PM Network

When you are building into the sky where no building has gone before, you have to be creative with planning and problem-solving. Super-tall buildings are all the rage now, with the kilometer height milestone set to be broken in Saudi Arabia in 2022. The first mile-high tower is being proposed for Tokyo, Japan.

June PM Network puts you in the project manager’s hot seat, showing you the challenges you might face erecting these Herculean structures. The key risks to mitigate are logistics (moving so much material in and out on schedule), worker safety and the effects of wind.

Are projects in your industry pushing the envelope? How, as project managers, do you deal with that? Please discuss in the comment section below.

We are in a disruptive era. A new era calls for new leaders—leaders who are fast, informed and decisive. Are you one of those leaders, or do you aspire to be? June’s PM Network, with its amazing superhero cover, dives deep into the leadership transformation necessary to tackle the volatile business environment and come out ahead of your competition.

Leadership is still about integrity, passion and vision. But now it is also about delivering value to the organization by inspiring your team, quickly solving problems and securing stakeholder support. Do you know what the future holds for your industry? That’s part of being a strategic leader today.

This special section provides hints of what to do—and what not to do—to increase your leadership skills. Are you ready to be a Super Leader?

Please share your experiences in the comments. What have you done to become a leader for today? What are your recommendations for others aiming to lead?

Z may be the last letter of the alphabet but the generation that letter represents is starting to come in strong in the workplace. In just a few years, Generation Z (born 1994–2010) will make up 20 percent of the global workforce. What are they like, what are their preferences, what are their concerns? The May edition of PM Network interviews two from Z who are new to the workplace and presents an infographic on what motivates Generation Z. It’s more than the fact that this group is digital-native—Z workers are entrepreneurial, have hefty salary expectations and fear lack of development opportunities and not finding a job that matches their personality.

Have you had an experience with Generation Z? What has your experience been? If you are reading this and are a member of Generation Z, what is on your mind as you start your workplace journey? Please use the comments below this post to discuss.

To the reader who wrote me that PM Network should have less on construction projects and more on IT/technology projects, we offer this compromise: An April cover story on cutting-edge technology taking hold in the world of building buildings. According to the story, 3-D building information modeling (BIM) is a prized tool for a new generation of construction project managers who use it to improve communication and reduce risks. The next step for many forwarding-looking firms is moving to 4-D BIM—incorporating schedule data, and then all the way to 5-D, which includes cost data.

Other innovative construction tools include using drones and GIS to speed surveying and make it more accurate; taking advantage of Internet of Things technology to track performance data for equipment and materials; and employing self-healing concrete, nanometals, preassembled modules and 3-D printing to cut costs and increase quality.

Shifting gears to the technology behind PM Network magazine, please use the comments to tell us how you prefer to read PM Network and why: In print? Via our digipub on a laptop? Digipub on tablet? On mobile phone? Or do you fancy our PM Network app on your mobile phone or tablet? Thanks for sharing your preference!

As business cycles accelerate, schedule compression appears to become the norm. But squeezing more project into less time doesn’t have to be a losing proposition. March’s PM Network cover story provides antidotes for this situation—some of them are counterintuitive.

Have senior leaders show their support for the changed schedule and spell out the business case. This will help get your team on board. Hold bonding activities—this will increase team adhesion in a pressured work environment. Communicate more by making meetings more frequent, as long as they are focused. This can bring up solvable obstacles to the compressed schedule.

Do you have tips on dealing with the “more, faster” conundrum? Let us know in the comments below.

An additional topic for discussion: Which type of PM Network article is more valuable to you, an article about an interesting project such as renovating the Colosseum in Rome or an article about project management techniques such as this month’s schedule compression? Please help us guide your PMI professional magazine (and member benefit) by telling us your preference.