Does PMI regularly track, integrate, and interpret for members all the various findings of its research investments, in a unified way, that would have pragmatic value for practitioners? What works well where under what circumstances with high probability of success over time, for example? Do these differ by industry? By geography? By culture?
Where might I find such a current synthesis? Right now such information seems scattered and disparate across PMI resources dating back 20+ years. Saving Changes...
yes, the kind of research you describe could be supported by staff, PMI has excellent analysts on their payroll already who were able to identify parameters relevant to success if enough projects data is gathered. Wasn’t this the idea of OPM3 which never realized?
Even using volunteers can be sustainable, several committees are not project oriented (like ERC or the Board itself), have 3 year terms and do a lot to preserve knowledge.
So far, PM is rather a belief system than a science. Otherwise we / PMI would succeeded in showing the relevance of PM for success. There seems to be more to it than rationality (which is not objective anyhow).
Agile is the perverted version of the PM belief system, based on the 4 core „values“ as stated in the manifesto.
I would say that rather than a belief system, PM is an application of general systems theory to business endeavors. Since GST may be applied broadly to many domains which include interactions of things, the PMBoK it is an amalgamation of concepts borrowed from or developed in conjunction with many sciences, some quantitative such as accounting, and others qualitative like aspects of human behavior.
That makes it difficult to pin down what the value is. For one, the value may have various components, some directly measurable and others not. Then there is the philosophical debate of whether benefits are derived from PM or the underlying knowledge domains it employs. "This isn't a benefit of PM, but rather of applied psychology..."
In the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the author develops a mental illness trying to develop an a priori definition of "quality". Modern scientific approaches to modeling complex systems such as a business, employ fuzzy logic to compare them since when comparing things like financial results and social impacts, the lines are not crystal clear. Saving Changes...
yes, the kind of research you describe could be supported by staff, PMI has excellent analysts on their payroll already who were able to identify parameters relevant to success if enough projects data is gathered. Wasn’t this the idea of OPM3 which never realized?
Even using volunteers can be sustainable, several committees are not project oriented (like ERC or the Board itself), have 3 year terms and do a lot to preserve knowledge.
So far, PM is rather a belief system than a science. Otherwise we / PMI would succeeded in showing the relevance of PM for success. There seems to be more to it than rationality (which is not objective anyhow).
Agile is the perverted version of the PM belief system, based on the 4 core „values“ as stated in the manifesto.
Thomas (and Keith),
All good points about belief systems and GST. Describing human business-oriented activities is no doubt harder than, for example, discerning, understanding, and agreeing upon physical properties in nature. Yet, it seems that PMI as a professed authority on PM should be working diligently to identify, understand, and explain the perceived 'perversions', slippery value measures, and 'unclear lines.'
Asking too much, do you think?
...
1 reply by Thomas Walenta
Oct 26, 2022 3:35 PM
Thomas Walenta
...
I am fully with you on that, Paul.
Then the questions may be
1. is PMI indeed still an authority
2. what drives PMI (well, there is a strategic plan, how much of it supports what you wish for?) and what drives its management
Do not think you ask for too much. Given you are a longterm volunteer with heart blood in PM.
Can your request be understood?
Thomas
Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Oct 26, 2022 2:11 PM
Replying to Paul Shaltry
...
Thomas (and Keith),
All good points about belief systems and GST. Describing human business-oriented activities is no doubt harder than, for example, discerning, understanding, and agreeing upon physical properties in nature. Yet, it seems that PMI as a professed authority on PM should be working diligently to identify, understand, and explain the perceived 'perversions', slippery value measures, and 'unclear lines.'
Asking too much, do you think?
I am fully with you on that, Paul.
Then the questions may be
1. is PMI indeed still an authority
2. what drives PMI (well, there is a strategic plan, how much of it supports what you wish for?) and what drives its management
Do not think you ask for too much. Given you are a longterm volunteer with heart blood in PM.
Can your request be understood?
