Green IT projects may be in for a big push in the United States thanks to the country's newly appointed CTO.
In May 2008 Aneesh Chopra, then the secretary of technology for the state of Virginia, USA, told Government Technology magazine:
"Data centers are the energy hogs of the 21st century, and if we all believe we need to have renewable energy and energy independence in this country, those of us in the IT community must step up and acknowledge that we are net consumers in a significant way."
Sounds good--but will he really get people to hear the message?
Sivasailam (Siva) Sankar, PMP, president of the PMI Government Specific Interest Group, says U.S. President Barack Obama has made the creation of a transparent and connected democracy one of the key agenda items.
"The administration has already defined several key priorities, like the use of cutting-edge technologies to create a new level of transparency and improve the exchange of information between federal government and citizens, protect [networks], deploy broadband in every community, lower healthcare costs by investing in electronic information technology systems ... just to name a few."
Siva says the CTO's role is to promote technological innovation and develop national strategies for using advanced technologies to transform economy and society.
"There will be many technology projects initiated to satisfy the administration's core initiatives. Effective project management is vital for the success of the projects to ensure they're completed on time, on budget as well as utilizing public funds in an appropriate manner. I expect that the federal government would place a large emphasis on project management processes. I would also hope that effective portfolio management and governance processes will be implemented as well."
Siva says the appointment of Mr. Chopra is fitting because he has provided significant leadership as secretary of technology for Virginia in many forward-looking initiatives.
"He has practical experience in championing and providing high-level leadership to several high-tech projects."
In May 2008 Aneesh Chopra, then the secretary of technology for the state of Virginia, USA, told Government Technology magazine:
"Data centers are the energy hogs of the 21st century, and if we all believe we need to have renewable energy and energy independence in this country, those of us in the IT community must step up and acknowledge that we are net consumers in a significant way."
Sounds good--but will he really get people to hear the message?
Sivasailam (Siva) Sankar, PMP, president of the PMI Government Specific Interest Group, says U.S. President Barack Obama has made the creation of a transparent and connected democracy one of the key agenda items.
"The administration has already defined several key priorities, like the use of cutting-edge technologies to create a new level of transparency and improve the exchange of information between federal government and citizens, protect [networks], deploy broadband in every community, lower healthcare costs by investing in electronic information technology systems ... just to name a few."
Siva says the CTO's role is to promote technological innovation and develop national strategies for using advanced technologies to transform economy and society.
"There will be many technology projects initiated to satisfy the administration's core initiatives. Effective project management is vital for the success of the projects to ensure they're completed on time, on budget as well as utilizing public funds in an appropriate manner. I expect that the federal government would place a large emphasis on project management processes. I would also hope that effective portfolio management and governance processes will be implemented as well."
Siva says the appointment of Mr. Chopra is fitting because he has provided significant leadership as secretary of technology for Virginia in many forward-looking initiatives.
"He has practical experience in championing and providing high-level leadership to several high-tech projects."
Green project management is not that we make every decision in favor of the one that’s most environmentally friendly. The point is that we start to take the environment into account instead of ignoring it. You might make most decisions the same as you do today, but there may be some decisions you would make differently. These different decisions, multiplied by tens of thousands each day across the world, can make a difference.
The entire topic of green Project Management is - you should pardon the expression - heating up. Our little company, EarthPM, is investigating the role of Project Managers with respect to the environment, and have come up with these (trademarked) 5 assertions of green project management:
1. A project run with green intent is the right thing to do, but it will also help the project team do things right.
2. Having an environmental strategy for a project provides added opportunity for success of both the project and the product of the project.
3. Smart project managers seek first to understand the green aspects of their projects, knowing that this will better equip them to identify, manage, and identify financial, environmental, and overall project risks.
4. Looking at a project through an environmental lens increases the Project Manager's (and the project team's) long-term thinking and avails the project of the rising "green wave" of environmentalism.
5. Project Managers should think of the environment in the same way that they think of quality. It must be planned in, and the cost of "greenality", like the cost of quality, is more than offset by the savings and opportunities it provides.
Perhaps surprisingly, as we have posted these assertions and publicized our site, we have had some significant and aggressive pushback from project managers, saying that this is all about politics and accusing us of being tree-huggers.
There is no politicizing here. There are real issues when it comes to PMs understanding their environment, whatever your politics, and there is proof (see Esty and Winston's 'Green to Gold') that looking at business (and what are projects but a microcosm of business) through an environmental lens actually increases profitability and effectiveness of organizations.
What do you think?
Have a look at EarthPM.com and let us know if we are tree huggers. And maybe that's not such a bad insult after all...
Many IT projects and portfolios failed in the past because technology was understood as a separate topic from democracy, quality of life for the citizens and transparency. Today, hopefully many governments would learn from the US government on how to focus on the final visions (citizen quality of life) in order to guarantee effective and aligned projects and portfolios. In Latin America we are ready to learn from these intelligent and aligned approaches to create technology products and services.