I came across a reassuring quote I wanted to share.
It comes from Vijay Kanabar, a Westford, Connecticut, USA-based project manager, professor at Boston University and author of Project Risk Management:
"In today's turbulent economy becoming a project manager is a great career choice."
I know some projects are being put on hold, but there's still the promise of more to come. Countries around the world are turning to infrastructure projects as a way to get out of this economic crisis.
And then there is the innovation factor.
Even when this whole recession mess started months ago, innovation was brought up time after time as part of the solution. A McKinsey Global Survey from November reported that 65% of executives saw innovation as one of their top three priorities.
That rallying call doesn't seem to be dying down any either.
U.S. automakers bailed out by the government were challenged to become relevant again through innovation.
Companies like Samsung, American Express and Nokia have all sustained their commitment to innovation.
"These companies are not cutting back on innovation ... We're not just talking about products and services, but about customer experience," said George S. Day, co-director of Wharton's Mack Center for Technological Innovation in the article Finding Money for Innovation: Develop Those People Skills.
And even venture capitalist companies are playing their part. Just this week, the London, England-based Balderton Capital announced a new £285 million tech and media fund to capitalize on promising business plans.
With innovation comes implementation.
And like Gregory Balestrero said: "... We need innovation as a strategy, especially to tackle our problems. And we need project management to make sure that we deliver on this strategy..."
It comes from Vijay Kanabar, a Westford, Connecticut, USA-based project manager, professor at Boston University and author of Project Risk Management:
"In today's turbulent economy becoming a project manager is a great career choice."
I know some projects are being put on hold, but there's still the promise of more to come. Countries around the world are turning to infrastructure projects as a way to get out of this economic crisis.
And then there is the innovation factor.
Even when this whole recession mess started months ago, innovation was brought up time after time as part of the solution. A McKinsey Global Survey from November reported that 65% of executives saw innovation as one of their top three priorities.
That rallying call doesn't seem to be dying down any either.
U.S. automakers bailed out by the government were challenged to become relevant again through innovation.
Companies like Samsung, American Express and Nokia have all sustained their commitment to innovation.
"These companies are not cutting back on innovation ... We're not just talking about products and services, but about customer experience," said George S. Day, co-director of Wharton's Mack Center for Technological Innovation in the article Finding Money for Innovation: Develop Those People Skills.
And even venture capitalist companies are playing their part. Just this week, the London, England-based Balderton Capital announced a new £285 million tech and media fund to capitalize on promising business plans.
With innovation comes implementation.
And like Gregory Balestrero said: "... We need innovation as a strategy, especially to tackle our problems. And we need project management to make sure that we deliver on this strategy..."
Great post Kelley. Just to add some fuel to your article, Baseline magazine had identified Project Management and Portfolio Management as one of the Top 10 IT Trends for 2009 (http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/IT-Management/Top-10-Trends-in-IT-for-2009/) specifically to help make good decisions and understand impact of decisions quickly.
At Onboard Informatics (http://www.onboardinformatics.com/index.html), our CEO, Marc Siden, has made a (not so popular) decision to create a PMO even in a down market due to the value it will deliver. Again, to make good decisions.
As the head of the PMO, it has been very challenging indeed. The need to engage soft skills of negotiation, leadership, team work, advocacy, communication has never been more crucial. I have the bruises to prove it!
Great post, Kelley, and great comment, Neal. This is the time for thinking hard about how we can improve our organizations, rolling up our sleeves, and getting to work. Leave the hand-wringing to others. I especially liked the link to the Wharton piece - much to think about. I was also glad to see its reference to the $50-million, American Express "Chairman's Innovation Fund." We have something similar, in concept if not in scale, in my own firm. I am encouraged!
I am feeling optimistic too! Coming from the frontline, my current employer have initiated various innovation related projects to really make an impact in business performance. A list of the projects included, Innovation Days (series of forums/symposiums and vendor fairs), Enterprise Knowledge and Collaboration tool aimed to share knowledge/lessons learned from one business unit to others instantly, and a series of information technology upgrades with IT being an important stakeholder not just at the operations level but also at strategic/tactical level. With all the initiatives going on, project managers are truly at the center of rapid change.