What makes you M.O.R.E. than a Project Manager?

Aaron, having heard about M.O.R.E. in April at the PMI Barcelona, it is about how PMI intends to expand project success and its own role by

- Manage Perceptions — Projects must be seen by stakeholders as delivering meaningful value relative to the cost and effort.
- Own Project Success beyond Project Management Success — Project professionals should take accountability not only for execution but for ensuring perceived value.
- Relentlessly Reassess Project Parameters — Given change and uncertainty, continually revisit value, constraints, and assumptions.
- Expand Perspective — Reflect on the broader enterprise and societal context; the project is part of a bigger system.

Think project managers with a 'make it happen' mindset always follow these principles.

Aaron Porter , this reflection captures perfectly the transition our profession is going through.
Being M.O.R.E. than a Project Manager means embracing a broader form of accountability, not just for delivery, but for value.

As the PMI’s recent research “Maximizing Project Success” reminds us, projects are now measured by whether they deliver value worth the effort and expense, as perceived by stakeholders.
That shifts our focus from execution excellence to value realization, perception management, and continuous reassessment.

In my own experience, I’ve seen this shift in action, when project leaders start shaping conversations around value and purpose, everything changes: alignment deepens, trust grows, and outcomes truly matter.

To me, being M.O.R.E. means:

Managing perceptions - aligning stakeholder expectations through trust and transparency.

Owning project success - seeing ourselves as business partners, not task executors.

Relentlessly reassessing - adapting plans as context and value perceptions evolve.

Expanding perspective - understanding the systemic and social impact of every project.

In short, we elevate from managing outputs to shaping outcomes.
That’s how we truly maximize project success to elevate our world.

For me, being more than a Project Manager means connecting delivery with purpose. Beyond managing scope, time, and cost, I focus on enabling collaboration, fostering psychological safety, and aligning every effort with strategic outcomes.
Over the years, I’ve learned that my real value isn’t just in tracking progress, it’s in translating complexity into clarity and helping teams see the “why” behind what they do. That’s where trust grows and results become meaningful.

M.O.R.E., to me, is about Mastery, Ownership, Resilience, and Empathy, the mix that turns management into leadership.

One could be Curiosity & Continuous Learning.
I stay ahead by learning from every project—successes and failures alike. I integrate insights to evolve my practice.

Doing is no longer the starting point, it is the outcome of reflection.

In today’s environment of complexity and change, processes are not recipes to follow but mirrors that help us think.
Each project lives within its own ecosystem of perceptions, constraints, and intentions.
Therefore, the “right path” must emerge from thoughtful interpretation, not mechanical execution.

The maturity of our profession may indeed follow a Shu-Ha-Ri journey:

Shu — Learning the forms,

Ha — Adapting them with discernment,

Ri — Transcending them through awareness.

Ultimately, what defines excellence today is not how precisely we follow the process,
but how consciously we align our actions with purpose, value, and context.

Thank you for sparking this reflection, Aaron Porter.
It is through dialogues like this that our community truly evolves, not by adding more processes, but by deepening the purpose behind them.

Before managing infrastructure projects, I lived and worked in several First Nation communities as a teacher. Those years weren’t just about classrooms; they were about people, resilience, and reality.

One reality I’ll never forget: living on bottled water for weeks and months because most communities were under long-term boil water or clean water advisories.

So when I transitioned into managing Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant projects on those same lands, it stopped being “just another project.”
It became personal.

In every site visit, design review, and budget discussion, I could see the faces behind the data. The kids who deserved clean water. The families who’d waited decades.

For me, this isn’t a job.
It’s a legacy; a chance to write my name among those who helped make clean drinking water a reality in remote First Nation communities.

Akin