ePM Training Services

Things have changed since our previous posting on Success in Project Management from 28 April. The Project Management Institute (PMI) have just published the results of the regular “Pulse of the Profession” survey (‘PMI Today’ magazine May 2009), designed to track trends in the practice of project management. Unlike the Standish report, PMI tracks results over a wide range of project types. Here at ePM we always look at the latest surveys to check how the competence of project managers is improving (or not) as a result of project management training.

The PMI survey shows an increase in project success rates over the results of an identical survey run in 2006. Here’s what they say:

• Percentage of projects finishing on time: 55% (up from 53% in 2006)
• Percentage of projects finishing within budget: 58% (up from 55%)
• Percentage of projects meeting original business goals: 72%

They also discovered that a higher level of project management maturity and the use of standardized project management practices leads to better project performance, according to the survey respondents.

Notice how the PMI survey generally uses positive language, such as “% of projects finishing on time”, whereas Standish apparently prefer to measure negative things like “% of projects that were late”.  I prefer to focus on the positive. Do we have to keep beating ourselves up about being late, over budget, canceled, failed?

I read further in the survey and discovered another interesting piece of good news – disguised in the impenetrable middle-management jargon that pervades much business writing:  78% of project managers surveyed ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘somewhat agreed’ that they have a responsibility to align project activities with the social, economic and environmental expectations of all stakeholders. I think this means ‘don’t be evil’ or something similar. Would a certain sports shoe manufacturer say “we need a framework to implement an action-based proactive strategic thrust to align project activities with stakeholder requirements” or “just do it”?

The bad news is that 51% of projects experienced scope-creep, or uncontrolled changes in project scope, so this is clearly an area we need to improve.

And the biggest challenge for project managers from the survey? Scope Management

So there you have it. Project managers believe that things are getting better, and the advancement of standardized PM practices is helping. We believe that project management training will help to develop the skills that all project managers need. If  Scope Management is such a challenge, then how can you possibly hope to improve without some training in that knowledge area?

And we’ll keep checking the surveys until we find one that ‘proves’ our point!

In the previous posting about Project Management Training we mentioned that MQ – “managerial competence”, or knowledge and skills of management functions - is a necessary skill for project managers. So just what, exactly, is involved in “MQ”?

Consider this definition of the MQ leadership competence as proposed by Dulewicz and Higgs (2003):

• Engaging communication
• Managing resources
• Empowering
• Developing
• Achieving

Engaging communication starts with a Communication Plan for your project, and includes the ability to make engaging presentations to project stakeholders in various formats. You will often be called upon to make presentations to various project stakeholders, including formal and informal meetings and small to large scale gatherings

Managing resources includes the ability to use appropriate tools to manage the people and physical resources involved in the project

Empowering means creating the conditions for your team to grow, and allowing others to make their own decisions

Developing includes providing training and opportunities for your team, and for yourself

Achieving involves reaching project and personal goals in order to create a feeling of self-actualization

There are a great many project management training courses that address each area above. You should aim to develop your competency in all the areas to be most effective, and to empower yourself with the skills necessary to manage your project team.