Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
ISOmetrics via video
|
Many of you as project managers have had interactions with ISO standards. You may have been involved in an ISO audit (usually with ISO 9000 Family Standards - we'll come back to that later). You may have overseen a project to train people on ISO standards. You simply may have had to take a mandatory class on ISO because, well, because it was MANDATORY. This blog post is about some of those standards, but most importantly, it brings you the important message that sustainability is now threaded through the most popular standard - the ISO 9000 family. First, let's look at the "purpose-built" standards. To do that, rather than spend a lot of time with text here, we've provided embedded videos of just a few minutes each, which tell the story from ISO's perspective. Below you will find three videos - one on Environmental standards (ISO 14000 family), then IS 26000 (Social Responsibility) and then ISO 50001 (Energy Systems).
Besides these, ISO 21500 is a dedicated ISO Standard ("Guidance on Project Management"), and this document, importantly, contains numerous sustainability connections. In fact, the very authors of your People, Planet, Profits & Projects blog worked with others on the committees which put this standard together to help assure that indeed it did include these threads. Now, we're applying that same energy to the PMBOK(R) Guide, 6th Edition to get that same sort of maturity in the PMI Standards. But what really triggered this post was the fact that ISO 9001:2015 (and the 9000 series) which are all about quality. Per ISO themselves, this family of standards "ensure that ...products and services consistently meet customer’s requirements, and that quality is consistently improved". At our core, project managers are quality managers. Side note: your blogging team actually presented this concept (project managers as quality managers) way back in 2000 in Mexico City at a Conference Board presentation - and it got a hugely positive response. In any case, the newest version of ISO 9001 (called ISO 9001:2015) includes references (and requirements) related to sustainability. Here is ISO's own take on the new standard: Of course, that element of sustainability and sustainable development is key for us. But there is more in here of interest to project managers, including the idea of "Risk-based thinking". We suggest that you take advantage of any organizational resources which help you get updated on the new version of this standard. Get smart on the update - it will help you be a more sustainable-thinking PM. And if you want to learn more about sustainability, poke around in the other standards (especially ISO 14000 and ISO 21500) to see the interlocking starting to take place between PM standards and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) standards. |
Unique Undertakings
|
(Photo: Dudarev Mikhail/Shutterstock) What is a project? PMI says that a project is: “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.” This blog post is going to take “undertaken” to new depths. I mean, we are talking about seriously under. Undersea, that is. Most readers will be familiar with the so-called “Deepwater Horizon” incident, also sometimes called the BP gulf oil spill, which occurred in 2010. By the way of trivia, the well itself was BP’s Macondo Well – the Deepwater Horizon was the name of the platform, owned by a different company, called TransOcean. But anyway, that was so long ago. Surely that is history and we’re done with that news, right? The Gulf has recovered, tourism is back, and all is ‘well’ (excuse the pun). Not quite. A lot goes on below the surface of the ocean – a lot that is not seen. And as some scientists and restoration project leaders have been saying lately – we have to be careful of the “out of sight, out of mind” syndrome here. To refresh your memory about the incident, I draw from a recent article in the Boston Globe: “BP’s out-of-control well spat oil for 87 days into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Much of it never reached the surface, kept in the depths both by chemical dispersants sprayed to keep the oil from reaching shorelines and by natural forces.” In fact 1.84 million US gallons (7,000 m3) of Corexit oil dispersant were distributed over the area to prevent the oil from doing damage to shorelines. So that oil – and the dispersant itself had nowhere to go but…down. “Studies estimated up to about 30 percent of the more than 172 million gallons of oil released from the well remained in the gulf and up to about 3,250 square miles of the seafloor was affected — an area nearly the size of Yellowstone National Park.” The oil reached as far as Tampa Bay and the Florida panhandle according to the Tampa Bay Times: “Oil continued to be found as far from the Macondo site as the waters off the Florida Panhandle and Tampa Bay, where scientists said the oil and dispersant mixture is embedded in the sand.” As you may know, in April of this year, a federal judge approved a $20 billion settlement/payment from BP to cover the spill’s environmental and economic damage. But how much of that money is aimed at restoring the deep ocean? The answer: less than 1.4%, a paltry $273 million — has been earmarked for restoring the deep ocean over the next 15 years. Granted, this still is a number much larger than zero. What can project leaders do about restoring the ocean floor with this funding? Well, now we have to dig into the other “U” word from PMI’s definition of the word project – “unique”. ‘‘We’re trying to do something that we’ve never done before,’’ said Erik Cordes, a Temple University coral expert who’s studied the corals damaged by the spill and worked on the government’s restoration plans. ‘‘We are in uncharted waters here.’’ “A government restoration plan suggests dumping oyster shell, limestone, and manufactured ‘‘reef balls’’ into the ocean in the hope that coral and fish colonize them.
You can watch a rather bizarre video about a form of these reef balls here. You’ll have to watch it to find out, but it gives a whole new meaning to the word “undertaking”! The actual reef balls referred to in the Globe article are described here. It goes on to say: The plan also considers transplanting healthy coral to reefs hit by the oil. The plan notes this has never been done in deep waters, just as growing deep-sea coral in laboratories has not been attempted. As project managers there are several lessons here.
|
Eco-Tourism
Categories:
eco-tourism
Categories: eco-tourism
|
What happens when a country has been disconnected from the world community and then is “back in the fold”, especially when that country has a whole slew of new species being discovered yearly? Is it a threat or an opportunity for the country to introduce ecotourism as an industry? Will ecotourism bring more money, more awareness, more modernity to this country, or will ecotourism actually damage its delicate ecosystem? The country is Myanmar (Burma), and these questions were posed by Rachel Nuwer in a recent article in Scientific American entitled Saving Eden. As project managers we’re used to looking at threats and opportunities for initiatives, and this is no different. The initiative to introduce ecotourism to Myanmar is an interesting study in risk management, and is particularly intriguing because of the politics and geography involved. For example, although Myanmar has economic benefits of US$7.3 billion in benefits to the country per year, the financial support for existing national parks is US$26,000 – a mere 0.2% of the country’s budget. With this backdrop, the initiative faces these risk questions:
I’m going to suggest that you read this article, and others referenced at the end of the post. In fact, I’ll be able to comment on this issue quite personally and directly, as I’m going to become an ecotourist myself (in Alaska). I plan to post right here in nearly real-time during this visit (coming up in June 2016). I’ll be considering the questions above (but in the context of Alaska, which is admittedly very different). I plan to comment on how our tour of the area is benefiting the environment, the local people, and I’ll focus on the ecotourists themselves – their attitudes their opinions – for example, do they even consider themselves ecotourists? How does the touring company deal with this issue? What are their commitments? I’ll be reporting on these things from personal experience – looking forward to it and I hope you will enjoy it (and learn from it) as well.
Ecotourism in India http://www.sciencelog.net/2015/01/ecotourism-in-india.html
TED case study – Ecotourism in Costa Rica http://www1.american.edu/ted/costa-rica-tourism.htm Ecotourism in Fiji http://www.fao.org/docrep/x5336e/x5336e0b.htm Other studies and published papers: http://www.global-briefing.org/2012/10/how-ecotourism-can-link-conservation-and-business/ |
Pop goes Africa
Categories:
Africa
Categories: Africa
|
Busy marketplace in Lagos, Nigeria. Photo courtesy of The Guardian. We estimate that this blog post will take you about 3 minutes to read. Stop reading for just a moment, and pause. Make a picture in your mind of 240 newborn babies. That is how many infants will be born in Africa as you read this post. Well, at least that is the forecast of the situation in 2050, according to a recent UN population study. (summary here). Eighty new babies born per minute in Africa alone. Another way to put this, given the projections: African population growth would fill an empty London five times a year. Okay, you say – that’s all very interesting, but what does this mean to me, to my organization, to me, to projects, to project management? What’s this doing in a project management blog? Well, we blog about the triple-bottom line. That means economic, ecological, and social aspects of business and sustainability in general. The story that triggered this idea for us appeared in the most recent edition of Scientific American, and it came under that journal’s heading of sustainability. But when we dug deeper (that’s what we do for you here!) it turned up some very project-oriented data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. As any good PM would do, let’s start with some orientation and some facts and figures: Here’s a chart that pretty strikingly shows the difference in projected growth among the continents of the world:
So there is your population data, in pretty striking form. Here are some additional facts and figures:
We’ve talked about the facts and the expected results. Let’s discuss the cause and ways to deal with it from a social perspective. It will lead to even more connections to ‘green by definition’ projects. What has led to this population increase? It’s not just more babies. Ironically some of this comes from very good news, and is the result of projects and initiatives to improve the lot for Africans. For example, thanks to better practices in agriculture and the ability to move and store food (we’ve blogged about this recently), life expectancy has increased. “The 12 million Africans born in 1955 could expect to live only until the age of 37. Encouragingly, the 42 million Africans born this year can expect to live to the age of 60.” (see full article in The Guardian by clicking on the link). So – the health of families has improved. People are living longer. One outcome is this burst in population. It’s apparent that this large population is not sustainable. What’s the best reaction to this? According to Scientific American’s Robert Engleman the solution comes from empowering women. What’s the connection? Is there any evidence to show that it has worked? And, selfishly, is there any connection to project management? From the Scientific American article: “A significant fertility decline can be achieved only if women are empowered educationally, economically, socially and politically. They must also be given easy and affordable access to contraceptives. Following this integrated strategy, Mauritius has lowered its fertility rate from six to 1.5 children; Tunisia's rate dropped from seven to two. Men also have to relinquish sole control over the decision to have children and refrain from abusing wives or partners who seek birth control. For such efforts to succeed ultimately, government leaders must encourage public and policy conversations about slower population growth.” There’s much more to that angle – we suggest reading the entire article. There’s other aspects also, though. Is there a connection to education of women? Again, from the article: “Education spurs young people to seek contraceptives and to plan smaller families as they learn about the world, their bodies and the potential to steer their own destinies. African women with no education have, on average, 5.4 children, according to the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. Women who have completed primary school have, on average, 4.3 children. A big drop, to 2.7, correlates with completion of secondary school. For those who go on to college, fertility is 2.2.”
Yes, there are examples of projects that assist in family planning, in education, generally with population control and management. Here are a couple of examples. http://www.familyplanning2020.org/ Below are some of the references for this post. We encourage you to read more about this issue and the ways in which it may impact you as a project manager, no matter where you are in the world – and the potential for the impact in the opposite direction – that is, your ability to have an impact on the issue as a project manager. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34188248 http://www.techinsider.io/africas-population-explosion-will-change-humanity-2015-8 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/birth-control-could-help-the-environment-but-not-quickly/
|
A deep breadth
Categories:
climate change
Categories: climate change
|
Do me a favor. Read this brief paragraph (below in yellow highlighting) and then stop and take a deep, deep breath. A breath of probably much cleaner air than many, many other people are taking. The World Health Organization (WHO) compiled a list of the 1600 cities with the worst air quality in the world. India as a whole is home to 11 of the top 20 cities on the planet with the worst air quality. The worst U.S. city was Fresno, California, which came 162nd on the list. (Compiled by the World Health Organization, which collected pollution levels from these cities between 2008 to 2013.) Most of us have come to associate “poor air quality” with Beijing. It is indeed bad there. But New Delhi (for example) is much worse. The worst US city is number 162 on the list of 1600 metro areas and India has 11 of the top 20? Wow! NPR just published an excellent article about this topic, and another quite striking fact is this: President Obama, who visited New Delhi for 3 days recently, is estimated to have lost 6 hours off of his lifespan based only on breathing the air from New Delhi on the visit. Wow again! The problem of air pollution is the immediate, visible outcome of unsustainable growth. The real problem is actually much more insidious. Quoting from the article: The impacts of climate change would hit people in India harder than almost anywhere else in the world, making it more vulnerable to flooding and drought. "Tropical cyclones are likely to become more intense. We're also seeing that climate change is going to have an impact on the monsoon," says Richard Hewston of the global risk assessment firm Verisk Maplecroft. His company looked at which countries around the world are most vulnerable to storms, flooding and other acts of nature. India is already at the top of the list, first in the world. Two of its biggest cities, New Delhi and Kolkata, with a combined population of more than 14 million, are on the top 10 list of global cities most vulnerable to natural hazards.
What’s happening in India is important – even critical – not just for India, but for the world. What India is able to accomplish in terms of new projects to promote and develop clean energy and to limit climate change will say a lot about what the rest of the world can do. They have set high targets in these areas, and in many ways will lead the world in implementing sustainable development en masse. Again, quoting from the article: In the filtered, cooled air of the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, Ambassador Richard Verma tells me he thinks India is poised to take the lead on clean energy and climate change. Already, it has set an ambitious target of 100 gigawatts of solar energy by 2022, which would be a faster buildup than any country has managed. “There’s no other country on the planet that has set the kind of renewable targets and goals that India has. So I think the way to get there is a challenge, but India, I think, is really going to be a trailblazer in this whole area,” he says. The challenge for India is how to manage the tension between development and climate change. What happens next here could have a huge impact on the world and has the potential to write a new story on how developing countries enter the 21st century — including whether the world can alter the course on climate change or not. It’s worth having a look at some of these goals and objectives. Click here for a 30-ish page report which summarizes them. Why is this covered in a project management blog? A few reasons. First, we can see some of the effects of climate change – or at least air pollution – on a population. We can see that a government appears to be taking the threat seriously and is responding to the threat with a detailed, significant plan that launches all sorts of projects and programs. If nothing else, these will employ thousands, perhaps tens or hundreds of thousands of project managers, to turn these ideas into reality. Agree or not with the concept of climate change, whether to you it is fiction or reality is actually of no import. What you can read from this is that there will be real project work for real project managers. We’d assert that this is good, just work that must be done. So the topic is wider than you may think. It has - for lack of a better expression- deep breadth.
For a recent news story on this topic, click here. Photo Credit: Gajendar Nadav, Financial Express |