Opinion

Managing project management

By Andrew Moody (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-11-29 14:17

Fahrenkrog said project management constantly has to evolve to meet the challenges of the modern world.

He said these are at their most acute at the cutting edge of technology when the concept of a planned project has to be rewritten because of breakthroughs that emerge when the project is in progress, particularly in such areas as information technology.

"How would you explain to a designer what a helicopter was going to look like if all you have ever seen was a Jeep? There are areas when you have to consider redefining a project," he said.

Fahrenkrog said traditional models of project management based around the triangle of costs, schedule and scope often need to be modified to cope with the modern business environment and that more complex modeling is required.

"We did an extensive study over three years and we found, however, that there was no single way to implement project management in every single organization," he said.

He said some organizations do not place enough emphasis on project management skills - just moving someone from a particular department to head a new project, creating so-called accidental project managers.

"We would argue this often leads to someone who is ill-equipped. Projects are unique time-bound operations rather than repetitive processes that don't have a beginning and an end," he said.

Fahrenkrog said some organizations just put engineers in charge of projects since they think they have the necessary skill sets and that this does not always prove to be the case.

"What happens is they tend to focus all their energy on engineering but they don't spend any time on all the project management stuff that ties everything together. As a result the project fails not because they are great engineers but because they can't let go of the engineering and do the project management," he said.

Fahrenkrog studied economics at Moorhead State College in Minnesota before joining the United States Navy as an officer in the late 1960s.

He rose to be commanding officer of a helicopter anti-submarine squadron before working in project management also with the US Marine Corps.

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During this time he had to work with the major helicopter manufacturers such as Bell and Sikorsky.

He said he has had to operate in many different project management cultures.

"There are absolutely different differences between the military and the business environment but there are also big cultural differences between the Navy and the Marine Corps. Bell and Sikorsky too are very different companies with very different approaches on how to build helicopters, all valid and equally successful," he said.

Fahrenkrog, who lives in Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, currently visits China around four times a year and said he tries to embrace the local culture.

"From when I was in the services I have always adopted a policy of not looking out for the local KFC or Pizza Hut and instead experiment with the local cuisine and that is very much what I do in China. I like to think of myself as a lifelong learner," he said.

He currently wants to expand the operations of PMI in China and insists project management skills are key to the development of the economy.

"Project management is vitally important if you want to be competitive. If you are wasting resources sooner or later, you are going to fall behind and lose market share. It is critical for you to use the resources available," he said.