The 2011 PM Profession (Part 2)

Bob Weinstein is a journalist who covers technology, project management, the workplace and career development.

  Career Development  

Along with widespread government acceptance of project management standards, the greatest strides in PM implementations are taking place within major industry sectors. The healthcare industry is an excellent example of aggressive integration of PM principles, according to J. LeRoy Ward, executive vice president of ESI International, an Arlington, Virginia-based global project management consulting firm.

Emphasis on specialization
As more and more companies adopt PM standards, organizations are looking for PMs who have specialized in a particular niche industry, adds Ward. The sprawling healthcare industry is a good example of a complex industry that has profited from PM expertise.

“Its reliance on PM disciplines will only increase over time,” he says. “The healthcare industry has set aside a lot of money for the development of electronic records…for several years, it’s been working on converting endless paper records into easily storable and retrievable electronic records.” This amounts to massive projects that PMs will continue to be involved in for two reasons: The first involves the conversion of existing information that’s been mounting for more than half a century; the second is storing and converting new information, including both research and everyday records of patients being treated in doctors’ offices and …

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