Closing up the PM “professional” survey

I’m trying to tie up some loose ends, especially follow-ups promised in earlier blog posts (here).  In particular, here are the top two answers from the “Is Project Management a Profession Yet?” survey (survey here):

38 percent: Yes, but second-tier — like engineering or non-university teaching (33 of 86 answers)
26 percent: No, not yet — could [...]

PM Quote of the Day — Emily Post

Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use. 
I liked this quote because it provides an example of something I’ve found hard to explain: the difference between a skill and a competency.  In this case, the skill is knowing [...]

The “that’s not my role” delusion

I very much liked this post by J Schwan (here) about the dangers of over-specialization.  Some of the comments miss the point — J acknowledges the value of domain knowledge — which is that a role-bound workforce conspires against:

Understanding how to optimize the whole vs one’s part.
Remembering why one is doing a project in the [...]

PM Profession Survey Answers — Fully Yes & No/Never

I’m starting the long-promised review of the answers to my survey: Is Project Management a Profession Yet?  I’ll ignore the “undecided” answers (8 percent) and start with the two extremes.
First the “nays”: five percent answered No — and it never will.  I’m not sure how one can be so confident that PM will never have [...]

Value of PM Academic Programs?

Last week I attended the PMI Global Corporate Council’s semi-annual executive forum.  This meeting included a one-day symposium with education leaders on the challenges and trends facing academic programs in project management.
I was a bit of a skeptic going in.  I had known of PM programs in a few schools — my brother had attended courses [...]

PM Quote of the Day — Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus

Let them hate us so long as they fear us. 
Project managers often have to exercise influence without authority.  We can’t always get what you want from people over whom you have no authority.  We end up doing a lot of horse trading — offering what you have that the other person desires in exchange for [...]

PMBOK 4th Edition — People Skills Appendix

I’m curious about what the updated PMBOK Guide will have to say in the new People Skills Appendix.  What it includes will set the baseline for the topic (BTW, I’m not expecting any earth-shaking inclusions or exclusions).  It is good that the PMBOK Guide to will start to address such an important topic in a greater degree [...]

Artificial Intelligence to fill PM talent shortage? Not yet…

Check out Elbot (here), the winner of the bronze award at the annual competition for the Loebner Prize (press release here).  I was curious whether Elbot could help fill the looming talent gap in project, program, and portfolio management.  Our conversation is below:
Crossderry: Would you be interested in a project management job?
Elbot: Robots have to be [...]

PM Quote of the Day — Tallulah Bankhead

If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.
Far be it from me to comment on Tallulah’s mistakes, though she certainly wasn’t known for restraint of tongue and pen!
That said, I love her attitude.  I prefer to learn from other’s mistakes rather than my own.  However, if I’m going to make them, [...]

PM Quote of the Day — Helen Keller

People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant. 
When I read this quote, it reminds me of how I have approached situations that must be met and decisions that must be made. My own thinking — at least my own un-aided thinking — leads me [...]