What Does it Mean to Be a Modern PM?

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

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There was recently more evidence of just how much project management is changing. We have all seen it in our own work over the last few years (and if you are a regular reader of the content here, then you have seen how that content has evolved and shifted over the last few years).

Now, another significant step has occurred that demonstrates that change once more—the release of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)—Eighth Edition. Just read the Preface to understand that this is a major shift from the previous version. And if like me, you passed your PMP decades ago, the content will be almost unrecognizable from what you studied.

Although that doesn’t mean that it will be unrecognizable, period. This latest revision is built upon, and further guides, the evolution of project management that we are all familiar with. It reflects how project management is challenging itself to become a greater contributor to organizational value. It is more evidence of just how critical PMs have become to the success of organizations today across multiple industry sectors and geographic regions.

However, I’m not sure that how we perceive ourselves as PMs has evolved quite as much as the way that the profession has evolved.

How do you see yourself?
When I speak to a lot of more experienced project managers, the sense that I get …

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