Pillar Four - Open the Door
From the People, Planet, Profits & Projects Blog
by Richard Maltzman,
Dave Shirley
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Richard Maltzman
Dave Shirley
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Date
In the past few posts, I have been focused on breakthroughs in science that will yield new projects. I’ll continue to do that, of course, because they speak to the amazing new opportunities it will bring project leaders. Whole careers are going to be made for those who want to take on a project leadership role in, for example, the deployment of green hydrogen production, storage, distribution, and use, or, the creation of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
Today, I’m shifting back to project (program, and portfolio) management itself and how it is maturing and blossoming, with our without wholly new scientific breakthroughs. In fact, the breakthrough here is more of a construction project inside Project Portfolio Management. It’s the idea of a shiny new, fourth pillar. We have the only known photo of this pillar, shown above.
Naah, it’s not a literal pillar – it’s a metaphorical pillar. The original 3 pillars come from author and consultant Jamal Moustafaev, author, speaker, and CEO of Thinktank Consulting, Inc. Jamal is actually the author of a great book I’ve been using in my Program and Portfolio Management courses at Boston University for years. In his writing, Jamal has referred to the Three Pillars of PM as:
The Three Pillars of PPM
One can say that PPM rests on the following three pillars:
1. Projects selected must maximize the value for the company.
2. Projects selected must constitute a balanced portfolio.
3. The final portfolio of projects must be strategically aligned with the company’s overall business strategy.
But in a recent article by Javed Mohammad, Yu-Chun Pan, published just in 2022, these authors imagine a fourth pillar: adding sustainability and a holistic view. I like that pillar. A lot. I would like to give a shout out to my former Boston University student Daria Risso for pointing this article out to me.
In the Abstract of this article, the authors say:
This paper pursues the premise that sustainability is strategic and distinct from functional and tactical project management processes. Integrating the principles of sustainability into project management should, therefore, deliver limited outcomes or lack a comprehensive solution that is flexible and adaptable to different business models, functions and situations.
And they’re correct.
This has been a point we’ve made on this blog and that project managers have been un-shy about bringing up to me when I ask them to consider the responsibility a PM has to take sustainability into account. So how about ‘kicking this up a notch’ to PPM?
That’s what I’ve called for, and I was pleased to see that this is the view of this article:
Project portfolio management (PPM), on the other hand, has a much wider application and perspective. It bridges project management with the overall organisational strategy, goals and objectives. Not only is PPM strategic, but it is a continuous process, unfettered by the limitations of individual projects or programmes.
The article mentions that adding a framework for sustainability thinking can help determine long-term benefits and project outcomes (this is the good side), but it also “adds some complexity” into PPM practices and will cause PPM managers and stakeholders to “prepare for additional responsibilities”.
Is this trade-off worth it? Are we ready for this additional complexity? Do we think the “additional responsibilities” will pay off?
This is what I plan to discuss in the next post, including a deeper dive into the article. Want to dive in with me? The article is publicly available on Research Gate, click here to access it.
See you on the other side of the door…
Posted
by
Richard Maltzman
on: October 09, 2022 08:50 PM |
Permalink
Comments (4)
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I totally agree with the proposal of the 4th pillar brought by you Mr. Maltzman and Mr. Shirley (based on 2022 - Mohammed & Pan work) although the approach was always there considering the perspective of risk management. Which could be the risks for the organizations/companies/businesses and their projects - including side effects generated, without a holistic view and sustainable (encompassing environmental, social and economic) approach? With stakeholders more and more engaged in these demands knowing that one action in a place can influence negatively or positively in many aspects of the life miles away of that original spot, under the risk management perspective, sustainability and holistic view is mandatory to the managers of today and the future where the incorporation of this mindset, as almost all are forecasting, will be regular. Hope the efforts to get this standard can be translated in benefits to the global society and next generations, as required by the nowadays multilateral agreements, in the near future. Thanks for sharing and congratulations for bringing this important theme to the enlightenment of the PM community.
Stéphane Parent
Self Employed / Semi-retired| Leader Maker
Prince Edward Island, Canada
If we can get citizens to sort out compost and recyclables from their waste, the least we can do is to get program/portfolio managers to add sustainability into the mix of strategies and metrics.
I guess sustainability souldn't just be implemented as a strategy, it's a culture!
Binay Samanta
Director| Project & Environment Consultants
Dhanbad, India
Projects must be strategically aligned with the company’s overall business strategy. Sustainability is the fourth pillar.
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