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Thursday, February 24, 2005
Ng: Project management: fast growing discipline in IT
By Wilson Ng
Wired Desktop
TECHFEST. Last month, I was one of the speakers of the Microsoft Techfest 2005 in Manila where they unveiled new products.
I told them that among the Microsoft products, I was most comfortable speaking on Microsoft Project. Although this is a product that is far below in terms of popularity from Microsoft Office, or Microsoft Windows, or even such stuff as Microsoft Exchange or SQL Server, it nevertheless is in a very fast growing discipline,and Microsoft Project is currently the most popular tool on this.
Indeed, over 200 people showed up in the session unexpectedly, and the organizers were surprised. So when it was time to bring Microsoft Techfest here last week, they decided to have the topic again. They also moved it to the main session. That event attracted over 300 participants.
Project management is growing as a discipline by leaps and bounds. Its expertise is in getting things done on time, on quality and on budget.
From less than 10,000 certified project management professionals certified by the Project Management Institute in 1998, the number of people who have taken project management as a discipline and become certified has now ballooned to well over 100,000.
Indeed, more and more of the tasks we do in staying globally competitive can be classified as project oriented, rather than day to day management.
Consider the following tasks. If you consider them as projects, then you start to understand why project management skills are getting more and more valuable.
* Research and development of new products
* Producing a new car model, new software version, new transport vehicle
* Software development or computerizing areas of operation like accounting, inventory, payroll etc.
* Effecting change in the organization, like in its staffing, style or culture
* Changing departmental procedures
* Test marketing a new product
* Adding a new branch or department
* Participating in an exhibit
* Constructing a new building/facility
* Building a new mall or water system in the community
* Raising money for the church or for charity
* Running a campaign for public office, or in the local organization/social club.
It is estimated that over one-fourth of all activities worldwide (about 10 trillion dollars worth) can be considered projects. In 2002 alone, it is estimated that there were over 500,000 information technology (IT) projects initiated, but that is not the scary part. The scary part is the 1994 Standish report that says $75 billion in IT projects was considered wasted because of bad execution and deadline overruns.
Lately, a book by Larry Bossidy, “Execution: the Discipline of Getting Things Done” was in the Business booksellers list.
Although it did not specifically mention project management, more and more focus in various organizations is now on the individual who can execute plans properly. And the rewards are high for people who can do this. A lot of these skills are embodied in the project management discipline.
I am sure you will hear more about this in the days to come—and not just in IT, but in all industries. And I think Microsoft Project will continue to increase in popularity as an elixir. But even if it is a powerful tool, it is still just a tool, and it is still the individual who knows how to use it that will be successful.
(www.bizdrivenlife.net)
(February 24, 2005 issue)
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