People, Planet, Profits & Projects

Freshly returned from the keynote address at the PMSA (Project Management South Africa) conference, "The Good in Green", we found that South Africa's project managers have a mature and considered view of project management.

One example is this article, from the PMSA magazine "The Project Manager", which questions the very definition of project success. Does it have to do only with scope, schedule, and budget?  Or - as we have been saying - should success include the success of the steady-state, ongoing use of the product of the project?

Although not strictly about sustainability, the article does correctly point out that a project is part of an endeavor of an organization, and success should be viewed in this larger context.

So- consider a highway project which goes over budget because it chose to use a paving material which (although more expensive) provides drivers with a 15% increase in gas mileage.  Is this project a failure? 

We think not. 

Have a look at the article and think about it.  We think you'll agree that it's at least worth considering this longer-term view.

Here's the full link to the article.

http://www.theprojectmanager.co.za/index.php/Other/the-elusive-concept-of-project-success.html

We're interested in your views on project success.  How much should project managers consider long-term operations as they seek to deliver the product on-time, under budget, and within scope?

But don't answer until you've read Terry Deacon's article.

No sweat.  More inspiration. That's what you'll find here at P, P, P, & P.

We'd like to draw your attention to an editorial in the 13-Aug-11 Cape Cod Times.

In the opinion piece, entitled "Looking To The Skies", the editors discuss the Dennis Union Church - a 173-year-old building on Cape Cod, and its congregation's effort to get air conditioning into their building.

From the editorial:

"Earlier this year, the church was one of four religious groups in New England to receive an Energy Star label, recognizing the congregation's "environmental stewardship." In the case of Dennis Union, that stewardship includes photovoltaic panels, lights that shut themselves off automatically, and double-pane glass."

The congregation wanted to install solar panels so as to power the air conditioning.  However, "the congregation discovered it could use solar panels to not only offset the energy to run air conditioning, but to turn a profit as well in the form of electricity sold back into the grid. And, as one congregant pointed out, although not everyone agrees about climate change, everyone likes to save money."

But the Editorial really got us thinking about project managers.  As usual.  Why?

What could a church tell us about project management and sustainabililty?

Well, first of all, this is a good example of a "Green By Definition" project.  (See our book for the 4 distinct categories of projects).  But more importantly, it shows how a group of stakeholders, in this case, a congregation and its leadership, decided to think long-term.  Sustainably.

Perhaps the best line in the editorial is here:

"Perhaps religious organizations that look at history in terms of centuries, rather than days or months, are better suited to understand the concept of a big picture than individuals on their own."

We're not saying that project managers have to run out and join a religious organization and become regular church, mosque, or synagogue goers, but we are saying that the type of thinking exemplified here by Dennis Union Church is more appropriate than you might imagine for a project manager.

Think sustainably, act projectly.

For those of you more interesetd in the actual project, the architecture, and history of the church, see this case study.

Ray Anderson died yesterday (see press release here). 

Words fail when it comes to discussing Ray Anderson and his importance to sustainabililty and business.  He speaks for himself, and for those who (justifiably) count on results to prove something to be correct, Ray Anderson's company, InterfaceFLOR's results also speak for themselves.

Watch this video to see what this amazing man had to say.

So - nothing to add except we're here to honor his memory and hope that some of you will take some inspiration from this man.

One of the most fundamental and imperative things a project manager must do is to identify stakeholders.

We think this is best done by asking two thoughtful questions:

• Who cares about your project?
• Who cares about your project’s outcome?

We focus a lot on this last part – the outcome, because many times we’re so caught up in the project itself that we lose (in a forest-for-the-trees sort of way) sight of the steady-state operation of our project.  And this is where many of the issues of CSR (corporate social responsibility) and TBL (Triple Bottom Line) come into play.

We recently came across a great comedy clip from the August 2, 2011 rendition of The Daily Show (a Comedy Central Network TV show, staring Jon Stewart).  In this clip, The Daily Show’s Aasif Mandvi interviews a stakeholder in a proposed wind farm in south Florida, USA.  Here, a stakeholder appears and is very concerned about the project’s steady-state use and its effect on a natural resource – ducks.  We hate to give too many details because it may spoil the comedy of the clip.  So watch the clip and come back here.

Here's the link (below):

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-august-2-2011/fowl-wind

So if you saw the clip – and we hope you did – here are the learnings from our perspective:

• Think broadly and deeply about who may be stakeholders  while the project is ‘under construction’.
• Now, imagine the project is done.  It’s running.  It’s working.  It’s perhaps a year into operation.  What happens to your stakeholder set?  Acknowledge that it will change. Feed that back into your stakeholder identification process.
•  Know thy stakeholders!

            -know – and expose as necessary - their true objectives and concerns (not always their spoken ones)

            -understand drivers of their behaviors

• Know the interactions of stakeholders with each other

To shift a bit from comedy to reality, check out the actual sites of the involved parties here:

http://sugarlandwind.com/Environment.html

http://www.unitedwaterfowlersfl.org/

We’re interested in your feedback here.  What did you think of the video?  Did the stakeholders’ interests surprise you?  Where did you see hypocrisy?  How would you have dealt with this if you were the wind farm project manager?  How would you have dealt with this if you were the Waterfowl representative?

We know that this is a difficult part of any project, and so, with tounge firmly in bill, we wish you the best of flock.

(snicker)

This post is about an important problem which is being exhibited in several important fishing areas in the US and around the world.  It's from a great (and short) article which we assert that you should read.  It happens to be from a public TV station based on Cape Cod, but the subject is much more far-reaching and definitely includes a "project management spin".

The article focuses on how Cape Cod deals with its waste products (or doesn't) and what effects can be expected when water systems are overburdened with certain chemicals.

Here's the link to that article..  It's short, it's interesting - please read it.

But just in case you don't - here's a clipping.

"The Environmental Protection Agency has mandated that Cape Cod clean up its act (quick aside: Congress is currently considering legislation to curtail EPA’s authority and leave water quality standards up to states). The need to reduce nitrogen loading of coastal waters has sparked heated debates around the Cape, primarily because the leading solution – municipal sewering – is extremely expensive; cost estimates for sewering Cape Cod range between $4 and $8 billion. Opposition to what some have called “the big pipe solution” has grown, giving rise to events like this weekend’s Eco-Toilet Summit (the second of its kind) and increasing demands for deeper exploration of alternatives to sewering. Given the cost and controversy involved, it will likely take a decade or more to enact any solution."

Read that paragraph and note the connections to project management 'science'.

First, we see references to why a project is triggered or selected (regulatory pressure).  Then we see the importance of stakeholder identification, analysis, and management, with the opposition to the solutions.  But the two BIG reasons this is important to project managers - beyond the altruistic reasons of caring for the planet, that is - are:

• Your environmentaland sustainability context - vocabulary - fluency - is increased by reading about these things.  Wherever you stand politically, whatever your view on climate change, we urge you to be conversant on the subject.  It's going to be important to you.  Beleive us!

• Related to the above...Projects are likely to come out of this, I'm sure you can see.  Billions of dollars are involved.  Again, it can (positively) affect your career to know that this is a source of programs and projects - and thus a source of work for us as project managers

In our book we actually (along with EPA director Mary Ann Curran)  covered the topic of hypoxia. This article shows how it is not only still relevant - it is (unfortunately) accelerating as a problem, and it's intertwined with other issues such as carbon dioxide (carbon footprint), in a complex way.  That's why the article asserts that "nitrogen is the new carbon".

So we leave you with the encouragement to learn about hypoxia - it may not be your main job - but (excuse the pun) it will help put you in your element.