Lesson 8: Current (and Future) Issues in Project Management
In this lesson, we'll look at some interesting and provocative current, and future, issues in project management that YOU as a Project Manager will help influence with your work.
Welcome!
In this, our final lesson together, I'd like to introduce you to some of the very interesting concepts that are emerging in project management today. Indeed, a kernel of information you'll want to take with you is that, as a role in itself, Project Management is very young (about 30 years old).
That's not to say that project work hasn't been around forever (just think of the pyramids), but accepting project management as a worthy and autonomous job title is in its relative infancy compared to many other management functions. In fact, it is so relatively new, that you still might come across some folks who steadfastly refuse to accept that you actually need someone trained in project management to manage a project.
The fact that the successful completion rate for most projects is something around 20%, and even lower in IT, suggests that these people should be re-educated with all possible speed.
Alas, despite the occasional dinasour in your path, project management remains exceptionally invogorating because its lack of history has it continuously defining itself; it is becoming more informed as it grows (not unlike a project itself).
You are now poised to be part of that dynamic; there is infinitely more to know in project management right now than is known. So if you like exploring and innovating, you're in the right field for sure.
So let's spend some time looking at some of the colorful issues in project management today, for there is every expectation that you, as a Project Manager (or someone who works with projects), will encounter these issues and indeed help define them for the field as a whole.
We'll start with a look at cross-cultural issues, then look at non-IT related projects, and wrap things up with a look at quality.
