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Are project management processes correctly mapped

June 4, 2020 By

to the Project Management Process Groups in the PMBOK® Guide (PMI, 2017) from a project life cycle perspective?

 

COMMENTARY

By Martin J. Smit, PhD

Johannesburg, South Africa

 

 

Background

In a commentary article that was published in the PM World Journal in October 2019 the author mentioned that he 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. The author stated that it is an opportune time for him 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. In the article that was published in October 2019 the author suggested that the Project Management Institute (PMI) Development and Review Team for the PMBOK® Guide­ Seventh Edition should consider the possible inclusion of additional Project Management Knowledge Areas with their associated project management processes, for example:

  • Project Benefits Realization
  • Project Knowledge Management.
  • Project Documentation and Records Management.
  • Project Issue Management.
  • Project Organizational Change Management.

In this new commentary article the author suggests that some of the project management processes of some of the Project Management Knowledge Areas in the current PMBOK® Guide ­Sixth Edition (PMI, 2017) are not correctly mapped to the Project Management Process Groups if viewed from a project life cycle perspective. During his career the author was the custodian responsible for the development and maintenance of Project Life Cycle Models.

The author is aware that The Standard for Project Management­ Seventh Edition Exposure Draft (PMI, 2020) that was released for comment provides a common basis for and understanding of project delivery that applies to any project or delivery approach such as predictive, agile, and hybrid. This standard describes a Value Delivery System that represents a departure from what has historically been a process-orientated approach to a principle-based approach that supports any type of project. The author is however unsure how this change in approach will affect the contents of the PMBOK® Guide ¬ Seventh Edition. According to an article by Dash (2019) the current PMP exam domains (Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing) will be replaced by new domains (People, Process, and Business Improvement) for the new PMP exam that will be launched later in 2020.

PMI (2020) further mentions that for a project manager to successfully manage a project he/she needs to understand how to apply the project management processes for each of the Project Management Knowledge Areas according to the project management delivery approach (i.e. predictive, agile, or hybrid) that are the most appropriate for the project. If the author understands it correctly it seems that the project management processes for each of the project delivery approaches will be included in the new PMBOK® Guide ¬ Seventh Edition in the format of a Digital Content Platform.

Keywords: project management processes, project management process groups; project life cycle.

Project management processes, project Management process Groups and project life cycle

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

Project Management Process Groups

PMI (2017) describes a Project Management Process Group as a logical grouping of project management inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs. PMI (2017) groups project management processes into the following five Project Management Process Groups:

 

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How to cite this article: Smit, M.J. (2020). Are project management processes correctly mapped to the Project Management Process Groups in the PMBOK® Guide (PMI, 2017) from a project life cycle perspective? PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue VI, June.  Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/pmwj94-Jun2020-Smit-pm-processes-mapped-to-process-groups-in-pmbok-guide.pdf

 

 

About the Author

 


Martin J Smit, PhD, PMP®

Johannesburg, South Africa

 

 Martin Smit is semi-retired and 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 an Organizational Project Management Specialist. 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 has been a Project Management Professional (PMP®) since 1992 (No. 1071).

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

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

 

 

Filed Under: Commentaries

The Pillars of Project Leadership

June 4, 2020 By

 

COMMENTARY

By Hadi Colakoglu

Ankara, Turkey

 

 

In today’s economy, not only the businessmen and companies but also the countries unfortunately file for bankruptcy. The reason for this to me is bad management and furthermore the lack of good leaders. I believe that we need good leaders now more than ever.

No company or organization can exist without successful projects. In today’s world, the success rate of projects is below 40%. This points out the importance and necessity of good project managers. Than the key question is, “How can we increase the chances of success for our projects?” First of all, of course we should be skilled and good project managers but is it enough?  Well, not most of the time as it seems…We should be Project Leaders…

The five key pillars of Project Leadership are as follows:

Vision

“Numbers aren’t the vision, numbers are the products and
I don’t talk the numbers.”

— Jack Welch

Great leaders always have a vision and they really work hard to realize it. Since “vision” is basicallly a concept of strategy, it is directly related to strategic leadership. “Our project is only a six month project. What vision are you talking about?” I hear you asking. You could be right in time perspective but you should also use the power and leverage of the vision. You could imagine the end of the project, illustrate it, find a hitting slogan and share all these with your stakeholders.

 

Influence

“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.”

— Ken Blanchard

Leadership means influence. You could observe the best and lean examples of this in the volunteering organizations. In other organizations, your job is rather easy. The one who has the status, also has the legitimate power. If you are a boss, you may fire your people or promote them. In volunteering organizations, you cannot force your people for anything. If the leader has no influence, the volunteers won’t follow him. As Dale Carnegie emphasizes, “There is only one way to get anybody to do anything and that is by making the other person want to do it.”

 

Motivation

“Management is nothing more than motivating other people.”

— Lee Iacocca

Common motivation theories so far, are becoming inadequate day by day in this era of changes. Daniel Pink, in his book “Drive”; says that the employee’s motivation can be evolved in three stages in history. Motivation 1.0 approach is about maintaining the life such as eating, drinking, breeding etc. In other words, that is the bottom of the Maslow’s Pyramid. Motivation 2.0 covers rewards and punishment mechanisms. So, that is the “carrots and sticks”… Pink implies that old school rewards such as money, benefits or promotion are not often working today. The bottom line of the Motivation 3.0 is the employee’s autonomy to do the job the way and at the time they want. The three main elements of this approach are autonomy, goal and the mastery.

 

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Editor’s note: Submittal of this article was facilitated by PMWJ correspondent Ipek Sahra Ozguler

How to cite this article: Author last name, first initial (2020). Title, PM World Journal, Volume IX, Issue VI, June How to cite this article: Colakoglu, H. (2020). The Pillars of Project Leadership; PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue VI, June. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/pmwj94-Jun2020-Colakoglu-the-pillares-of-project-leadership.pdf

 

 

About the Author

 


Hadi Colakoglu

Ankara, Turkey

 

 

Hadi Colakoglu is a management and leadership expert, an international leadership speaker, and the author of the book “Be the Leader of Your Projects”. He is also an author at Harvard Business Review-Turkey. Some of his presentations and trainings have reached thousands of people.

Starting with the defense industry, he has more than twenty years of experience, as a senior software engineer, leader, and project manager and led many teams. He has been a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) Turkey Chapter Board of Directors and he holds the PMP® Credential.

He has a thorough working project management knowledge and experience and has trained hundreds of people over the last seven years. The first edition of his book is sold only in eleven months. Hadi and his wife Nursel live in Ankara. They have 2 children- Mete and Miray. He likes motorcycling and climbing the mountains.

 

 

Filed Under: Commentaries

From a Mentee to a Mentor

June 4, 2020 By

 

COMMENTARY

By Aina Aliieva

Vancouver, BC, Canada

 

 

We didn’t have mentorship programs when I started my career in Ukraine. Having been born in a post-Soviet Union country in an industrial city, my choices were very limited. I didn’t even know the word “Mentor”. Of course we had teachers, professors and bosses, yet these people weren’t the right ones for me. I had an inner desire to meet someone but I couldn’t even express who I was looking for.

I was lucky. My first boss became my mentor. We didn’t refer to our relationship as a “Mentorship” since we didn’t know this word. However, she taught me a lot and I still remember her advice.

Unfortunately, my first mentorship didn’t last long. Due to very sad circumstances, I lost my boss and got another job. The new job environment was very different. Nobody cared about me. I was desperately looking for someone who could provide me with a relationship similar to what I had with my previous boss but this didn’t happen. On the one hand, I wanted to become independent, learn how to make decisions and mitigate risks. On the other hand, I wanted to feel safe and comfortable and just have someone tell me what to do and what is right. Do you sense the irony?

I struggled. I had the feeling that I was inventing the bicycle while everybody else was driving a car. I knew that “bicycles” existed but no one could show them to me. I kept inventing. I invented “triangular wheels” and made many other mistakes until I created the first more or less useful “bicycle”. I knew that I suffered and put in so much effort for nothing. It would have been much easier and quicker if someone just gave me directions!

Time passed. I moved to Canada. Here I was introduced to a proper mentorship program. I felt so good! Finally, someone to teach me! I thought the only thing I needed was to find a good mentor and then I would easily figure out what to do with my life and my career would skyrocket. You probably already guessed what happened next. I found my mentor but our relationship didn’t work. In my mind, the Mentor was like a Prince on a White Horse; a knowledgeable and powerful person who would save me from my doubts, routines and struggles. Sheryl Sandberg said a very good phrase: “we need to stop saying, “get a mentor and you will excel.” Instead, we need to say, “Excel and you will get a mentor”.

Eventually, I came to understand what these relationships were about. I applied for different programs, met great people and had awesome mentors. I understood what I wanted, received certifications and grew professionally. And last year for the first time in my life, I became a mentor myself. It was so thrilling and exciting!

 

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How to cite this article: Aliieva, A. (2020). From a Mentee to a Mentor; PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue VI, June. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/pmwj94-Jun2020-Aliieva-from-mentee-to-mentor.pdf

 

 

About the Author

 


Aina Aliieva

Vancouver, BC, Canada

 

Aina Aliieva is a Scrum Master with 4 years of experience in Project Management and 4 years in an Agile environment.  She is also CEO and instructor in Bee Agile Tutoring. She teaches Project Management, Agile and goal setting for organizations around the world. She has managed and consulted on projects for the technical, construction, and engineering disciplines.

Aina has a Masters’s degree in electrical engineering and an MBA in technology. She has PMP and PMI-ACP certificates.

Aina is an active member of PMI CWCC (Canadian West Coast Chapter), PMI Ukraine Chapter and UAE PMI. She is also a Program Manager, Disciplined Agile in PMI CWCC.

Aina is an experienced public speaker and coach. She also helps in personal planning and setting up goals.

In her free time, Aina participates in different mentorship programs, speaks at webinars and interviews people for her personal blog.

She can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/aina-aliieva/

 

 

Filed Under: Commentaries

National Academy of Construction

May 7, 2020 By

Focuses on Generational Imperatives

 

COMMENTARY

By Bob Prieto

Chairman & CEO
Strategic Program Management LLC

Jupiter, Florida

 

 

The National Academy of Construction, founded in 1999, has continued to grow its focus and membership in ways that become increasingly relevant to the United States in the years ahead. Originally focused on honoring key individuals in the profession, the very nature of its members as leaders soon drove it to seek to proactively contribute to the industry in which they have served with distinction throughout their professional careers.

Initial contributions focused in the area of safety, a perennial industry challenge. Over the last 15 years nearly 50 safety white papers have been published and shared broadly throughout the industry with NAC often acting as a convener around this topic and also workforce development.

More recently the NAC has intensified its efforts to support the generational transfer of construction related knowledge while at the same time sharing their insights based on decades of senior executive experience and involvement in emerging challenges and opportunities the industry is facing. Today the National Academy of Construction (NAC) drives this increasingly important sharing of knowledge through two primary vehicles.

The first of these vehicles is Executive Insights. Executive Insights captures the knowledge, experience, and wisdom gained through individual NAC member’s leadership roles in the construction industry. To date sixty insights have been published by NAC and are freely available to clients, engineers, project and construction managers, and contractors, worldwide.

Executive Insights cover a broad range of areas, reflecting the breadth and depth of its over 300 members. The major topical areas addressed include:

  • General topics, encompassing strategies to improve large project delivery; the nuts and bolts of engineering and construction; capital project execution in an operating environment; and post disaster engineering and construction. Improving large project delivery is a theme that runs through many of the Executive Insights and reflects the ongoing imperative to improve project performance which has now risen to a generational imperative.
  • Accelerating project delivery, addressing topics ranging from owner procured materials, partnering and improving workflows on tomorrows projects. Recent challenges faced as a result of COVID-19 highlight the importance of these capabilities and the insights shared, together with ones that will arise by NAC members most recent experience will help address what will undoubtedly become a growing generational imperative. The recognition of using schedule to drive project performance and outcomes was only made clear in the COVID crisis.
  • Construction driven design, looks at some insights gained on major design- build efforts and reflects some of the considerations that likely were front of mind for the original “Master Builders”. The NAC’s members, through Executive Insights, seek to help the next generation of “Master Builders” including those contemplating entering the profession.
  • Estimating project cost, focused on sharing best practices, insights from a C-suite level and lessons learned to improve the completeness and accuracy of the cost baselines of the projects we undertake. The range of Executive Insights already prepared is impressive, addressing scope required for quality estimates, costing of projects and bidding for profit under a number of different scenarios.

 

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How to cite this article: Prieto, R. (2020). National Academy of Construction Focuses on Generational Imperatives; PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue V, May. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/pmwj93-May2020-Prieto-Natonal-Academy-of-Construction-Focuses-on-Gerational-Imperatives.pdf

 

 

About the Author

 


Bob Prieto

Chairman & CEO
Strategic Program Management LLC
Jupiter, Florida, USA

 

 

Bob Prieto is a senior executive effective in shaping and executing business strategy and a recognized leader within the infrastructure, engineering and construction industries. Currently Bob heads his own management consulting practice, Strategic Program Management LLC. He previously served as a senior vice president of Fluor, one of the largest engineering and construction companies in the world. He focuses on the development and delivery of large, complex projects worldwide and consults with owners across all market sectors in the development of programmatic delivery strategies. He is author of nine books including “Strategic Program Management”, “The Giga Factor: Program Management in the Engineering and Construction Industry”, “Application of Life Cycle Analysis in the Capital Assets Industry”, “Capital Efficiency: Pull All the Levers” and, most recently, “Theory of Management of Large Complex Projects” published by the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) as well as over 650 other papers and presentations

Bob is an Independent Member of the Shareholder Committee of Mott MacDonald. He is a member of the ASCE Industry Leaders Council, National Academy of Construction, a Fellow of the Construction Management Association of America and member of several university departmental and campus advisory boards. Bob served until 2006 as a U.S. presidential appointee to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Advisory Council (ABAC), working with U.S. and Asia-Pacific business leaders to shape the framework for trade and economic growth. He had previously served as both as Chairman of the Engineering and Construction Governors of the World Economic Forum and co-chair of the infrastructure task force formed after September 11th by the New York City Chamber of Commerce. Previously, he served as Chairman at Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) and a non-executive director of Cardno (ASX)

Bob can be contacted at rpstrategic@comcast.net.

 

 

Filed Under: Commentaries

How to practice Agile in times of COVID-19

May 1, 2020 By

 

COMMENTARY

By Aina Aliieva

Vancouver, BC, Canada

 

 

This is the first time in a history of humanity when the whole world is dealing with the same problem, discussing the same news and complaining about ruined plans. Same as others, I also had many plans for this spring. I planned to finally go back to my hometown after 6 years of living abroad, participate in a couple of conferences and learn salsa. Even now I had completely different plans for this long Easter weekend rather then writing this article. But life is unpredictable and that’s why I love it.

Coming to Canada around 5 years ago I learnt the term “Agile”. The initial meaning of this term is “able to move quickly and easily.” There is a specific meaning if we talk about the style of work in the organization: “a method of project management, used especially for software development, that is characterized by the division of tasks into short phases of work and frequent reassessment and adaptation of plans.” Having understood that I had an agile mindset a long time before I learned this word, I was inspired to use agility not just in a work environment but in personal planning. I wrote a couple of articles about agile in personal planning, spoke at several events and conferences and even started writing a book. However, nowadays I have a chance to be agile, adaptable and flexible not just at work and personal planning but in my life in general.

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The first sign of agility and flexibility is how quickly I can adapt to new circumstances and reprioritize my goals and activities under the present situation. From time to time during the retrospectives with my teams at work I ask 2 questions:

 “What we can control?”, “What we can’t control?”

We write a list of obstacles and then identify if we can control it or not. If there is something out of our control, so why not just accept the reality and adapt. For example, nowadays I can’t control the COVID spreading or length of quarantine. So, the option I have is just admitting the reality and live according to it. The other question is what I can control. There are so many things under my control, so why not concentrate on them?!

  • I can control my emotions, reactions and mindfulness
  • I can control my attitude
  • I can keep following my habits while working from home, such as wake up early, dress up and so on
  • I can’t control the amount of upsetting news I read per day

I can keep writing items for my list, but I think the idea is clear.

Another question I like to ask myself is “What challenges do I have?”.  “Challenges” is a different word from “blockers” or something which is completely out of my control. “Challenges” means that there is something on my way which makes it more difficult but not impossible. For example, I do public speaking. I love it. But I always do it face to face with the audience and have never done it online. So, now my challenge is to learn how to do webinars and deliver information without having constant eye contact with people.

As some of you already guessed it is not enough just to identify challenges. It is important to create a plan on how I can overcome them. So, my next question is: “How to overcome the challenges I have?” For example, to overcome a challenge of delivering information using a different style on webinars might be to be better prepared to make sure that I know exactly who my audience is, are they multicultural people or is it just one culture, to use examples related to this specific audience and prepare jokes keeping in mind the cultural adjustments.

 

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How to cite this article: How to cite this article: Aliieva, A. (2020). How to practice Agile in times of COVID-19; PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue V, May. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/pmwj93-May2020-Aliieva-how-to-practice-agile-in-times-of-covid-19.pdf

 

 

About the Author

 


Aina Aliieva

Vancouver, BC, Canada

 

 

Aina Aliieva is a Scrum Master with 4 years of experience in Project Management and 4 years in an Agile environment.  She is also CEO and instructor in Bee Agile Tutoring. She teaches Project Management, Agile and goal setting for organizations around the world. She has managed and consulted on projects for the technical, construction, and engineering disciplines.

Aina has a Masters’s degree in electrical engineering and an MBA in technology. She has PMP and PMI-ACP certificates.

Aina is an active member of PMI CWCC (Canadian West Coast Chapter), PMI Ukraine Chapter and UAE PMI. She is also a Program Manager, Disciplined Agile in PMI CWCC.

Aina is an experienced public speaker and coach. She also helps in personal planning and setting up goals.

In her free time, Aina participates in different mentorship programs, speaks at webinars and interviews people for her personal blog.

She can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/aina-aliieva/

 

 

Filed Under: Commentaries

The Corona Pandemic

April 4, 2020 By

and the importance of projects at societal level

 

COMMENTARY

By Reinhard Wagner

Germany

 

 

In many parts of the world, life is currently coming to a standstill. Freedoms of assembly and travel are being massively restricted, entire industries are paralysed due to trade barriers and employees in certain regions or even countries must work from home. These are not scenes from a science fiction movie, but unfortunately reality due to the spread of the corona virus.

This of course also has consequences for project-related work. Meetings within the framework of projects can now only be held virtually because international travel is reduced to a minimum. Development aid projects will of course be limited by the virus. Trainings and events (e.g. of the global project management associations) to exchange experiences and build up know-how are only possible virtually for the time being. All in all, this will probably slow us down by at least six months in development. The panic selling on various stock markets indicates the extent of the economic distortions, but even worse are of course the social distortions, as can be seen in the example of hamster purchases.

On the other hand, the crisis has made it evident that it requires the cooperation of everyone in society to be able to cope with a crisis of such magnitude. It starts at the level of neighbourhood help, where younger people offer the elderly to do their shopping. Companies support suppliers, service providers and above all freelancers in replacing the loss of physical cooperation and income with home office or other virtual forms of cooperation. Of course, cooperation at the level of local authorities, states, government, regional and international organisations is also important. In addition to ad-hoc measures, intensive communication across all media, it is above all the organization of targeted projects such as the expansion of medical care facilities, securing the supply of food and critical infrastructure facilities, and even financial support for companies and citizens in need. All measures that involve medium- and long-term support necessitate the approaches of project, programme and portfolio management.

Therefore, a research programme recently launched by Alma Mater Europaea entitled “Capabilities for delivering projects in the context of societal development (CaProSoc)” is so relevant. It brings together over 70 partners from more than 50 countries who are working together envisioning that “all actors involved in sustainable societal development are aware of the role projects have in society and use projects effectively for the benefits of society.” Why do we need a programme such as CaProSoc? Because we need to have an impact on societal development, help society to develop through projects and project management in sectors beyond economy and industry, making sense of projects and showing ways of dealing with the increasing number of societal challenges (e.g. climate change). Furthermore, the idea of CaProSoc is relating project management to civil society and addressing a wider audience (including but not limited to charities, communities as well as a wider scientific community). CaProSoc is unique, as it provides  multi-perspective views (with different disciplines, cultures, domains etc. involved) on the topic, is grounded in practice learning for application in divers areas and acts as single point of information for research and information on this topic. CaProSoc will provide a forward-looking perspective on the future role of projects for society and utilizes projects as a learning field.

 

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How to cite this article: Wagner, R. (2020). The Corona Pandemic and the importance of projects at the societal level, PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue IV, April. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/pmwj92-Apr2020-Wagner-corona-pandemic-and-importance-of-societal-projects.pdf

 

 

About the Author


Reinhard Wagner

Germany

 

 

 

Reinhard Wagner has been active for more than 30 years in the field of project- related leadership, in various sectors of Industry and not-for-profit organizations. Since 2002 he has been actively involved in the development of national as well as international project, programme and portfolio management standards, for example as Convenor of ISO 21503 “Guidance on Programme Management” and ISO 21500 “Guidance on Project Management”, as Project Manager for the IPMA Organisational Competence Baseline and IPMA Delta as well as a Subject Matter Expert for several other standards. Reinhard is Chairman of IPMA´s Council of Delegates, an Honorary Chairman of GPM (German Project Management Association) as well as Managing Director of Tiba Managementberatung GmbH, one of the leading PM Consultancies in Germany. Since 2006 Reinhard has been participating and supporting scientific projects and research in the field of project management. So far he has edited and published more than 35 textbooks and hundreds of articles and blog posts. He is currently writing his doctoral thesis on the topic of Project Society. He can be contacted at reinhard.wagner@almamater.si

 

 

 

Filed Under: Commentaries

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Influence in Project Management

February 5, 2020 By

 

COMMENTARY

By Chanchal Gupta

Pittsburgh, PA, USA

 

 

ABSTRACT

Today, Digital transformation is disruptive in every aspect of life. It’s not a wonder to see all the human intensive works are being replaced by robots. Companies are looking for various ways to enhance the performance, accountability, reliability and low-cost options. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has come a long way, and in most cases its helpful to solve the current needs of human being. Many industries have focused to build the AI enabled Project Management tools to help project managers to manage their project. Technical enthusiastic are looking ways to automate tedious task of management which is essential for project success. So far, it looks promising and looks like we are going forward to see other major initiatives in this area.

Keywords: Project Management, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Transformation, Agile

INTRODUCTION

Before AI enabled tools, it was nightmare for project managers to document everything and keep project on track. Co-ordination and doing alignment among the stockholders were difficult. Traditional project management require co-ordination, follow up and many meetings to update the stockholders on project status. One project required many resources to manage project. There used to be individual project manager to manage one module of the project. Lots of intervention/involvement needed from the PMO team to keep project on track.

The role of Artificial Intelligence has evolved in the recent past. Artificial Intelligence enabled tools coming handy for project managers to manage people and projects, it helping to keep the projects on time, on budget, and people on task. These tools are single source of truth and allowing you to manage, Resources, Timeline, Dependencies, Cost and send remainders to responsible parties as required to complete the task. It’s helping in various ways to mitigate the project risks. AI has enabled the project resources to update their task status, change the status, post questions as required, which has minimized the co-ordination task significantly. Various studies as shown that Project managers spends more than half of their time on administrative tasks such as dealing with check-ins and managing updates.

Does it mean AI will replace Project managers (PM)? I don’t think so. There are various ways AI can help reduce the project managers task for record keeping and sending reminders, updating status, and notifying stack holders. There are other tasks, like, influencing, negotiating and encouraging to work to achieve the common goal cannot be ignored. Work experience, human influence and encouragement plays a vital role in project success.

Advantages of using AI tools for Project Management

Integration: AI automation tools have enabled opportunity to integrate multiple platform tools for reporting and status tracking of the whole project. By using these tools, we can look the resource allocations, current status of task, and send notification if any risk occurs. It also helps us to send reminders to respective team members to mitigate risk. We can even integrate the project management tools to the source controls, so it can be tracked in real time.

Documentation: Driving projects requires lots of documentation. AI tools helps us to draft document templates, collect data from various systems and helps us to create documentations for successful projects. It also keeps some repetitive documentation handy to use as needed.

Reporting: Project management tools made reporting easy, we can check current status of the work on fly. As soon as we complete our task, it shows up in the report and we don’t have to spend additional time to make reports. We can also customize reports based on individual needs.

Forecasting: We can use AI tools for the resource forecasting, budget, risk and allocation. Again, it gives us opportunity to use resources at optimum capacity.  Ultimately it adds up to the company growth and profit sharing.

Predictive Analysis: AI tools enables us to create the future models, based on our learnings. Data is King to leverage AI. Data helps us to create right models. More the merrier. So, when we are working in the current projects, these tools are collecting all these data to make tool smarter and will help us in the long run to make decisions. It will enable us with data backup to propose the project plans based on our past projects.

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To read entire article, click here

 

How to cite this article: Gupta, C. (2020). Artificial Intelligence (AI) Influence in Project Management; PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue II, February. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/pmwj90-Feb2020-Gupta-artificial-intelligence-influence-in-project-management.pdf

 

 

About the Author

 


Chanchal Gupta, MBA

Pittsburgh, PA, USA

 

 

Chanchal Gupta is a Senior Digital Technical Project Manager who has served as as project management expert and leader in the software development since 2007. He now works as a Manager, Digital deployment and Vendor Management for a Pharmaceutical company and responsible for managing digital projects and operations. Chanchal is highly knowledgeable in software development, requirements analysis, digital transformation projects, cloud computing, architecture, database design, and excel and at creating and implementing technical and operational plans and strategies.

Chanchal Gupta can be contacted at chanchalpgupta@gmail.com

 

 

Filed Under: Commentaries

Islandness, Lifeboat Ethics and Sustainable Development Projects

February 5, 2020 By

in Small Island Communities: Musings of a Native Islander

 

COMMENTARY

By Isaac Abuya, PhD

Nairobi, Kenya

 

 

Sustainable developments in small island communities and states in developing countries largely depend on how designers and implementers of development projects in the islands integrate Islandness and Lifeboat ethics in the islands’ development programming. Integration and affirmation of Islandness, the heightened metaphysical sensation of sacredness, awe and specialness of islands, moderated by lifeboat ethics (a communal ethics of care of the shared but scarce resources of our small islands), may be the missing links in sustainable development programming in small island communities and states in developing countries. There is growing concern, however, that Mainlandness, a concept that I introduce and conceptualize as the heightened existential experience of profanity, irreverence, contempt and indifference that characterise mainland ethics and development, may be finding its way in small island communities. Mainlandness, the very antithesis of islandness and lifeboat ethics, is buttressed by a spaceship ethics (an ethics of wasteful development, effluent and environmental degradation that pervade mainland developments) may soon sound the death knell of small island communities, especially in developing and emerging island economies; if islanders themselves do not check the untrammeled wasteful and unsustainable development projects in the islands. Sustainable development projects in small island communities and states should integrate and affirm the sacredness and specialness of our islands. Islanders, irrespective of where they live, have only one home. Our islands. Development projects in the island should therefore integrate islandness and the ethics of care in their design, implementation and evaluation. This commentary is expected to expand the debate and scholarship on the concept of project environment. It is also expected that the commentary will ignite interest among project management researchers on how to address the challenges inherent in the design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects in small islands. I hope that islandness and lifeboat ethics will promote discourse on project management scholarship and programming in small island communities and states.

Sustainable development in small island communities largely depend on how designers and implementers of development projects in the islands integrate Islandness and lifeboat ethics in the islands’ developments. Integration and affirmation of Islandness (a concept that has been widely discussed in island development studies, but which I define as the heightened metaphysical sensation of sacredness, awe and specialness of islands), moderated by Lifeboat Ethics (which I conceptualize as a communal ethics of care of the shared but scarce resources in small islands), may be the missing links in sustainable development programming in small island communities and states in developing countries. However, there is growing concern that Mainlandness, a concept that I introduce and conceptualize as the heightened existential experience of profanity, irreverence, contempt and indifference that characterise mainland worldview and development, may be finding its way in our small islands. Mainlandness, the very antithesis of islandness and lifeboat ethics, is buttressed by a spaceship ethics; an ethics of wasteful development, effluent and environmental degradation that pervade mainland developments, may soon sound the death knell of small island communities, especially in developing and emerging island economies, if islanders themselves do not check the untrammeled wasteful developments in the islands.  Sustainable development in small island communities and states should integrate and affirm the sacredness and specialness of our islands. Island development without islandness is unsustainable.

Island communities are some of the most vulnerable and at risk geographical spaces in the world. With an estimated 600 million inhabitants, islands are more likely to experience extensive and intrusive developments to cater for the growing needs of the island population, investors and island visitors. With the heightened destination branding of islands, islands in the 21st century will experience more pervasive developments, especially in tourism related development projects. Moreover, with the escalating allure of islands as place destinations, reinforced by the predominant feelings of specialness, sacredness and awe that islands impose on islanders and island visitors alike, 21st century islands will experience more troubling and pressured intrusion of mainlandness and wasteful developments. The pressure will be experienced and exerted more on islands’ physical spaces and environments. Evidence from islands in developing economies suggest that ‘hospitality effluent’: hard and solid wastes and pollutants from island hotels, resorts, lodges and other related hospitality facilities, continue to exert untold toll on environmental integrity in most islands.

More…

To read entire article, click here

 

How to cite this article: Abuya, I.O. (2020). Islandness, Lifeboat Ethics and Sustainable Development Projects in Small Island Communities: Musings of a Native Islander; PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue II, February.  Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/pmwj90-Feb2020-Abuya-islandness-lifeboat-ethics-and-sustainable-development-of-small-islands.pdf

 

 

About the Author

 


Isaac Odhiambo Abuya, PhD

Nairobi, Kenya

 

 

 

Isaac Odhiambo Abuya teaches project planning and management and also coordinates the PhD, Master and Bachelor Programmes in Project Management at the University of Nairobi, Kisumu Campus. His research interests include the integration of multidisciplinary perspectives in project management research and their application to small island and minority and vulnerable communities and populations. He has a combined 25 years of experience in teaching both in high schools and universities in Kenya and in managing development projects in the country. He was a Project Director at World Vision Kenya, National Programme Manager at AED/FHI 360, Project Coordinator at ADRA International, Programmes Coordinator at Nyanza Reproductive Health Society(NRHS), and Chief of Staff, Homa Bay County, Kenya. Isaac has consulted for leading non- governmental organizations in sub- Saharan Africa. He holds Master and PhD degrees in Project Planning and Management from the University of Nairobi, a Master of Arts degree in Counselling Psychology from Kenyatta University, Kenya and a Bachelor of Education degree (History and Religion majors) from Egerton University, Kenya. Isaac is also a non-paid Director of Better Futures for Children, an island-based organization (IBO) committed to advancing reading literacy among orphans and vulnerable children in small islands in Kenya’s Lake Vitoria. Isaac is a native resident of Rusinga Island. He is working towards the development of Island Research for Island Development Initiative (IRIDI), to advocate for the translation of research conducted in Kenya’s small islands to support sustainable development of the small islands.

Dr Abuya serves as an Honorary Academic Advisor for the PM World Journal and Library. He can be reached through his email at isaacabuya@yahoo.com or isaac.abuya@uonbi.ac.ke

 

 

Filed Under: Commentaries

Alexander and the Indian King – Part 7

December 8, 2019 By

 

COMMENTARY

By John Schlichter

Georgia, USA

 

 

Products and services that are non-essential to what makes PMI what it is should remain beyond PMI’s remit, e.g. project scheduling or communications technologies enabled by  artificial intelligence or Brightline’s prospective product to enable customers to self-assess strategy design capabilities. By contrast, products and services that improve PMI’s ability to perform its essential functions should be perfected. i.e. PMI’s essential function to develop technical and ethical standards, promote those standards by distributing them at no charge, certifying people in thoses standards, etc. Think about it. Should PMI’s incoming CEO prioritize Brightline’s nascent adventurism or should he instead prioritize fidelity between PMI’s standards and certifications?

PMI is the largest professional organization associated with enabling individuals to become more professional in project management. PMI’s primary standard is “A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge” or “PMBOK Guide,” which is the basis of PMI’s primary certification, the “Project Management Professional” (PMP) certification. While there are over 6 million copies of the PMBOK Guide in circulation, only 871,000 people are certified PMP’s. Why are there so many more consumers of the standard than persons certified in it? And the fact that there are only 528,000 members of PMI is another telling statistic. But even more arresting is the fact that PMI has earned over one billion dollars on PMP certifications to date, and PMI holds over fifty million dollars in reserve. With that much money in play, why can’t PMI enroll more consumers of PMI’s standards and certifications to see value in becoming PMI members?

Perhaps it is because too much power and too much value have become much too centralized. If that is true, and if creating standards that work which people truly use is essential to PMI’s purpose, let’s consider decentralizing the creation of standards and decentralizing the assessment of organizations who have adopted those standards. If it’s essential for PMI to base certifications of individuals on what they are doing in real-life in real projects and to base certifications on whether what they are doing is working (which I think we can all agree is essential), how can PMI make that happen? My answer to that question is: make the whole thing a game.

Features

  1. Self-organizing to create industry standards for any process.
  2. Decentralized assessments of standards adoption, with credentialing or certifications as a byproduct of assessments.
  3. Recursion: automatic feedback on efficacy of standards to update standards, i.e. learning what is and isn’t being adopted or what does and doesn’t work.
  4. Gamification of these things, so you get points, especially for developing standards that others adopt and that are proven to work.
  5. Earlier users get residual points from subsequent users.
  6. Creation of a utility token that promises first access to the data created from all these
  7. The ability to exchange points for tokens.

More…

To read entire article, click here

 

How to cite this article: Schlichter, J.  (2019). Alexander and the Indian King: Part 7; PM World Journal, Vol. VIII, Issue XI, December. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/pmwj88-Dec2019-Schlichter-Alexander-and-the-Indian-King-Part7.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/

 

 

Filed Under: Commentaries

Implementing 5-hour workdays in Projects Teams

December 8, 2019 By

A Challenge and an Opportunity!

 

COMMENTARY

By Kumar Sarma

PMP, Prince2, CMQ

UAE

 

 

Dear Project Professionals!

There has been lot of discussions in organizations about the need to rethink 8-12 hour work days. This can be good opportunity in Projects teams which have strong time constraints imposed on them.

It is very important for project management team to understand that to the team has leave their work desks to learn from what the world has to offer in form of real-life experiences. This can help them to focus and think out of the box for solutions to complex problems which may be required to implement in the projects. For this to happen -we Need to work and challenge the traditional ways of thinking that we have worked with and which continue as age old practices in most organizations even today.

We need to develop and improve our mindsets towards work itself through learning, experimenting and reflection. For this to happen the team should find ways to release their time which is being currently consumed by working in projects alone.  When the most important resource “Time” is released by implementing 5-hour workdays and put to proper use by the team, it fosters culture of Innovation, Experimentation, Innovation among the team members which provides a much bigger benefits to the organization.

Some of the initiatives which can be implemented with extra time gained from implementing 5-hour work days may include – Professional learnings for career and Mental renewal ,sports and games for physical fitness ,Yoga, Meditation, Volunteering for Emotional /social well-being and any other initiatives led by the leaders of the organization themselves. This would very much apply to entrepreneurs/freelancers which can help them to evolve to be well rounded. This in turn can help them in developing their personal brand which in turn would attract possible stakeholders to help them move forward on their mission.

More…

To read entire article, click here

 

How to cite this article: Sarma, K. (2019). Implementing the 5-hour workday in Projects – Challenge and an Opportunity! PM World Journal, Vol. VIII, Issue XI, December. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/pmwj88-Dec2019-Sarma-implementing-five-hour-workweek-in-projects.pdf

 

 

About the Author


Kumar Sarma

UAE / India

 

 

💫Kumar Sarma helps PASSIONATE and DETERMINED Professionals to Differentiate, and to grow their CAREER and BUSINESS to Higher Levels! 💫 (Principal Consultant |Educator)

Having close to 15+ years of experience in various areas – Portfolio/Program/ Project Management/ Quality/ safety/ Engineering/IT product development/Training/consulting across UAE/GCC/India/Bahrain/Africa/Saudi Arabia. He is involved in multiple roles – As a Portfolio/Program/Project Manager /Principal consultant/Educator/Trainer. He helps ambitious organizations and individuals in achieving higher levels of Excellence which results in better career growth, productivity & profits.

He has good experience in delivering practical solutions to strategic issues, to drive bottom-line impact and rapid results, delivered in a variety of client situations.

He manages and Organizes 2 BIG community initiatives in UAE

Amazing Volunteers https://www.Meetup.com/VolunteerDubai/  (3200 ++ volunteers and 100 ++ social projects)

The MAGIC of THINKING BIG Mastermind Group – https://www.Meetup.com/TheMagicofThinkingBig/ (2900 ++professionals, Entrepreneurs and 200 ++ Knowledge sharing, Networking Events

Do connect to his LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/kumarsarmavedant/ for Mutual win-win Opportunities

 

 

Filed Under: Commentaries
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