ASK OCE — August 4, 2006 — Vol. 1 Issue 11
Project management is becoming a more mature discipline across the federal government, says Greg Balestrero, CEO of the Project Management Institute.
Speaking at Project Management Institute (PMI) Government Forum on June 23 in Washington, Balestrero said that the federal government is becoming more dependent on professional project managers. He noted that several government agencies — the Departments of Energy, Defense and Homeland Security as well as the Central Intelligence Agency — now have project management certification programs in place.
Balestrero outlined recent global trends in project management, including:
- an increase in organizations employing mature project management practices such as standardization, measurement, control, and continuous improvement;
- more project managers now working at the executive level;
- greater recognition of the value of hiring professional project managers; and
- an increased emphasis on project management education.
He cited Quantifying the Value of Project Management, a 2002 study conducted by Dr. William Ibbs of the University of California/Berkeley (and published by PMI), which found that organizations using less mature project management practices typically experience 20% overruns on budgets and 40% overruns on schedule. Executives in business and government alike are taking notice of the value added by mature project management. “Organizational project management maturity is increasing,” he said.
