Green (sustainable) IT is becoming more and more popular for many reasons. A couple of years ago I developed a graduate level Green IT course for a major university. I will be teaching it for the third time this coming semester. It has always gotten good reviews from the students. Most of them have been full time computer science students or IT industry practitioners. I am confident that they will take their learnings back to their organizations or apply them to their new jobs when they graduate. 
Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Project Christmas
|
I’ve been doing this for a lot of years. Some people think that this is just an ongoing operation and that it’s the same old thing, year after year. Tell that to my reindeers. Do you think that weather conditions are the same every year? How about request for presents, quantity, quality, costs, weight, size? Sure we use templates and start our timeline for next year the day after Christmas. But it is never the exact same timeline, for instance; some years there is a Leap Year, while the day stays the same, the day of the week changes. Take this year, for instance, since Thanksgiving was later in the month of November, we had less time between it and Christmas. It seemed that people waited a little longer to get those lists to us, making it a more hectic than usual. Budgets change from year to year depending on economic conditions and what is going on in the world. During World War Two, my budget was very small because of the resources going into the war effort. No, Christmas is definitely a project. We also decided to shake it up a little this Christmas and make Christmas “greener”, more sustainable. My elves have made up a list for me to check off as I slip into people’s houses to make the deliveries. I’ve included the list below to prevent any “coal” deliveries for those who are wasting precious resources. One thing I do want to mention, though, while I appreciate the beacons of light when people light their houses for the holiday, it makes it easier to locate some neighborhoods, but some of the lighting is downright blinding. Let’s be reasonable out there. Between Christmas Lights and the Tacky Light Tour, while there is money being made by the networks, there are a lot of resources being utilized. I’m just saying. Here is the results of the list project managed by “Papa Elf”." He used many resources to help compile it. From Green Energy Ohio:
o Trees don’t have to be pine. You can create your own out of evergreen clippings, dried flowers, and reeds. If you do get a tree, make sure it comes from a sustainable Christmas tree farm. Most are because they are in business to provide trees year after year. Don’t just go out into someone’s yard or woods and cut a tree without permission. That is a “coal” reward.
o Use LED lighting. We’ve changed to LEDs for all of our lighting here at the North Pole as well as lighting on our sleigh.
o Create your own gift wrapping. Newspaper, particularly the comic section, makes great wrapping paper. Cloth gift bags can be used year after year.
o Gifts don’t have to be objects, they can be efforts like 1 days labor for cleaning up an attic or cutting a lawn. From the Ecologist:
o E-cards or cards made from recycled material are the best if you want to send cards. Sometimes a visit, if people are local, or a phone callif not, is more personal.
o Get food from local producers to save transportation costs when possible. From Eartheasy:
o Look for locally made gifts and those made from renewable resources. o Avoid children’s toys that promote violence. o Take a Christmas hike, do a bird count, hang suet for birds.
o If you do have a live tree, have it ground up for mulch and don’t ever burn branches in your fireplace as it can cause dangerous creosote buildup. There are many more ways to enjoy a more sustainable Christmas. We’ve added sustainability to our mission, our project charter, maybe it is time we all add sustainability to all project management processes. May all your projects be successful in 2014 and beyond. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all and to all a goodnight! |
Sustainability, IT and PM
|
There are many areas where sustainability can play a large role, but the “lowest hanging fruit” for Green IT is the data center. The first and foremost reason is that there is a huge energy cost to operate a data center. Secondly, or tied for first, is the magnitude of data we collect, move, store, manipulate, and retrieve. Because of that massive amount of data, we need more and more infrastructure, and larger and larger, capacity to handle that data. Relatively simple solutions are available for reducing energy consumption, therefore electricity costs and carbon dioxide emissions (2 of the three elements of the triple bottom line - profits and planet). Here is an example of a green IT project. I also teach project management at the same university, and one of the requirements for my class is a group project. This semester, one of the groups developed a project plan for a project that we defined in our book as Green by Project Impact (projects that may not have a green outcome like an electric car, but do have an immediate impact on their environment). It is a project to green up a data center by upgrading the servers to thin clients. Think of thin clients as similar to the terminals that were connected to a central computer, before desk tops (although a lot of you will not remember those “good old days”). Take my word for it, there was a time when there was virtually no processing power on the desk , but rather everything had to go through a central computer. With a thin client, the computing power, software, applications, storage and network access are available and managed at a central location. The student group did a comparison of thin client deployment versus traditional PCs. They found that a thin client uses about 14% of the energy (therefore about 14% of the electrical costs and 14% of the CO2 emissions) than a traditional PC. This is not quite an apples to apples comparison as there are associated costs with the data center, but we have to remember that in most organizations, the data center already exists for storage, backup, etc., therefore is already a cost center. The result in a thin client project deployment is a significant savings in energy consumption which goes right to the bottom-line. Of course there is a cost to the project. The group predicted that a project to deploy 1100 thin clients would be approximately $1.2 million for equipment, $179,000 for resources with a total project cost of approximately $1.4 million. Given that all factors stay the same, energy cost payback period for the entire project would be about 6 years. One factor that makes the project even more attractive is that the average PC is about $1500, the thin client about $300. In this instance, it is an easier decision by the project manager to recommend a thin client deployment for a data center upgrade. It takes into account the greenality of the project as well as the aspect of cost reduction. The payback period is reasonable and the fact that the thin clients are significantly less expensive makes it more attractive. The final “p” in the triple bottom-line is people, so is there an increase in productivity with thin clients? That question still has to be answered, but as Meat Loaf said, “Two out of three ain’t bad.” |
Hey, what's the big IKEA?
|
No, that's not a typo, I was acually referring to IKEA, the big box seller of RIKTIG ÖGLA and FLÄRDFULL. We want to send you off to a great new TED talk. It's by Steve Howard, a sustainability professional who now holds the position of Chief Sustainability Officer at IKEA. This will be a short post. Why? Because Steve says what he says so well. We do, however, want to make one very subtle, quiet point, delicately, and carefully... YOUR BUSINESS LEADERS ARE 'GETTING' SUSTAINABILITY! NOW IT'S OUR TURN AS PORTFOLIO, PROGRAM, AND PROJECT MANAGERS TO GET IT, TOO! Now, enjoy the show.
|
Mom and Dad: Program Managers of Sustainability?
Categories:
Activism
Categories: Activism
|
In the US, it's almost Thanksgiving, a major family holiday. Mom, Dad, family, and friends - kids of all ages - gather to give thanks for all that they have and to celebrate this 'harvest' time of year. And so we choose this timeframe to talk about the important role that Mom and Dad play as project managers - and/or leaders in general - when it comes to integrating sustainability thinking into the mindsets of their families. We'd like to draw your attention to Project Sunlight. This is a project created by Unilever targeting parents as the key influencers for their families, and thus communities. They invite, and we also invite you to first watch a film online which aims to both inspire and motivate parents to then act by doing a number of small things which, added together, will contribute to a better society and environment. Unilever, the parent company of well-known brands like Ragu, Hellmans, Lipton, Popsicle, and Ben & Jerry's, is trying to get the public to join a movement and become part of a growing community of sustainability-minded people and organizations. We know how hard it is to start grass-roots, ad-hoc movements. As a company of two people, EarthPM is finally seeing some success in this area but only after years, hundreds of blog posts, and scores of presentations at PMI Global Congresses, PMI Chapter Meetings, and PMO Symposia as well as in local sustainability organizations, constantly pushing the message that there IS an intersection of Sustaianbility and Project Management and how we as project managers can contribute to lasting success - triple bottom line success - of our projects' products. But this is Unilever, a large multinational corporation. They can make a quicker, deeper, broader difference. We urge you to help them. At least watch the video, and as you do so, consider the Project Management role that Mom and Dad have in influencing the world around them. Most likely, you - as a project manager who is the child of Mom and Dad and a Mom or Dad yourself, are at least at that intersection: the intersection of parent and project manager. Now, just extrapolate that to the intersection of project management and sustainability. Of course, if you're having trouble extrapolating or just find this idea intriguing we invite you to read our book, Green Project Management, which covers the topic well, so we're told. Unilever's Project Sunlight lets you take action locally as a Mom, as a Dad, as a child, as a Project Manager. And by definition, if you take on one of these challenges, you are a Project Manager! Check out what you can do in the USA on this Facebook link. Happy Thanksgiving to our USA-based readers. We're thankful to have this opportunity on Projects@Work to share our thoughts and hope you have a terrific holiday week and weekend! |
Left Coast, Right Idea
|
We've just returned from the West Coast (sometimes called the 'left coast") of the USA, after a great week at the PMO Symposium in San Diego, California. Our presentation, "Should Your PMO Serve as a Chief Project Sustainability Office" was well received, and although the visit was good, it was short, and it was time to fly back over our magnificent continent and return to the East (right) Coast. And just around the time of our visit, the Pacific Coast states of California, Oregon, and Washington, along with the province of British Colombia, did something that the corresponding national governments have failed to do. They agreed on something. But hey, what's the big deal? How big are these few states and a province? Well, combined, they would be the world's 5th largest economy. That's why it's a big deal. And what does this pact mean? Further, since you're probably a project manager, what does it mean to you? To us? To your PMO? Actually, you can easily find out yourself. The document is surprisingly succinct, given that it comes from 4 governments and 2 countries. Have a look at it here. In this two-page document, the word, 'program' appears explicitly four times, the word 'project' appears explicitly four times and both are implicitly woven through almost each and every paragraph in the document. Here are a couple of paragraphs to illustrate our point:
3. Make infrastructure climate-smart and investment-ready.
The West Coast Infrastructure Exchange (WCX) is demonstrating
how to attract private capital for infrastructure projects while
increasing climate resilience through best practices and certification
standards. To scale up these efforts, the governments of California,
Oregon and Washington will sponsor pilot projects with local
governments, state agencies and the WCX. WCX also works
closely with Partnerships BC, a center of infrastructure financing
expertise established by the government of British Columbia that
has helped to secure financing for over 40 projects worth more than
C$17 billion.
4. Streamline permitting of renewable energy infrastructure.
Meeting ambitious carbon-reduction goals will require scaling up
wind, solar and other forms of renewable energy and effectively
bringing clean power to customers in California, Oregon and
Washington. Drawing on emerging models in California and the
Pacific Northwest, the governments of California, Oregon and
Washington will work with permitting agencies to streamline
approval of renewables projects to increase predictability, encourage
investment and drive innovation.
So the point is this. Just as we said in San Diego, business is getting it (according to MIT/Sloan/BCG research, nearly 50% of all companies have integrated sustainability into their business plans), governments are getting it (witness what's happened with this pact), and it's time for Program Management Offices, Project Management Offices, Best Practices Offices, Centers of Project Management Excellence, Ministries of Superfulous Project Exultation, whatever they are called in your enterprise, to connect up to the power that is clearly at the leadership level and bring it to the project managers in your organizations, who, without any new information will just "keep doing what they are doing" - a particular form of sustainability that we do NOT like.
Yes, it looks like the left coast got it right.
|