In the Long Run

  ProjectsAtWork  

Debating methods is healthy for a maturing discipline such as project management.

Maybe the greatest irony about project management is that it has been around in some informal sense for thousands of years and yet it is still experiencing growing pains.

Long before all the best-selling books on methodologies, or advanced certifications and software tools, some mighty impressive projects were delivered on time, on budget. One might say they were "Wonders of the World." Thousands of years later, even as more corporate professionals call themselves project managers, and more organizations readily acknowledge the value and benefits of good project management, failure rates remain stubbornly high. What gives?

Well, the history of projects may go back as far as the Pyramids, but the timeline of formal project management is but a blink of an eye. And so it should be no surprise that most organization's project management capabilities are still climbing the lower rungs of the maturity ladder. After all, the discipline itself is, in many respects, like a gangly colt, still figuring out what it is and how it goes about proving it.

This issue's cover package—"Agile Innovator" and "Are You Lessening?"— explore the Agile Movement, an approach originated in the software development arena that favors "individuals and interaction over processes …

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