Archive for March, 2011
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, the vast majority of Americans lived in rural areas, where the Number One source of commerce was agriculture. Large projects amounted to extrapolated farm chores – tilling the soil, planting the seeds, providing irrigation, pest control. Other projects included barn-raising, which in some instances was a truly communal event, as farmhands from all around would show up and pitch in to get the thing built. Developers and stakeholders did not include a corporate cast that comes from all corners of the globe.
Automation Goes Jumbo
Just as Eli Whitney’s cotton gin reduced the need for so much manual labor, more and more discoveries and inventions came online in the fields of architecture and civil engineering. Hydraulics, electricity and the internal combustion engine led to the assembly line, and mass production began replacing craftsmanship in short order. By the time the first skyscrapers were being planned in the early 20th century, project management had become a boardroom mainstay.
Up to the Daunting Task
Today’s major commercial projects are bigger, more expensive and more complex than ever before. The Project Management Institute is the accrediting body in the U.S., and passing the PMP exam is considered a must when one is being considered for such a lofty and important position. The position of Project Management Professional (PMP) is critical to large ventures. The PMP is, to break it down into the simplest possible terms, the quarterback of the team – but with the additional duties of being the team’s PR director and accountant as well.
Very few people possess the skills required to be an effective project manager, and with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake (or more), those who hold the purse strings want to be damn sure they have the right person for the job. Proficiency in software that assists them in tying all the strands together, Microsoft MS Project, allows for the planing, control and overight of all phases of a project. This is critical for any candidate to head up today’s projects which are so massive in scope, and which place so much capital and human resources at risk.