The Critical Path

Hello all! As you may already be aware, PMI retired PMI Today at the end of last year. Because of this change, many of you wondered if the “Fact “File” stats from that bimonthly publication would still be available.

The answer is yes!

Each month, updated numbers will be posted to the community through the Critical Path blog and News You Can Use.

We’re very excited to continue providing this information to you, now more regularly and up to date than ever.

If you are interested in learning more about certifications, including agile certifications, keep exploring at PMI.

Hello all! As you may already be aware, PMI retired PMI Today at the end of last year. Because of this change, many of you wondered if the “Fact File” stats from that bimonthly publication would still be available.

The answer is yes!

Each month, updated numbers will be posted to the community through the Critical Path blog and News You Can Use.

We’re very excited to continue providing this information to you, now more regularly and up to date than ever.

If you are interested in learning more about certifications, including agile certifications, keep exploring at PMI.

Please join us for our next our next “Discover PMI - Ask Us Anything!” webinar, Leapfrogging Into the Future—How a New Perspective on Youth Will Help Us Get There, scheduled on 17 March 2021 at 12:00PM EDT. This series includes PMI guest presenters, Anja Blacha, PMI’s Vice President of Youth (as well as the youngest woman to ski to the South Pole), and Ashley Forsyth, Executive Manager of the PMI Educational Foundation.

Our world is evolving at an ever-increasing speed. Keeping up requires us to innovate and change more rapidly to find new solutions to burning issues, including strategies for empowering the next generation of youth to lead and conquer today’s challenges. So, how can a fresh perspective on youth help us to not only keep up with current demands but also bring us into the future faster, better? This webinar will explain PMI’s new perspective and the actions we are taking to embrace today’s young leaders—and how you can do the same. Join us to learn:

• Why we all benefit from rethinking youth.
• What PMI is doing to engage and strengthen youth around the globe.
• How you can help amplify this effort in a local and global capacity.

Both Anja and Ashley will be on hand to answer your questions, discuss your thoughts and provide perspectives on the future we need to embrace right now. 

As you may know, the format of this series of webinars is executed through FREE, non-PDU bearing webinars, meant to encourage conversation with various PMI departments. Simply put, community members, like yourselves, having a one hour Q&A session with a particular PMI department.

Register for FREE at https://www.projectmanagement.com/webinars/679980/Leapfrogging-Into-the-Future---How-A-New-Perspective-on-Youth-Will-Get-Us-There-. We certainly hope you will join us!

As always, our project is YOU. Your successes and setbacks, your passions and peeves—we want to hear about them all, and help you get to where you're going today and tomorrow. We hope these webinar series guide you in the right direction. Your feedback and ideas are most welcome!

The Academic & Research Achievement Awards recognize individuals, groups and published works that significantly advanced the concepts, knowledge and practices of project, program and portfolio management.

We are happy to announce the 2020 award winners.

The PMI Linn Stuckenbruck Teaching Excellence Award recognizes and honors an individual faculty member for excellence in teaching project management, and for their strong commitment to improving and enhancing project management curricula in higher education.

The winner of the 2020 PMI Linn Stuckenbruck Teaching Excellence Award is Callum Robert Kidd

Callum has been at the forefront of Project Management education for over 20 years at the University of Manchester. He has been a significant part of the success story of many highly innovative initiatives such as the groundbreaking Project Management Professional Development Program (PMPDP) and the launch of the joint MSc Project Management initiative with Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. His development of the PM-PAL (peer assisted learning) project was twice awarded funding from the Deans Teaching and Learning Awards in the Faculty of Engineering and Science at Manchester. He continues to innovate on programs at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, and in his new role as Head of Education for the Engineering and Project Management Discipline, has the task of setting the longer-term strategy for PM course delivery across the Faculty of Engineering and Science. “I feel incredibly honored in being chosen to be the 2020 recipient of the PMI Linn Stuckenbruck Teaching Excellence award. To be rewarded for doing something that you passionately enjoy doing always comes as a great surprise, and I thank the Project Management Institute for continuing to champion project management education around the globe,” says Callum Kidd.

The PMI Research Achievement Award recognizes and honors an individual or group of individuals whose work has significantly advanced the concepts, knowledge, and practices of project management through a published body of academic research.

The winner of the 2020 PMI Research Achievement Award is Professor Monique Aubry, PHD, MPM

Monique Aubry, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the School of Business and Management, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). Now retired from full professorship, she pursues her research on two main topics: the development of megaprojects and organizing for projects. The results of her work have been published in major academic journals in project management and presented at several research and professional conferences. She founded the Lab for Transfer on Innovative Practices in Project Context and serves now as the director of the scientific committee. She is also a research member of the ESG UQAM Project Management Center and the UQAM’s Health and Society Institute. “This Research Achievement Award has several meanings to me. First, I am proud for the recognition of my research to the advancement of project studies. I feel this pride not only for me, but also more importantly for my colleagues involved in the project management program at UQAM and students. Second, this is a wish at the same time as a meaning; it signals encouragement to embark strongly in research”, shared Professor Aubry.

The PMI David I. Cleland Project Management Literature Award recognizes the author(s) of a published book that significantly advances project management knowledge, concepts, and practice.

The winners of the 2020 PMI David I. Cleland Project Management Literature Award are Professor Ofer Zwikael and John R Smyrk, for the book “Project Management: A Benefit Realisation Approach”.

Ofer Zwikael is Professor of Management and Director of the Research School of Management at the Australian National University. Ofer’s research broadly focuses on project benefits management and has been published in a number of books and leading journals. Ofer’s research excellence has been recognized in several ways including receiving multiple research awards by the Academy of Management, British Academy of Management, International Project Management Association, Emerald and the Australian Institute of Project Management. Ofer has held leadership roles such as Associate Dean and Associate Editor for the International Journal of Project Management. He has led, trained, mentored and consulted projects and program groups in dozens of organizations. “I fell in love with projects by observation, engagement and participation when working as a project team member. I then learned more about projects in practice, as well as in academia. It is hence a great honor and privilege to be able to share this knowledge and experience with the project management community. I hope that the book will contribute to the education of a new generation of successful project managers who will make a difference to their organizations and our society. I would like to thank PMI for this recognition and their continuous support of the project management community”, says Professor Zwikael.

John Smyrk worked for many years as a senior advisor on significant projects in Australia and across Asia.  These covered a variety of settings including: heavy engineering, industrial processing, business, government and infrastructure. John taught project management on postgraduate programs at a number of Universities for over 25 years and played an active role in various project management research programs resulting in a number of published papers. “Winning this award represents an acknowledgement and acceptance by the project management profession of the (often radical) ideas to emerge from many years of challenging conventional wisdom,” says John Smyrk.

It is with sadness that we share that Mr. Smyrk passed away subsequent to the publication of this article. 

The PMI Project Management Journal® Paper of the Year Award recognizes the best paper published in the Project Management Journal in the previous year.

The 2020 PMI Project Management Journal® Paper of the Year Award winning paper is “How Digital Information Transforms Project Delivery Models” by Professor Jennifer Whyte

Jennifer Whyte is a Professor at Imperial College London, and holds the Royal Academy of Engineering and Laing O’Rourke Chair in Systems Integration. Her research is on the delivery of major infrastructure projects, and on the integration of systems, modular and digital delivery strategies. Her work is published in leading international journals including Project Management Journal, International Journal of Project Management, Organization Studies and Research Policy. As a member of Construction Leadership Council in the UK, she has strong links to industry and policy, giving advice based on her research. She has been visiting faculty at Stanford and is Co-Director of the Centre for Systems Engineering and Innovation at Imperial College London. “I’m delighted to win the 2020 PMI Project Management Journal® Paper of the Year Award. It is great that the committee recognize the work on How Digital Information Transforms Project Delivery Models. It is an honor to be part of this Project Management Journal Special Issue on Project Delivery Models. I feel passionately about research on projects, and am deeply honored to join such a distinguished set of best paper award winners” shares Professor Whyte.

Congratulations to these 2020 PMI Research & Academic Award winners!

Dear Readers,

I hope this letter, my first, finds you well.

Let’s take a quick trip back to 1998. The internet was barely out of its infancy. Titanic became the first movie to gross US$1 billion. Nokia was the leading mobile phone manufacturer. Plans for the euro were solidified.Google was founded. And PMI Today launched as a supplement to PM Network®.

At the time, Jim Pennypacker, PM Network’s then-publisher/editor-in-chief wrote, “PMI Today will feature current news about the exciting changes and events in the Institute—the latest on certification, training, publications, networking opportunities, professional development and more. The format of the news magazine allows us to publish Institute information in a timely and economical manner and provides more editorial space in PM Network for articles on the state of the art of project management, which is PM Network’s mission.”

A lot has happened since 1998.

The internet grew up. In today’s connected world, people don’t want to wait months for information, as can often be the case with print publications. Nearly a quarter-century after PMI Today’s launch, our community can interact with one another through a robust mixture of digital offerings, including PMI.org, ProjectManagment.com, podcasts like Projectifed®, mobile apps and a plethora of social media channels.

These and many other forms of engagement are a testament to PMI’s digital transformation. More than ever, PMI is working to make content available when, where and how you need it.

Because of all this, PMI has made the decision to retire PMI Today at the end of the year. Yes, the November/December publication is the final issue of PMI Today.

But never fear! Most of what you find in PMI Today is also available through digital channels, such as the Events and Certifications sections of PMI.org, webinars and PDUs on ProjectManagement.com, the PMI Educational Foundation,and the official PMI blog,  with more ways to access chapter news coming in 2021.

You may have also noticed that PM Network is publishing more stories online. New products, tools and learning experiences are launching such as Navigator, Snippets, PMIstandards+™, Ascent, Disciplined Agile™ certifications, the Virtual Experience Series and much more. It’s all part of PMI’s digital transformation.

So, while we may be saying a fond farewell to one publication, PMI is dedicated to delivering more informative, accessible, entertaining and actionable content than ever.

We hope you like what you’ve been seeing so far, and as always, we appreciate your feedback so keep it coming!

All the best,

Al Kalman
Editor in Chief, PM Network and PMI Today