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Date
When we stsarted out many years ago pointing to the intersection of green and project management, we didn't notice too much in the popular PM journals on the topic. Sure, from time to time there would be a story about a wind-farm project, or a story that lightly touched on broader definitions of project success, but we rarely found coverage of sustainability as an 'integrated idea'.
And that still holds pretty true.
But we are beginning to see an uptick in a more holistic view of project success, more of a buy-in into project managers (or at least program and portfolio managers) as "benefits realizers", with the inherent patience and metrics to measure project success not only on delivery of a project product, but on the longer-term benefits of continued econommic success for that product, fewer ecological impacts from the steady state of that product, and the broader social impact of that product (in operation).
Case in point: this month's PMNetwork magazine, which, as you can see in the picture - and perhaps coincidentally - has a cover that features the color green. But beyond the cover, deep inside the issue (without it being dubbed any sort of special 'sustainability' or 'green' issue) are many articles and features on renewable energy projects, on aligning sponsors more closely with project managers, even on the "long haul" 'sustainabile' careers of old crow project managers like your authors here at this blog.
It's a thread through the issue and it's increasingly a thread through issue after issue of PMNetwork, and we applaud the work of PMI to continue to weave that thread into the fabric of project managers.
Some other examples: the Finalists for the 2014 Project of the Year includes the Energy Systems Integration Facility being built by the US Department of Energy. There's a feature on the creation of an artificial oyster reef in Matagorda Bay, Texas, to revive an ecosystem lost with the eventual erosion of the Half Moon Reef. It's a project that involves collaboration between government and the Nature Conservancy. The story on the emergence of Tanzania as a leading African economy features stories on the challenges it faces with energy. Speaking of energy, Chile is also featured as a country with a promising set of renewable energy projects. There's a sidebar describing renewables projects in that country. And to top it off, there is a feature on REDD (not LEED, but REDD - Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degredation) projects for which the USAID and the World Bank has funded US$6.27 billion, and "that's a far cry from what the UN says is needed to combat climate change".
All in all, it's reassuring to see the thread of sustainability - or at least a focus on sustainability-oriented projects - become more prolific.
It's now time for the next step: raise the level of coverage to include how projects - ANY kind of project - can have a connection to the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) objectives of the parent organization. Show how a software project, a bridge, the launch of a new coffeemaker - ANY project - can benefit from long-term, holistic thinking.
We're impressed with the change. But we're still not satisfied. I suppose we could say that our passion for a true intersection of PM and Sustainability is...sustainable.
Posted
by
Richard Maltzman
on: September 11, 2014 12:18 AM |
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