A Systems Approach to Project Management
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Written by Randy Iliff, Systems Engineer and fellow Project Manager Updating the PMBOK® Guide every five years presents a fresh opportunity to ensure that the standard and body of knowledge properly reflect current practice within project delivery. With the kick-off of the Seventh Edition update this month, the PMBOK® Guide will make a dramatic shift from a process-based view of the project environment to a systems-based view. What is a systems-based view, and how does that relate to project management you may ask? The INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook defines a system as: …an integrated set of elements, subsystems, or assemblies that accomplish a defined objective. There’s a lot more in there about systems of course, but the key is that systems produce outcomes as a function of not only the contribution by individual elements, but also the result of all interactions between all elements. In Systems Engineering that’s called an emergent property and the concept is one of the most fundamental insights practitioners must master. In people we use terms like personality and soul, and all agree that there is no single cell or molecule you can point to as the origin. Every project manager will attest that despite a host of common elements, individual projects are as unique as fingerprints. You cannot understand why a project succeeds or fails simply by examining the task list - to truly master the effort you must see the entirety of interactions as well as the tasks. I’ve worked on an enormous range of projects over my career–some simple, others as demanding as standing up launch facilities for the US Space Shuttle and placing a cubic kilometer of instrumentation called “IceCube” under the South Pole. The list of tasks and parts were always different, but the connections between the tasks were surprisingly common. Over time, I realized that the underlying logic was something I could easily build upon and reuse. Without exception I found the system perspective essential to satisfying the wide range of stakeholders involved. It helped me transform competition between interests into successful compromise. I found that view so helpful that I helped found INCOSE as a way to share the message with others. The next edition of the PMBOK® Guide presents us with the opportunity to better reflect key interfaces that must be properly enabled in any given application context. It can take into account the implications of those interfaces for project delivery as well as enhance the understanding of a host of other relationships that inevitably drive project outcomes. Because our projects are always systems – not just a stack of parts or tasks—only a system view offers the richness needed to fully support the PM community and the stakeholders who depend upon us. An interactive workshop at the PMI Global Conference in Philadelphia, 5-7 October 2019, will explore the concept of a systems view of project management and its implications for the underlying principles for managing projects. If you are planning to be at Global Conference, plan to participate in this workshop that will help to inform the development of the next edition of the PMBOK® Guide. |
NEW Discussion Thread for Construction Industry Posted!
| Well, we are pleased to welcome you to our new discussion forum, Community Central! This is THE place for all things Community! Featuring site news, announcements and more, this is the place to ask questions regarding the ProjectManagement.com Community! A new interactive piece of this forum is our “Hot Topics” thread. Posted bi-weekly (1st & 15th) and based on the site theme of the month. Please keep an eye on this thread as we’ll be updating throughout the year with new offerings to the site! And next, get excited for our next “Discover PMI - Ask Us Anything!” webinar, scheduled for Thursday, 19 September 2019 at 12:00PM EDT. As previously posted, the format, which is executed through non-PDU bearing webinars, is meant to encourage conversation with various PMI departments. Simply put, members having a one hour Q&A session with a particular PMI department. We're thrilled to have guest speaker, Ansley Stauffer, highlight the benefits of the PMI Career Center to our members. PMI Members can register at the following link: https://www.projectmanagement.com/webinars/567133/Powering-Your-Career-with-PMI--Explore-the-PMI-Job-Board-to-Power-Your-Career. We 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 four initiatives are solid steps in that direction. As always, your feedback and ideas are most welcome! |
Speakers Announced for PMI® Organizational Agility Conference 2019
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This year, the PMI® Organizational Agility Conference will explore Evolving Approaches to Resilient Value Delivery during an exciting day of networking, professional development, and learning. The members-only virtual event will be held on September 12th from 9am to 5pm ET, offering the opportunity to earn 6 PDUs. Join us as we examine the concept of change resilience with professionals who are driving it within their organizations—and those who are living it as part of their own development. We are excited to welcome the following speakers:
Register for PMI® Organizational Agility Conference 2019 today! |
