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In the latest edition of PM Network there is an article entitled “Weather Alert: Flooding Ahead.”  The subtitle is “It’s high time to plan for high tides with global projects” and it is by Mark Guarino.  The article points out a striking example of how future projects will be driven by issues of sustainability; by the triple-bottom line, people, planet, profits. 

Rich and I are facilitating a ‘sustainability in project management’ course for the Sustainability Learning Centre and we use two examples of how high tides are affecting the environment.  An island that was being contended by India and Pakistan, South Moore Island, AKA Talpatti, is no longer a problem.  It is now under water due to rising ocean levels.  The people of Talpatti needed to relocate themselves and their personal property (a project).  The other example we used was from an article in The Boston Globe, August 4, 2012, Rising Tide of Concern.”  That article pointed out the developers and building owners in Boston are considering locating their electrical facilities on upper floors, building new buildings with floodwalls, higher first floors, landscaping buffers, etc., to prevent the problems caused in New York by Hurricane Sandy. 

We’ve always believed that project managers should avail themselves of the opportunity to lead sustainability efforts.  Whether it is an obviously sustainable project like managing the installation of a wind farm, to managing the planning organization and implementation of a new software release, project managers should be involved.  One of the ways to avail yourself of those opportunities is to understand that there is a 'rainbow of green ; from projects that are green by definition, projects that are green by project impact, projects that are green by product impact, and projects that are green in general.  The specifics are detailed in our book and we’ve talked about it quite a bit in this blog as well as on our website. 

That’s not what I want to talk about here.  What I want to talk about here is that it is just as important to the project manager to be aware of the terminology and the fundamentals about sustainability in project management.  Yes, you can get a good basic understanding from our book.  In addition, Greg Balestrero (he gets it!),  former President and CEO of Project Management Institute (PMI®) is now working with  the International Institute of Learning (IIL) and will be speaking during International Project Day (Thursday, November 7th, 2013) on the subject of Organizational Survival: Profitable Strategies for a Sustainable Future.  For more information go to IIL’s website.   It’s free and you can get some PDU’s and it will be available on demand for those who cannot participate during the live presentations.  Greg and Nathalie Udo also co-authored a book by the same name as the presentation.  That book is now available.

Another way is to become more educated is to take a course or two in sustainability and sustainability in project management.  The Sustainability Learning Centre has some great offerings in this area. 

Forewarned is forearmed.  Arming yourself with sustainability and sustainability in project management information is another way to make you, a project manager, more marketable as well as ready to take advantage of any and all opportunities.


Posted by Dave Shirley on: November 06, 2013 10:31 AM | Permalink

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