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Date
Project managers are a pragmatic lot. That’s what we really like about them. They are always looking for the “facts”, the bottom-line, and no BS. Whether we are consulting, networking, giving a seminar or teaching a class in sustainability, one of the most often asked questions is “What is the end game for project sustainability?” In other words, what are we trying to accomplish at the intersection of green (sustainable) business practices and project management. After all, that is where Rich and I live.
We know what our end game is. It is not about another certification, the addition of more alphabet soup. Sometimes we wonder how some people fit all that on their business card. And that’s okay! The most important thing to us is that the “alphabet soup” represents learning, or at least we hope it does. 
That’s our end game, education and the meshing or smashing of sustainability and project management together. For those of you who have seen our webinars or read our book know that we coined word “greenality”, the smashing of green and quality together. We also have a set of assertions that smash project management and sustainability together: (1) Doing the right thing helps the project team do the right thing, (2) Green PM helps better equip the team respond to project risks, (3) Green PM helps the project and the product of the project, (4) An environmental lens is a necessary part of a PM’s toolbox, and (5) Greenality, like quality, must be planned in, not bolted on. No matter what the book you read, course or webinar you take, you’ll see that those basics assertions reflected somewhere.
While all of these assertions are important, for the purposes of this discussion, “Greenality, like quality, must be planned in, not bolted on,” is the key. It is not complicated (as the AT&T commercial says). We advocate that it is critical not to consider Green Project Management as a separate entity. Don’t “bolt it on.” We get concerned that in an effort to differentiate the various efforts out there to provide courses and/or “certifications”, this concept is lost. We’ve always advocated that Green Project Management should be a part of project management, not separated from it. The “environmental lens” becomes a part of the PM toolbox, like the communications lens or quality lens we PMs are always considering. Green PM becomes second nature.
Does some sort of sustainability credential help? It doesn’t hurt? Is it needed? It probably is not as long as the project manager has a basic knowledge and understanding of the language and conditions of sustainability. Those can be found in the various books on the subject. “The proof is in the pudding,” so to speak. It is a logical approach to utilize the learning’s of sustainability in the project managers’ everyday life, so that the project team does the right thing, responds to the projects sustainability risks (both opportunities and threats), and help the project and the product of the project be more sustainable. When that is accomplished, the end game is near!
Note: The words Green Project Management or Green PM are used in reference to our book, Green Project Management, (C) CRC Press, 2010.
Posted
by
Dave Shirley
on: May 14, 2013 10:40 AM |
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