I am excited about this dialog. And I am so committed to this topic that I have helped PMI establish a community of practice for our members to share experiences and ideas about integrating global sustainability thinking into all projects and about integrating project, program, and portfolio management into all global sustainability actions.  Therefore, I encourage all PMI members to join the PMI Project Management Global Sustainability Community of Practice.

I am just finishing up a three week, six city, five country trip through Europe. I must say it has been a great trip. I was drawn to Europe because of a series of PM forums and congresses. I met with professionals from nearly 40 countries and talked about the economy; project, program and portfolio management; and above all, how companies and governments are weathering the storm through a turbulent global economy.

However, one of the best parts of the trip was the short four day holiday with family and friends while I was in Europe. Yes, yes, yes...it was another motorcycle tour, with most of the same culprits from my tour following the 2008 Global Congress-North America. Nathalie Udo, outgoing president of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of PMI (born and raised in Holland) was the tour leader this time.

We drove through Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium. Our starting point was in Amsterdam and the tour cities Included in Maastricht, Netherlands; Trier, Germany; Leuven, Belgium; and finally back to Amsterdam. The countryside, the motorcycles, the weather, and above all, the fellowship were all wonderful. It is always about the people, the friendships; the new memories really make the difference.

In seven years, I have visited nearly 60 countries, amassing nearly 1,500 days on the road. On each of these trips, I always discover things that are embedded in my memory forever. This trip was no different. One was personal transportation in this part of the world. In Holland, there are 650,000 bikes registered. Bicyclists, and bicycle lanes, were as common as cars and roads. The riders were in all sizes, shapes, dressed for work, play, and formal events, and carried everything conceivable with them. And, they commute in the rain or on sunny days, in warm weather, or when it is cold. They use clothes and layers to manage the weather.

There is nothing like it in North America. It was amazing. Now most people know that about Amsterdam and the Netherlands. However, in every country we drove through, there were well-maintained biking and hiking lanes all around: in the hills, the cities, the suburbs, and the countryside. Bicyclists, walkers, and hikers were commuting throughout. It was the alternative form of transport. It was carbon free transport, a very healthy carbon free transport.

Another thing had to do with the way that pedestrian expectations are managed in most places. In Germany, people wait at red traffic signals, even when there is no traffic coming. There is no impatience, "bolting" across the street; people stand and talk! (Go figure). In Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., California, and most other big U.S. cities, people wait for the chance and go! On the east coast of the U.S. it is almost a sport to see who wins in the crossing: the pedestrian or the vehicle.

Even the timers on the traffic signals are different in Europe. You know those big digital timers that are being placed with signals for pedestrians? In the U.S., they kick off when it is permissible for the pedestrians to cross. The time counts down until you have to run to save your life, when the numbers change from green to red. In your mind, the expectation is "time is running out"; I have to run! In Germany and Holland the timer only counts down the time until the light turns green and allows you to walk. In your mind, you are thinking "hey, I will get my chance soon; there is time in my future to cross." Very nice change!

However, don't get your hopes up... Italy is like a festival at every crossing. The lights are there for celebrating the latest holiday, and cars, scooters, and people mix like a grand fish stew. It never looks like it will work when you look at it, but when you taste it, it works perfectly.

It is interesting that we are all so different. The world has immense diversity, yet as we sit in a global recession, we recognize that no one is immune. Society, the planet, our economy... we are all linked.

Our ride was no different. It included individuals from Sweden, Holland, and the U.S. We differed in age, gender, industry, and jobs. We have met one another's parents and in some cases, children, shared about our lives and futures, and what we all believe in. All so diverse, like the countries and the landscapes we drove through; like the six languages spoken in those countries; and like the foods we ate along the way. Yet, it all started with two common passions: PMI and motorcycles. And now it has grown to include a third: friends.

How lucky I am.

More later.

OK, you may think I am a bit crazy, but I think we are missing a remarkable example of growth in Europe, because of all the publicity that has surrounded the chaotic and phenomenal growth in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

I have been in Hamburg for a little over four days and have discovered a remarkable city with remarkable growth. It is the "greenest" city in Germany, with a green space ratio (planted space to built space) larger than any other city in Germany. It has a population of 1.7 million in the city, and 4.5 million in the metro area. It is only about 100km from the North Sea so it is a center for shipping and shipbuilding in Europe.

The Port of Hamburg is the second busiest (by cargo and shipping) in Europe, relinquishing the lead only to Rotterdam in Holland. It follows that it is the second largest duty free zone (but one of the oldest) as well. Over 10 million shipping containers (about 330 million tons) came through the harbor last year (this year, it is running about 10% down). The port is a maze of containers, ships and cranes.

It is also the home of Blohm + Voss shipbuilding, founded in 1877, and builder of some of the most notable vessels in history. Today, it boasts a portfolio of naval surface and subsurface vessels, and the world's largest and highest quality mega-yachts. Needless to say, Hamburg is a seafarer's city. I addressed the PM forum at the shipyard last week, which hosted the managers of the top 50 projects of the Technology Division of ThyssenKrupp worldwide.

However, it is also home to the largest urban development project in all of Europe. HafenCity is the former site of the largest and oldest harbor warehouse complex in Europe. Today, the area is under massive reconstruction, creating 5,500 new homes for 45,000 residents, a new Philharmonic Hall, and extensive space for retail and commercial businesses. The project is planned to continue through 2025, offering jobs and projects galore. There is a good bit of project work in that area.

So, when I think of my many trips to the Arabian Gulf, especially Dubai, it is not hard to see the parallels in Hamburg. So, I don't want to neglect the magnificent changes going here in Northern Germany. Hamburg is a vital and strategically important city to Germany and to Europe, and a wonderful city to visit. Man, I love this job!

More later.

I recently attended a meeting of the PMI Global Corporate Council (GCC), in Palo Alto, CA., US, home of Silicon Valley. The GCC is a council of more than 30 executives representing multi-national firms and federal government agencies throughout the world. These executives are champions for excellence in PM discipline in their respective companies and government agencies. They know what excellence means and have delivered results for their organizations.

At the meeting, I gave a detailed recap of the economy, and my observations of how companies around the world were reacting. All agreed with my observations, with one exception. The consensus was that each of their companies was actually investing in sharpening PM capabilities, varying from maintaining an educated core of project managers, to developing a better discipline in portfolio management. That is not to say that the companies had not restructured, or laid off employees. However, they were not cutting back on any new product development; and those related to federal government spending (stimulus spending in the US, India, and China), were hiring PM professionals. There is no question that the companies have suffered through the economy, but there seems to be a common commitment to making sure that they develop new products and have the team to launch them.

An article in the Wall Street Journal by Justin Scheck and Paul Glader, called "R&D Spending Holds Steady in Slump," supported the concept of continued development in the slumping economy. The article was based on a study conducted by the Journal, comparing 4th quarter 2008 R&D spending to prior year. The study focused on 28 multinational companies, with headquarters in the US (ex: Microsoft, Cisco, Google, Boeing, etc.) It turns out that average R&D spending dropped only 0.7% from the same quarter in 2007, compared to an average drop in revenues of 7.7%.

Although this is great news, we all know that if the economy takes a much deeper dive, many organizations will cut back. However, it still means that we may see continued investment in R&D. Lessons learned from the past, such as with Motorola, indicates that R&D is crucial to future competition. In 2002, Motorola slashed R&D by 13%. In 2004, they were very successful with the new RAZR cellphone, but then failed to follow up with critical new products, and ended up losing market share.

While I was in Brasilia, Brazil, last week, I met Carlos Heinz Loeben, PMO of Mobile Solutions and Services for Instituto Nokia De Technologica (Nokia Institute of Technology). We talked about the economy and its impact on product development. Given that new product lead time (or life cycles) has dropped to nearly 6 months in telecommunications, I was concerned that high tech companies like Nokia would fall behind. He said that Nokia, like all companies, is suffering through the downtown in the global economy, but that they were investing in new applications and new markets, beyond traditional mobile markets, such as healthcare information and data sharing.

R&D and new product launches are critical applications for PM implementation. Applying excellence in this area will only ensure that companies can accelerate out of the bottom of the economic downturn faster than their competition. It is no doubt a careful balancing act for an executive team, but it is clearly a risk worth taking.

Later.

Our staff has been trying since the Obama Presidential transition to convince the new administration that a Chief Portfolio Officer was important to the success of the ARRA. Truly, having a CPO on a US$1 trillion stimulus plan is not an outrageous request. It is sensible, right? Someone who will look at the distribution of funds to ensure that they reach to projects and programs intended, and balance those resources as the various stakeholders vie for the funds. Too, we need to ensure that the stimulus funds achieve their intended objectives....in many cases, people at work! That's what a portfolio officer, versus a performance officer, could do.

Take the issue of jobs. The latest figures in the USA show an unemployment rate over 8.5%. The intent of many of the "shovel ready "projects is to keep the unemployment rate below 9%. That is a real challenge, given the growth of the layoffs and restructuring globally of multi-national firms. Unless the stimulus funds in the USA, and in any country with similar directed funds, produce new jobs, we will see unemployment rates at levels not seen in more than 35 years. It makes sense to create a portfolio office that will stay connected to the results of the investment, and have the power to redirect the funds for good use.

Well, you would think this is a rational idea. However, in the grand scheme of things, it has gone virtually ignored. Unfortunately, this is not an issue that seems important to the Obama administration. In fact, VP Joseph Biden has been asked to oversee the implementation, and a director of the board of the ARRA has been appointed as well. But their big issue seems to be waste and fraud. However, this should be about results, and governments have demonstrated they are more effective at policy formulation and approval than about achievement of results or policy deployment.

To prompt discussion, we prepared an opinion piece for the news media in the hope that the business press would react favorably. I'm happy to report that

Forbes.com has published the piece. Check it out here, and be sure to comment on the piece. Your participation will help raise the visibility of this important subject.  Business leaders globally need to push for this type of action. The disciplines of portfolio, program and project management are crucial to the world's economic recovery. Business leaders understand the need to be held accountable for results. Governments worldwide need to do the same. Later.

I mentioned in an earlier blog post that I recent attended the Scrum Alliance gathering in Orlando, Florida, USA. I won't revisit it, but I will tell you about an interesting Scrum Master that I met.

His name is Tobias Mayer, an agilest who was a skeptic (NOT a cynic, by the way) of our presence. He was legitimately worried about PMI's presence. However, after my remarks, he joined us for nearly 45 minutes sharing his pleasure with the commitment and the comments about PMI. It was a very rich discussion indeed. In fact, even though I didn't know him, I felt that our conversation was long overdue. It was as if we had started this conversation before but then waited until that day to continue it. Strange, yes, but it was a great conversation.

He said something that really rang a bell. He said that though Scrum addressed software development and project management, it was more about a value-based work framework, driving such values as respect for everyone's opinion and contribution to the project team, consistent and shared vigilance to risk, and more. He felt that it was developed not only to develop software faster and more effectively, but to provide a new culture of work, and new leadership values and principles. He particularly focused on the fact that it was a movement in the business world rooted in Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). (Note: Relationship of CAS to business systems was an outgrowth of Complexity Theory, and before that Chaos Theory, pioneered by individuals such as M. Mitchell Waldrup and James Gleick. Tobias recommended Surfing on the Edge of Chaos by Richard   Also, I would check out the Santa Fe Institute for specific research on the subject.)

His point was really quite interesting. He made me think about the human involvement of project management and software development. In our congresses and through all of the literature, more space is being devoted to the "leader of the 21^st century." The leader has facilitation skills, employs team approaches to solve problems, and works well with and resolves conflict, engages more individuals to gain diversity of thought, and can bring convergence from such wide diversity. Clearly, our ideal leader is one who is far less hierarchical and autocratic, and believes in engagement as a way of doing business.

However, executives want PMs to possess business skills too. They expect individuals to be decisive and realistic, and understand the policies and politics of economic sustainability. And, above all, they want rigorous accountability and transparency.

Wow, it isn't too easy to meet both left and right brain requirements of the job today. But I think the point Tobias was making was that it requires a "culture" of engagement at the project level, and also to seek the right balance of discipline and accountability, with real solutions.

I really hope Tobias and I have time to talk again soon. As I said, he is one of those people that you realize you are overdue for a more in depth conversation.

More later.

There are a hundred reasons why I love this job. One of the top five reasons is the opportunity to meet extraordinary people while traveling around the world on behalf of PMI... 41 countries, nearly 1,000 days of travel abroad in the last five years, and the opportunity to meet hundreds of extraordinary people. Chalk up another one in San Francisco.

My recent trip to San Francisco to help PMI members celebrate the 35^th anniversary of the San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA) chapter introduced me to another extraordinary person. Her name is Bonnie Nixon, and she is the Director of Environmental Responsibility for HP. Her title just doesn't do her work justice. One of the most significant areas of responsibility is maintaining an ethical supply chain in all areas of HP business. This is a remarkable job! Bonnie evaluates the organizations in their supply chain to rate them regarding their social and environmental impact, to ensure that HP contributes to global sustainability throughout their value chain. Pretty cool job, huh?

But that isn't the reason I was so taken with Bonnie. You see, Bonnie has been an environmental activist her entire adult life. She didn't "back into" the job, or take a "new" opportunity, or accept a job as a "corporate" move, although all are reasons to take the job. Nope, she took this job because it was a perfect fit for her, a continuation of the pursuit of her passionate "calling" to contribute to global sustainability. It is neither a job to her, nor just an avocation. It is the reason she is on this planet...I think she believes that. If not with HP, then on her own, or with another company or organization, because it is what she is on this planet "to do." She is driven to pursue a better world. Her personal belief in this journey was visible from the moment I met her. Her focus is razor sharp, and her commitment to global sustainability is crystal clear, and her depth on the subject is bottomless.

It started when she was a student at Pennsylvania State University, in the USA, While attending university, the famous crisis occurred at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant. The incident solidified her commitment, and she dedicated her life to doing what she could to change the way people and organizations interface with the world around them.

Since she dedicated herself to this cause, she has accomplished great things.

To top it all off, she has a remarkable balance of impatience and humility. A person with a commitment like Bonnie has all the right to pull her hair out with the glacial progress man has made protecting the planet and all of the species on it. She is persistent, focused, and impatient when she needs to be. Yet she remains humble knowing her place and role in all of this.

Yep, add Bonnie to the list of remarkable people I have met in my life.They are all around me, every day, and every place I go. I find that I look for them more and more, to find the commitments, the lifelong pursuits, and the passion that drives ordinary people to do extraordinary things. It sure makes me want to wake up and go after it another day.

Thanks, Bonnie, for adding to the list. I was honored to be on a panel on global sustainability with you. I was humbled by it. And thank you, Jennifer Russell, for inviting us to be on the panel to meet one another.

I recently attended the Scrum Alliance Gathering in Orlando, Florida. I attended with Mark Langley, PMI Executive VP & COO at the urging of David Prior, Chair of the Board of the IT&T SIG. The intent of the visit was to bridge the gap between the Scrum Alliance and PMI. But I guess the real reason we attended was to dispel the myths that surround the PMBOK® Guide and Agile practice. There is a widely held opinion that the PMBOK® Guide and Agile don't mix... they can't be "shaken, nor stirred" together. It surprised me that such an opinion was held since the PMBOK® Guide - 4^th Edition recognizes Agile in several areas -  perhaps without direct attribution -  but nonetheless, it is recognized.

I could go into an explanation of agility, agile PM or Scrum, but if you are interested, you can find it on PMI.org, or search Google. My concern was the apparent misperception that the framework in the PMBOK® Guide - 4^th Edition is not applicable to "PM Agilests."

I went with an open mind and actually had it filled with great information and dialog. It was enlightening. We met with Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, the founders of the Scrum concepts, and Jim Cundriff, Managing Director of the Scrum Alliance. All were really receptive and eager for collaboration. Ken and Jeff in particular were striking in their passion for simplicity and agility, with fascinating backgrounds and rigor in the field of software development. They have committed their careers to speeding the development of software, and creating a PM movement that is based on iterative planning, speed, collaboration, and consistent vigilance to risk. They were definitely of the "explorer" variety and have done a lot to improving the speed to market for software development.

However, there was great anticipation among many Scrum gatherers that PMI was going to do something wrong. I accepted the fact that there were many who thought Mark's and my attendance was not a good sign, but rather a bellwether for competition and encroachment. It was based on skepticism, not cynicism, which is clearly not a bad thing...in fact, it might be a really good thing. Professional skepticism holds everyone accountable.

Well, my remarks were well received, and committed us to understanding one another and collaborating wherever we can. Many of the attendees really resonated on the desire to collaborate, and maybe recognized that there was a great deal of room to collaborate. The team of PMI volunteers that is putting together the new PMI Agile Forum was in attendance and was the driving force in getting us to attend the meeting. They too were energized.

There is no question that agile PM is a leading and emergent practice. It has great traction in software development and software installation. It is now moving into mainstream activities such as manufacturing in the telecommunications field. I was in Lima, Peru recently, and I spoke with many of the PM leaders there. Agile is on the move in Peru, where 60% of the GDP is driven out of small and medium sized companies. Agile approaches to PM are more the rule than the exception in these applications.

The movement in Extreme PM, Agile PM, and Scrum are movements which are critical to understand in reference with the standards developed by PMI. No doubt about it. And, the critical issue is to dispel myths and misunderstandings that would allow PM to prosper. There are zealots on both sides of the issue. In fact, I was as surprised of the number of PMI members who either misunderstood, or to the extreme, feared Scrum. So the issue is on both sides of the fence.

On the Scrum side, there was the perception that "the PMI way is incompatible with agile." And there is also a misperception that PMI "methodology" pushes against the movement of speed and agility in PM. Both sides of the proverbial fence share misunderstandings that needed correction.

I really hope the PM Agile Forum will clear this up and find a way to make PM continue to prosper to meet the needs of every organization. That just makes me crazy! I know that the PMBOK® Guide, at least the 4^th edition, is compatible with iterative planning, scalable WBS, etc. Yet, the misperceptions exists.

The issue that gets in the way of an agile approach seems less the issue of the PMBOK® Guide, but more the issue of organizational culture. High demands for accountability, detailed planning, extensive reporting, mechanistic approaches, and hierarchical controls, may very well be averse to an agile approach. Maybe, just maybe, there should be strategic principles and values that address management style, instead of viewing management, and in particular project management as a tactical approach for which someone else is responsible.

More later.

Fredrik Haren, author of The Idea Book, was the keynote speaker at the 2009 PMI Global Congress - Asia Pacific this week in Kuala Lumpur. Fredrik is a provocative speaker, with a tremendous amount of energy. The audience thoroughly enjoyed his presentation.

He has captured and promotes an interesting definition of innovation. A person innovates when:

Two formerly known "things" are joined together in a different and new way.

Well, now, that is as simple as it gets. It is interesting in that I read an article on 6 February in the Financial Times (FT) that addressed this very definition. It was titled "Interoperability: The Great Enabler," by Michael Schrage, a researcher at MIT's Sloan School of Business, and the Imperial College Business School in London. Basically, Schrage supports that the prospect for innovation in the current environment has never been more robust. He attributes it to the fact that innovation is occurring to allow "things to interoperate" or work together.

Interoperability has traditionally been attributed to information systems working together at some scale, such as internet protocols allowing diverse data warehouses to mingle and work together. However, innovation in interoperability has allowed the internet to leapfrog from an information resource to become a telecommunications, multimedia, and multifunctional platform.

This means that products and services, and business processes for that matter, will be able to leverage one another, and, as Fredrik Haren said, join together in a different and new way. Consider the Nike Shoe Accelerometer interfacing with a pacemaker, to ensure that a cardiac patient doesn't over-exercise. Or, a new BMW automobile that will have complete internet connectivity a so that it can get real time adjustments in engine performance directly from the factory.

For the project world, interoperability presents both an opportunity and a challenge. In its purest sense, every PM needs to understand the impact that their project has on its environment. Traditionally, it has meant the immediate "connective surroundings." However, in IT projects, this is not simple. Nor will it be simple as every project is assessed with its interoperability with the environment.

In fact, when I queried Fredrik about advice for project professionals, he said that innovation in project teams will be best suited by spending more time in a rich dialog about what you are supposed to achieve. Ricardo Vargas, 2009 PMI Board Chair, interprets this as spending as much time on scoping as you do on any other part of the project. In fact, he believes that the real payoff in any project is robust development of both scope (requirements planning) and a risk plan. If we look to the interoperability of any project to its environment, there is a real opportunity for a breakthrough in project performance.

Well, that what I think today. Read the article for yourself and let me know what you think.

More later.