The View from PMI50: After the Storm

October 10, 2019 | by Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

In theory, we should all return from a work conference stoked full of new ideas, new or refreshed professional contacts, and ready to rock.

The reality is that after the hotel beds, the dim weird conference room lighting, the whirlwind of introductions, the writer's cramp from trying to take notes as fast as someone talks ... and your inability to read those notes afterwards ... not to mention the five-hour delay in your flight ... the first day or two back at work is kinda blurry. Am I right?

I hope it's not just me who suddenly, today, thought: oh, yeah. I had this great idea I was going to do something with, like, right away.

In the interest of keeping a few of those thoughts fresh, I'm just going to throw a pot luck assemblage of morsels out on this table:

1. PMI is thrillingly diverse compared to the organization I knew when I first got involved in project management. From the CEO to the newbie Chapter member, project management has become a profession that looks more like the world we actually live in ... and, more important, thinks like the world we live in. This gives me hope that, the next time they celebrate the Top 50 projects for the next 50 years, it will be less about "building big things" than "creating sweeping changes."

2. As we have been preaching for many years, organizational change management has finally acheived a mind-meld with project management! Based on multiple presentations I attended, the presence of Prosci on the exhibit hall floor (thanks for the book, guys!) and numerous references in keynotes, looks like project managers have internalized the concept that all projects initiate organizational change and are geared up to plan for it. (Great timing: stay tuned for our new OCM white paper to be released in time for the PMO Symposium!)

3. A presentation from two Google M&A superstars revealed that two areas we've been keeping an eye on as important for project managers actually go hand in glove: "Cybersecurity is a key issue in M&A" they told us. Consultants are needed to find the hidden vulnerabilities created when two companies merge IT systems. They also noted that "M&A [skills] are not taught anywhere" so that companies are pulling off these major transformations via trial and error, every time. No wonder the failure rate on M&A projects is so high!

4. Benefits Realization, long given lip service, is here and now. After my colleague Debbie Bigelow Crawford presented our model for getting started with BRM, she was mobbed by pretty much everyone in the room, wanting more information, templates, forms, job descriptions, white papers.

If project management combines diversity, change management, cybersecurity, benefits realization and organizational transformation (like M&A) with the PMBOK® Guide skills and processes ... well, just wow. Sorry I will not be around to see that issue of PM Network in 50 years!

About the Author

Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin is editor-in-chief for PM Solutions Research, and the author, co-author and editor of over twenty books on project management, including the 2007 PMI Literature Award winner, The AMA Handbook of Project Management, Second Edition.

View Posts by Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

(1 votes. Average: 5.0 out of 5)

1 Comment on The View from PMI50: After the Storm