The PM of Tomorrow: Everything Old Is New Again

Following 20 years at a large Canadian telecommunications firm, Bruce established the project management consulting firm Solutions Management Inc (SMI). Since 1999, he has provided contract project/program management services, been a source for project management support personnel and created/delivered courses to over 7,000 participants in Canada, the United States and England.

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“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” is a quote attributed to George Santayana. As a philosopher in the late 1800s and early 1900s, he was educated at Harvard and Boston Latin School, so it’s reasonable to think he has a strong base from which to make bold statements. Like many quotes, his has been restated in various forms over time, yet the notion still stands: We must learn from the past in order to look to the future.

When I reflect on my 20-plus years of project management, I feel much has changed. In my early years, I worked for an organization that provided telecommunications services to the largest companies in Canada. These critical clients had to be satisfied with their service or they would quickly switch to a competitor. Sure, there were endless processes that were designed to guide the provisioning process, but the sales team wanted to ensure its key clients received the best possible service.

The answer? Assign a project manager. I remember that time in my career as hammering square pegs through round holes. By that I mean, I was expected to do whatever was necessary to get the service installed and an invoice issued. I’m not sure I knew what a project plan was at the time; the mantra was simply “make it so.” I didn’t create any documentation beyond an issues log and (ultimately) an invoice…

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