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Date
15 days seems like a short time - just over two weeks... a sprint. But this is 15 Earth Days, so we're talking about a decade and a half.
This is a brief post with pointers to resources and thought leadership on the intersection of project management (which, luckily, is evolving to project LEADERSHIP) and sustainability.
Do you see what is embedded in the word sustainability? That’s right: sustAInability – it’s right in the middle of the word, bridging the ‘sust’ from sustenance with the ‘ability’ to provide continued sustenance.
Today is Earth Day. 15 Earth Days ago – meaning in 2010, we wrote a book called Green Project Management, and although it won PMI’s Cleland Award for Literature, it mostly got the same reception as a vegan dish at a Texas BBQ. Meh. But patience and perseverance paid off. Sure, it’s 15 years later but now I’m glad (even a little proud) to see sustainability becoming a mainstream element of project management standards and thought leadership.
For example, PMI just launched “Sustainability in the Age of AI – the Integration Imperative”
In the introduction, PMI President and CEO Pierre LeManh says,
“PMI Thought Leadership’s latest contribution to this space – Sustainability in the Age of AI: The Integration Imperative – seeks to understand how leading organizations are applying AI to tackle one of the most pressing challenges of our time: the urgent need to advance sustainability efforts as we careen toward potential environmental catastrophe, whether we accept to recognize it or not.
We examined the experiences of more than 650 organizations across multiple sectors and regions, all of which are pursuing sustainability and AI strategies currently. The findings challenge some common assumptions while validating others, providing a roadmap for organizations at any stage of their AI and sustainability journeys. This report demonstrates that AI can be a critical enabler in
helping organizations more effectively pursue their sustainability goals. It can be used to generate short-term cost savings while illuminating the long-term benefits of a comprehensive sustainability strategy.”
So this is about the application of AI to organizations’ efforts to become more sustainable. Our role as project manager is to think past the end of the project – to be outcomes, benefits, and value focused, while, of course, not taking our eyes off of engaging project stakeholders, overseeing schedule, budget, scope, and risk. In fact – as our original ancient tome indicated – a long-term, holistic approach to project management can help better identify and engage with stakeholders and to better scan the horizon for risks and plan intelligent risk responses. And – armed with AI, we can do even better at all of those things, if it is applied properly.
Further making my day – my Earth Day – is the draft version of the The Standard for Project Management – Eighth Edition (PMBOK® Guide) ANSI BSR-8 being made available for comment. I have started to look at it and was pleased to see the amount of integration (not just passing reference) of sustainability in the document. I will continue to blog about this but I do want to remind readers that the comment period is open until 2-June-2025. Click here to comment – you must be a PMI member to do so.
PMI also posted a list of resources here that are worth your time, including the above mentioned AI and Sustainability Report, and can help you make your Earth Day as well. Check them out, and stay tuned for some comments on the new PMBOK® Guide’s excellent embedding of sustainability thinking for project leaders.
Posted
by
Richard Maltzman
on: April 23, 2025 09:58 PM |
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