Who are those excellent visionary Project Managers who anticipated that there would be a fatal medical virus named COVID (I MUST be sure that it is not understood as a computer virus)?

Peter, I am sorry to say that Project Risk Management becomes a joke in this volatile and uncertain world situation. So people who are bragging about their PMP certifications also becoming jokers!!!

The world hasn't seen such a Pandemic. And this is the beginning only!!!

Prolay,

An individual “should be” proud when they obtain a PMP certification – period. At the same time, having credentials in a given field does not necessarily make you an expert in that field. In like manner, an expert in a given field may not hold any certifications at all.

To say that an individual “becomes a joker” because they brag about their accomplishment (e.g., a PMP certification) because of the purported relationship you have drawn between “project risk management” and a “volatile and uncertain world,” is an unreasonable statement, even when made in hyperbole.

If you have a concern with a principle associated with project management, then you should raise that question and simply drop the unnecessary interpersonal commentary.

Great points @Peter. In my country we said "no hay peor ciego que el que no quiere ver" which I think is something like "There's no one more blind than he who refuses to see" or "The eyes are useless when the mind is blind". Evidences outside there a lot. Mainly in South America but sometimes it is not taken into account for people in other regions. For example, Dengue is more dangerous and lethal than Covid-19. The key thing here is, just to put it in terms of a new buzzword, in times where lot of people talk about Agile, this type of thing demonstrate in the field if agile is applied or not. So, is not a matter of project management. Is a matter of strategy. If that was not taken into account then, like other phrase said, "cry as a woman what you did not know how to defend as a man" referring to lament with the sensitivity of a woman, which is much higher than man, which was not able to anticipate, no matter the existing information

I beg to differ from you, Peter! The world has not seen something similar to COVID-19. No matter what you say or what example of diseases you refer to here but COVID-19 is what the world has never seen.

I never said that we would stop living because we know that death is the ultimate destination. My point is here that Risk Management.

In so many seminars are happening over PM theories. When WHO failed to do the risk mitigation. So let us stop bragging about Project Management onwards.

As I said, this is the beginning! We MUST understand that the limitation of Project Management and Risk Management. We cannot always predict factors, no matter how intelligent or visionary we are. That is called uncertainty and unknown.

The best thing we can do is to apply the defensive strategy of the war situation. When we cannot progress, we must defend our existing progress.

Please tell the same to the world leaders. "cry as a woman what you did not know how to defend as a man". I do not fall into this category.

I simply put it as that Project Management theory is totally failed to deal with the COVID-19 like uncertainty.

Prolay,

I would agree with you that “Project Management theory has totally failed to deal with COVID-19...,” if there was a project management organization/structure in-place and in-charge of pandemic outbreaks and mitigation at global and national levels and, they failed to meet their objectives.

My nonsensical statement is purposed to point out that I’m confused with why you are placing COVID-19 accountability at the foot of “project management” when there is no correlative relationship.

It may be helpful for you to explain your dismay with project management minus the metaphor of COVID-19.

With all due respect, Thomas, we have to conclude that whatever stories all the movie industries are visualizing or narrating are actually going to happen in real life?

So we conclude that we have to take the movie industry, not as entertainment. Instead, we have to take them seriously, and the narrated stories are just warnings of what will happen in the future?

Strange???


WHO has totally failed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Here is the article I would love to bring to your kind notice.

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/docum...-002279_EN.html

My intentions to start this conversation were to make sure that the Project Risk Management must consider all the outliers scenarios outlined by Keith Nova.

The question posed by a extreme right politician including her biased assumptions is evidence for you?

As I said, WHO and others, as well as many scientists, anticipated such a pandemic and prepared plans to tackle it, many governments underfunded or even neglected the plans (like the US). The films are mostly based on scenarios like these.

I would argue that the premise that PM failed in general is predicated on the faulty premise that PM is intended to mitigate all conceivable risks. Projects have a defined scope. The risk tolerance of the stakeholders often deem global pandemics, coup d'é·tats, and other such risks outside the approved scope of individual project teams, and even many major government organizations.

PMs and organizations in general depend on division of labor, as have societies for thousands of years. Every individual does not address every need of the larger group. Small organizations may defer responsibility for major catastrophes to specially chartered organizations. International agencies may provide recommendations, but do not have governing authority over all global stakeholders.

On national and global scales, major stakeholders have different opinions on the appropriate response. Some countries opted to allow COVID to run its course without intervention, while others took extraordinary measures. In many countries there is still significant disagreement on how much intervention is appropriate.

PM is not intended to bring all nations and factions into agreement, ensure world peace, or bring planets into alignment. It plays many parts in larger initiatives, but we are not intended to possess supernatural powers and universal authority.