Episode 196: The State of Project Management Today and The International PM Day (Free)

Play Now:

This episode is sponsored by The PDU Podcast:

The first Thursday of November is just around the corner, which means that another year has gone by and we are heading for another International Project Management Day (http://www.internationalpmday.org). Frank Saladis, PMP, is the founder of this day and we’ve had him on the program once or twice in the past talking about the event.

So I figured that inviting him back and only talk about the IPM Day would be rather boring for everyone. However, Frank is also an accomplished and very experienced senior project manager. So I decided to tap into his vast knowledge of our profession and dig deeper.

In the interview, Frank and I begin with a quick review of the international PM day, but then we immediately move on to other PM Topics. We look at how the project management profession is regarded by the general public, what we as PMs can do to help those around us understand what exactly it is that we do and then Frank takes the pulse of the industry. He looks back to see where we are coming from, gives us his view of the current state of project management and then we glimpse into the future to see where he thinks that we are headed.

Episode Transcript

Below are the first few pages of the transcript. The complete transcript is available to Premium subscribers only.

Podcast Introduction

Cornelius Fichtner: Hello and welcome to Episode #196. This is The Project Management Podcast™ at www.project-management-podcast.com and I am Cornelius Fichtner. Nice to have you with us.

The first Thursday of November is just around the corner which means that another year has gone by and we are heading for another International Project Management Day.

Frank Saladis is the founder of this day and we’ve had him on the program once or twice in the past talking about the event. So I figured that inviting him back and only talk about the IPM Day, well, that would be rather boring for everyone. However, Frank is also an accomplished and very experienced Senior Project Manager so I decided to tap into his vast knowledge of our profession and dig deeper.

This episode is sponsored by The PDU Podcast™ which is our sister podcast. It is a convenient way for you to earn unlimited PDUs. Get project management webinars delivered to your iPod android phone or any other portable media player and earn at least 1 PDU every month. With The PDU Podcast™, there is no need to go to a classroom. You don’t even have to sit at your computer. Instead, enjoy the freedom of earning your PDUs anywhere. Simply download the webinars to your player and play them wherever you are; for instance, as you are driving to work in the morning. Your PDU Podcast puts you on auto-pilot for your recertification. Visit www.pducast.com. That’s p-d-u-c-a-s-t .com.

In the interview, Frank and I begin with a quick review of the International Project Management Day but then we immediately move on to other project management topics. We look at how the project management profession is regarded by the general public, what we as project managers can do to help those around us understand what exactly it is and what value we deliver and then Frank takes the pulse of the industry. He looks back to see where we are coming from, gives us his view of the current state of project management and then we glimpse into the future to see where he thinks that we are headed.

And now, mark your calendars on the first Thursday of November and enjoy the interview.

Podcast Interview

Female voice: The Project Management Podcast’s feature Interview: Today with Frank Saladis, founder of The International Project Management Day.

Cornelius Fichtner: Hello Frank and welcome back to The Project Management Podcast™.

Frank Saladis: Thank you for inviting me back again. Nice to be here one more time and I’m looking forward to the interview and also to talk a little bit more about International Project Management Day.

Cornelius Fichtner: Yes, it’s been a year, hasn’t it?

Frank Saladis: A whole year, right, and here we are right around the corner for another one.

Cornelius Fichtner: Yeah! So when is it this year? When did it get started and what is The International Project Management Day all about for those listeners who haven’t listened to our interview last year?

Frank Saladis: Okay! Well, it is November 3^rd this year and it is the first Thursday of November every year so the day will change a little bit year by year. I originally got the idea back in 2004 and the idea behind it, very simple, is that we have lots and lots of days of recognition and I was thinking we have Mother’s Day and we have Father’s Day and we have Grandparents’ Day and Secretary’s Day and Boss’ Day. We have all these different days and days that are used to acknowledge people that we care about and so on. Basically, it’s to say thanks.

I kept saying well the project manager doesn’t seem to get enough thanks. Some people refer to the job of project managers the unappreciated profession. So I decided, we needed to have a day to recognize project managers and project teams so I came up with this idea in 2004, International Project Management Day and we began with the first session, the first and actual event. We actually did pretty good on it in 2004 and participation back then was just getting started but we did manage to get Mayor Bloomberg in the City of New York to actually proclaim the day “International Project Management Day” in New York City back in November of 2005.

So anyway, we started in 2005 and it has been growing ever since. Again, the idea was really find a way to take the time to recognize project managers, show some appreciation for a job that a lot of people don’t really understand.

Cornelius Fichtner: I assume that participation and also awareness for the day has increased over the years, right?

Frank Saladis: It has increased quite a bit and the website that we have set up has also changed quite a bit. The website is www.internationalpmday.org and I was doing a lot of work with a person, Kay Wais, who runs an organization called Successful Projects and she took it on to herself to help to revitalize the website and I tell you, in the last couple of years, things have changed quite a bit, getting a lot more attention. There are all new programs and we’re looking for all different kinds of ways to expand on it.

It has grown quite a bit and just to give an example, I’m going to be a keynote presenter at the New Jersey Chapter’s International Project Management Day event on November 3^rd. The PMI UK has an event going on the same day called Synergy 2011.

Cornelius Fichtner: Yes, I’ve heard of that.

Frank Saladis: That is excellent. That’s a premiere event that is pretty much celebrating International Project Management Day, the value of project managers to bring in together a whole host of project managers and speakers and tracks and really emphasizing how we can pull together the entire community of project managers. That’s why they called it Synergy 2011, bring everybody together to show the world basically, the world business community what the value of project management is.

There are events taking place in Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Alcatel-Lucent, South Western Ontario, quite a few places so we’re really truly international.

Cornelius Fichtner: Alright! Let’s take a step aside a bit and talk about how project management is perceived by the general public. You alluded to this a bit. But because when I tell people “I’m a project manager,” I find that they have some kind of preconceived idea about our profession. Usually it’s project management equals construction project management or project management equals IT. Also they think a project has to be really large in order to count as a project. Do you find similar preconceived ideas and notions?

Above are the first few pages of the transcript. The complete PDF transcript is available to Premium subscribers only.