Project Management” or “OPM,” which is the system for implementing the business strategy of an organization through projects. OPM became a global standard and is how companies throughout the world deliver projects valued in billions if not trillions of dollars. “John has contributed greatly to PMI,” Greg Balestrero, CEO, PMI Today, 2002. “In John’s role as the leader of PMI’s OPM3 program, he has immeasurably contributed to the growth of the profession,” Becky Winston, J.D., Chair of the Board of Directors, PMI Today, 2002. Having created OPM3© (an international standard in project, program, and portfolio management), John founded OPM Experts LLC, a firm delivering OPM solutions and a leading provider of maturity assessment services. Industry classifications: NAICS 541618 Other Management Consulting and NAICS 611430 Training. John is a member of the adjunct faculty of Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.

John can be contacted at jschlichter@opmexperts.com or frank.john.schlichter.iii@emory.edu.

To view more works by John Schlichter, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/john-schlichter/

for the Achievement of a Successful and Sustainable Power Supply in Nigeria

COMMENTARY

By O. Chima Okereke, PhD

Nigeria & UK

Introduction

This is a roadmap that presents a path consisting of various power plants, transmission and distribution systems with suggested timelines for their establishment. It may contain fossil fuel powered plants, renewable energy sources for grid and minigrid operations. It should provide a guide to the country to achieve a successful and sustainable power supply.  The timelines could stretch into years and decades. The capacities of the plants, transmission and distribution systems, including the minigrids shall be specified. This, I submit, is what the country needs to enable concerted and directed investments for the establishment of a successful and sustainable power supply over time. It should be developed by a team of independent experts on the power supply industry.

This suggestion was triggered by the contrasting messages received from information on two investigative panels in the UK and Nigeria respectively, set up by the two governments, which were in the news in August 2019.  As one read the two accounts, one could see that the UK panel has been so constituted and briefed to achieve its defined and specified objective. In my assessment, the Nigerian power panel has not been structured or empowered to provide a solution to our perennial and intractable power supply problem.  A short description of the panels will bear out these points.

The UK panel is to investigate the HS2 railway linking about 21 destinations which include Birmingham, Birmingham airport, Carlisle, Chesterfield, Crewe, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Manchester airport, Newcastle, Old Oak Common in London, Oxenholme, Penrith, Preston, Sheffield, Warrington and York on a mixture of existing and new high-speed track. It has been set up by the government and constituted by independent experts. Its terms of reference confirm that it will look at whether and how HS2 should proceed, using all existing evidence on the project to consider:

• its benefits and impacts
• affordability and efficiency
• deliverability and scope
• its phasing, including its relationship with Northern Powerhouse Rail

The second panel is on power projects set up by the government of President Buhari to probe the $16 billion invested by former governments on the power projects. On 29^th August, Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian law enforcement agency that investigates financial crimes, arrested four officers of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) on their probe of the $16 billion invested by former governments on the power projects. From this development, it appears that the probe is being conducted by the EFCC [1].

In the absence of any other terms of reference, we would quote the President who reportedly stated: “The previous government mentioned on their own that they spent $16bn on power but you are better witnesses than myself. Where is the power? Where is the money? We will follow them, eventually God willing, we will catch them and get our money back.” [2]

What could be inferred from the quoted statement is that the president and some others expected the $16 billion to be adequate to produce the national grid power supply. The resulting power should so serve the whole nation that everyone will “be witnesses” that the fund has been judiciously and properly invested.

In writing the foregoing statements, this writer has no moral right to question the president’s decision to institute a probe. Given his much-publicised mantra on anticorruption, it is his prerogative to choose what he does. However, if the objective is to alleviate and resolve the nation’s persistent grossly inadequate power problem which seems to defy solutions, we submit that producing a roadmap for achieving a successful and sustainable power supply should be the way forward.

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How to cite this article: Okereke, O.C. (2019). Required: A Roadmap for the Achievement of a Successful and Sustainable Power Supply in Nigeria; PM World Journal, Vol. VIII, Issue IX, October. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/pmwj86-Oct2019-Okereke-roadmap-for-sustainable-power-supply-in-nigeria.pdf

About the Author

Chima Okereke, PhD, PMP

Herefordshire, UK

Dr. O. Chima Okereke, Ph.D., MBA, PMP is the Managing Director and CEO of Total Technology Consultants, Ltd., a project management consulting company working in West Africa and the UK.  He is a visiting professor, an industrial educator, a multidisciplinary project management professional, with over 25 years’ experience in oil and gas, steel and power generation industries. For example, On December 26^th 2013, he completed an assignment as a visiting professor in project management; teaching a class of students on Master’s degree in project management in the Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia.  In August and September 2013, he conducted an innovative, and personally developed training programme for seventy six well engineers of Shell Nigeria to enhance the efficiency of their operations using project and operations management processes.

Before embarking on a career in consulting, he worked for thirteen years in industry rising to the position of a chief engineer with specialisation in industrial controls and instrumentation, electronics, electrical engineering and automation. During those 13 years, he worked on every aspect of projects of new industrial plants including design, construction and installation, commissioning, and engineering operation and maintenance in process industries.  Chima sponsored and founded the potential chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI®) in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, acting as president from 2004 to 2010.

Dr. Okereke has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Lagos, and a PhD and Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Bradford in the UK.  He also has a PMP® certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI®) which he passed at first attempt.  He has been a registered engineer with COREN in Nigeria since 1983.  For many years, Total Technology has been a partner for Oracle Primavera Global Business Unit, a representative in Nigeria of Oracle University for training in Primavera project management courses, and a Gold Level member of Oracle Partner Network (OPN. He is a registered consultant with several UN agencies.  More information can be found at http://www.totaltechnologyconsultants.org/.

Chima is the publisher of Project Management Business Digest, a blog aimed at helping organizations use project management for business success.  Dr. Okereke is also an international editorial advisor for the PM World Journal. He can be contacted at chima.okereke@totaltechnologyconsultants.com   or info@totaltechnologyconsultants.org.

 To view other works by Chima Okereke, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/dr-o-chima-okereke/