Friends, Romans, Project Managers...Lend Me Your Ear!

Tom's latest eBook has been released on Amazon: "The 7 Myths of IT Integrations". Tom is also a Program Director for a large Midwest corporation and has been an adjunct faculty member at Walsh College. He has managed global web initiatives, data center moves and large multi-million dollar programs.

  Cost Management   Risk Management   Talent Management  

There are so many noble occupations in our world today and many have roots that go far back into history--construction and fishing industries can boast that. A few select professions can reach back into societal origins. Elite professions such as doctors and lawyers can trace their disciplines back to Greek and Roman cultures, and just as deeply steeped in human history as each of those professions is project management.

Think about it: Could the Roman Coliseum ever have been built without a project manager scheduling the labor and sourcing the granite and marble? Could the Greek Parthenon ever have been constructed according to specification on time (within a decade or so) without a project manager keeping the daydreaming architects and the creative-impulse artists to a timeline? Could the Great Pyramids of Giza ever have become a reality without a PM managing the complicated sequence of logistics? I think not.

It has always baffled me, however, that given the great dependence society has on management why doctors and lawyers have been considered so different from project managers. As I continued to ponder this riddle, two things became apparent to me: One, you need a license to practice medicine or law; and two, you need an extensive Latin vocabulary to separate yourself from everyone else who isn’t part of your field.

While project management doesn&rsquo…

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