Out of the Ashes

 

We don’t often show children on the cover of PM Network. In this month’s cover story, kids are essential stakeholders in a project to build a beautiful new Sandy Hook Elementary School on the site of one of the deadliest shooting tragedies in the United States. Project managers rose to the task of sensitively considering the needs of the students, their parents, teachers, school administrators and the community.

Continuing its series of in-depth PMI Project of the Year finalist case studies, PM Network details the initiative to consolidate and centralize pediatric health care services in Queensland, Australia. The challenge was to cut down medical risks that came from shuttling patients among several facilities. Two existing public hospitals were merged and shut, and services from a private hospital were incorporated.

Next time you raise a glass of “suds,” consider the fact that the beer industry is a growing project hotbed, anticipated to have US$688 billion in sales by 2020. Trends include consolidation of larger brewers and growth and even globalization of smaller craft breweries—witness a U.S.-based brewery setting up shop in the beer haven of Germany. Plus, have you heard about the Belgian brewer connecting brewery and bottling plant via pipelines under the streets?

So you want to switch industries…what can you expect? A PM Network article tells you—expect to do a lot of learning. You need to acquire industry-specific jargon and learn about the new competitive landscape, as well as figure out what the priorities are in the field.

The global market for 3-D printers is forecast at US$41 billion by 2020. This potentially disruptive technology is making certain business activities, such as prototyping, much faster and easier. Project managers in a number of fields from biomedical engineering to construction will need to know the ins and outs of 3-D printing.

Where are the opportunities? PM Network’s Edge section lets you know. Learn about stadium-building projects, cloud-seeding initiatives, the government IT landscape and the challenges of modernizing old legacy systems. An infographic compares 10 countries in terms of factors related to the cost of doing business. We examine the risks connected with holiday retail projects and look into the future with a report on solar-powered aircraft. Did you see our highlight video this month? You’d see an animation related to yet another Edge story—creating extra-sensitive prosthetic arms.

PM Network taps into a wide network of practitioners and experts for more great tips about projects and managing them. Topics from our “Getting It Done” practitioners this month are working large construction projects and managing big data projects. Subject matter experts present their thoughts on making portfolio management more mature; improving communications by recognizing that what you think are shared understandings may not be; and how an enterprise project management office can fend off downsizing attempts. Plus there’s an interview with a Doctors Without Border official on why his organization launched a PMO and tackling resistance to that change.

Did you know…if your native language is español or Português and you are a member of PMI, we have you covered! You can read the current and recent issues of PM Network in your language.