Project Management

Abstract

Project management is an important, even vital, business competency. The Economist Intelligence Unit, a leading source of economic and business research, says, “90 percent of global senior executives and project management experts say good project management is key to delivering successful results and gaining a competitive edge.”¹ No wonder, since trillions of dollars are spent annually to fund projects. The Standish Group, an organization that monitors software-development projects, reported that during the 1990s in the United States, more than $250 billion was spent each year across approximately 175,000 information technology (IT)-application development projects.² The United States Department of Defense (DOD) spent about $50 billion on research, development, and test evaluation in 2010, and most of it was controlled through project-based contracts.³ Global construction-project spending was $5.3 trillion during the first six months of 2010.⁴ If spending is an indicator of importance, then projects have been and continue to be a vital and major activity in many sectors of the world economy.

“Why do so many professionals say they are project managing, when what they are actually doing is fire fighting?”

—Colin Bentley, 1997