Project Management
Back to the Future
1999 - 2019
David Barrett






Introductions
My PM Journey
Project Management in 1999
Project Management Today
Project Management 2019
What’s in it for you?







Owned by manufacturing and construction
Some technology
No PM interest from Corporate Systems and
Technology
No PM interest from the general business
sector
No in-depth training for PMs
No easy-to-use PM tools
The PMI membership – world-wide -15-20K
Computing Canada, 1996 –
“…Over 70% of IT projects are failing.”






IT Projects begin to get
recognition
Y2K rears its head
Windows 95 released
MSProject makes scheduling
more accessible
PMI releases PMBOK (1996)
I join PMI – member # 61472





Canada’s first Masters Certificate launched
Project Management Symposium ‘97
Demand for IT PMs & PMPs starts to rise
Canada’s first PM magazine launched
Canada’s first PM recruiting firm launched



PMBOK becomes world-wide standard
‘knowledge’
The PMO / Centre of Excellence arrives
PM reaches the director level
“Engineering and Construction industry invented
project management and then… went to sleep. It
was using the old model of project management:
time-cost-quality (not even scope management).
Most of project managers were the old type who
were of the opinion: Project Management – what’s
the big deal. Use your common sense and you’ll be
fine. The only way to learn project management is
through making mistakes (working). With the surge
of infrastructure projects, this is changing.”
Michael Stefanovic, Procept Associates



Program Management gets an audience in
IT
Enterprise scheduling & consolidation
becomes a standard
Training lives through the recession – we
learn that our people are the key to project
success – not the tools



PMBOK proves to be a good foundation for
knowledge (PMP & CAPM)
ProgramManagement Professional (PgMP)
certification released
Dept/division or corporate-wide
methodologies get a good look see
 BUT
……….

The PMO goes away and comes back

PM stays at the Director level

PgMP doesn’t really catch on
So where are we going?
What’s in it for me?







The Strategic Link
The Business Analyst
Measured Project Value
How we do it…
Get Agile
Technology
Wider Definition of a PM


Project Management + Program Management
+ Strategic Management
“organizations are sloppy at articulating their strategy… or
they don’t have one”
◦ Keith Farndale, President, Procept Associates
Michael Porter once said: “A bad strategy executed
well is far better than a good strategy executed
poorly.” The need to execute strategy will be
paramount to the survival of organizations as we
crawl out of the recession. This means focused
portfolio management to tightly manage initiatives –
this is your strategy execution engine. Along with a
portfolio and initiative management framework it will
be essential to implement the key components of a
strategy execution culture. People will be the drivers
of the execution engine.
Catherine Daw, Top 10 Trends for 2010

October, 2003 – The IIBA (theiiba.org)
◦ 90 chapters world-wide
◦ BABOK
◦ CBAP designation


May, 2004 – BusinessAnalystWorld
2005 – BATimes.com
The work of business analysts does sometimes leads to a business
case, but there are many other functions that enterprises business
analysts perform, such as:
◦ Driving business architecture discussion and development
◦ Creating-functional decomposition of business areas
◦ Providing thought leadership within their organizations
◦ Assisting business areas in understanding the big picture (rather
than talking in terms of project teams and business lines)
◦ Aligning project portfolios with overall business strategy
◦ Creating feasibility studies for new products, markets and systems
◦ Making strategic recommendations for process improvements and
streamlining across departmental divides and geographical
locations
Business Analysts: A Key to Companies' Success
www.cio.com
We are hearing a new language… Cost savings
and ROI
“PMs need to be more business savvy- they need to see the
whole picture”
 Gary Heerkins, 2010
“Savvy PMs will be able to speak CXO language and garner
respect at the executive level. Telling truth to power will be an
essential element in their tool kit”
 Catherine Daw, 2010

Methodologies
 Prince2
 OPS IT Methodology
 RBC’s PM Framework (PMF)
 Lean Project Management
 Lean Six Sigma
“Organizations will be looking for ways to deliver more
effectively and efficiently than ever before”
 Catherine Daw, 2010


Agile management or agile project management is an iterative
method of determining requirements for engineering and
information technology development projects in a highly
flexible and interactive manner. It requires empowered
individuals from the relevant business, with supplier and
customer input. Agile techniques are best used in small-scale
projects or on elements of a wider programme of work, or on
projects that are too complex for the customer to understand
and specify before testing prototypes.
http://www.agilepm.com/

MS Office 2010
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦

MSProject
Sharepoint
Project Server
Portfolio Server
Microsoft Business Scorecard
Oracle Projects
◦ Revenue links to Projects




Is the role of the PM being diminished?
Are we trivializing the process?
Do we need to understand and grasp the new
PM?







The Strategic Link
The Business Analyst
Measured Project Value
How we do it…
Get Agile!
Technology
Wider Definition of a PM

‘It’s not about the PMBoK – it’s about the
people – its about leadership’
 Neal Whitten

PMs need to learn to stand up and say no
 Gary Heerkins

We need to understand the ‘virtual team’
 David Barrett

Acquiring, developing and retaining talent
that moves projects forward will be essential
in 2012 (and beyond).
 Catherine Daw
David Barrett
dbarrett@solutionsnetwork.com
DavidBarrett.ca